Opinion

Opinion

• Set up virtual machines with extra caution

  How secure is the current practice in virtualisation? The stampede to employ virtualisation sees no sign of waning in 2009, writes Raj Samani, vice-president...  Continue Reading

• Some kind of zen? Prince2 practitioners who don’t practise Prince2

  It is a common sight in the project kickoff meeting room: as the introductions move round the table, people explain what they do, what they know, what they have worked on. This gives everyone else a succinct insight into what their role in the ...  Continue Reading

• Exploit your skills to beat recession

  Times are tough and likely to get tougher, writes Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK.  Continue Reading

• How to attract more women to IT

  How to bridge the IT gender divide Lindsey Armstrong, EMEA president of Salesforce.com, explains why the industry needs to turn around its "men-only"...  Continue Reading

• £1bn for single customer view could be money well spent for banks

  News that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is demanding that banks spend £1bn upgrading their IT systems  Continue Reading

• Bring IT to account for its actions

  As enterprise application software is used more and more to automate complex business processes, organisations expose themselves to a new set of risks that are introduced by having their mission-critical operations reliant upon IT and, more ...  Continue Reading

• Diminishing Cobol skills – there is an alternative

  It was recently reported that the government of California was having trouble implementing spending cuts because of a lack of skilled Cobol programmers. The state wanted to cut wages, but its payroll system is written in Cobol and the lack of Cobol ...  Continue Reading

• Opinion: Why the Satyam scandal will force a step change in global outsourcing

  It is somewhat ironic that in the Sanskrit language, Satyam means truth, given the recent accounting scandal to have hit the company. But what does this crisis mean to offshore and general outsourcing as a whole?  Continue Reading

• Change for success

  Change is an unavoidable part of business and getting it right means the difference between a successful business and a failing one. The best way to handle...  Continue Reading

• 2009 Forecast: Your Technological Almanac for the Year Ahead

  Michael Pincher gazes into his crystal ball and offers up his predictions as to what's in store for us in the year ahead - and some suggestions of alternative career paths just in case the downturn does its worst to the world of tech.  Continue Reading

• Get more from your HR and IT outsourcing

  In a downward economy IT outsourcing and HR outsourcing projects can help organisations achieve quick wins and improved functions and facilities. By working...

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• Beyond encryption

  Collaborative business communities are on the rise as businesses seek to gain competitive advantage by sharing sensitive information outside traditional...

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• Opinion: Measurement is a missing management skill

  By Greg Todd Organisations want to leverage analytics as a way to move ahead with less cost.  Continue Reading

• IT Superhero Toby Brown Q & A

  Your overall IT Superhero Toby Brown answers our quikfire questions  Continue Reading

• Implemention and management must be done properly

  Security as a service: how are the patterns of risk and reward changing?

  Security as a service, if implemented and managed properly, can allow...

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• Poor implementation presents the greatest risk – failure

  Security as a service: how are the patterns of risk and reward changing?

  Security as a service can provide cost savings and accelerated implementation...

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• Higher rewards for the client mean higher risks for the security service provider

  Security as a service: how are the patterns of risk and reward changing?

  Overall, both the sum of risks and the sum of rewards stay constant,...

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• Managing the risk is essential when outsourcing security

  Security as a service: how are the patterns of risk and reward changing?

  In seeking to provide a detailed response for the above questions, views...

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• IT Superhero: Chris Lowden Q & A

  IT Superhero Chris Lowden answers our quickfire questions  Continue Reading

• IT Superhero: Robert Howard Q & A

  IT Superhero Robert Howard answers our quickfire questions  Continue Reading

• Before you negotiate an outsourcing deal…

  While it is true that a https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240087517/Business-and-IT-supplier-relations-must-improve solid contract is at...

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• Better technology means flexible working without compromise

  The news that the British government would press on with its plans to extend flexible working rights to an estimated 4.5 million people can be viewed as...

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• Businesses should not be afraid of social networking

  Many businesses have already realised the benefits of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and wikis and are now looking to strengthen their communications...

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• Secrets of successful CIOs

  The CIOs of major organisations are facing difficult challenges, having to manage IT organisations that are very different from those that have traditionally existed, in a challenging economic environment, write Hugo Trépant and Martin Roets of Booz...  Continue Reading

• Data leakage protection: how to secure your most vital assets

  There is a huge amount of hype in the industry regarding data loss prevention.  Continue Reading

• Defining cloud computing

  Four key behaviours indicate whether an infrastructure can be defined as cloud computing

  Defining cloud computing

  Cloud computing is a deployment...

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• How IT businesses can survive the downturn

  Tony Pullen, managing director of Experian's business information division, examines what IT businesses should be doing to manage risk.  Continue Reading

• Universities must adopt Web 2.0

  Web 2.0 university systems are helping to change the way education is delivered, writes Steven Hipwell is an IT Officer at Birmingham City University. Universities...

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• How to limit the risk of terminating outsourcing contracts

  As the economy contracts organisations are looking at areas of their business to cut costs and one such area is outsourcing. There are key warning signs that may indicate a customer is looking to end an outsourcing contract. However, a provider can ...  Continue Reading

• EIM: the changing face of BI

  Information lies at the heart of good decision-making and organisations have turned business intelligence (BI) tools to do so. BI is evolving though  Continue Reading

• Building regulations for IT

  Did poorly-functioning IT systems contribute to the recent financial crisis? We must ask the question: was the Basel II regulatory framework properly implemented in banks' IT systems? That set of regulations was supposed to provide improved ...  Continue Reading

• Lessons from Best Places to Work in IT 2007 winners

  Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in IT competition is a good way to boost the confidence of IT departments within organisations, say award winners.  Continue Reading

• IT Superheroes: Meet the finalists

  Watched the candidates' video pitches, but still can't make up your mind? You can find out more about each of our six IT superhero finalists here. Then you can watch the videos again, or go straight to the Firebrand site to place your votes.  Continue Reading

• Secure employee access to prevent insider threat

  With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be concerned about lax security? Is...  Continue Reading

• Five ways to beat the credit crunch

  The pressure is mounting for CIOs to find ways of cutting IT costs, writes Written by Robert Saxby, senior consultant at Metri http://www.metrigroup.com

  The...

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• Be vigilant of saboteurs' revenge cybercrime

  With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be concerned about lax security? Is...  Continue Reading

• Bank bail out depends on an accurate view of toxic assets

  The wholesale financial markets froze because the banks realised that each was holding a portfolio of investments that resembled a tangled ball of knitting....  Continue Reading

• Communication immunisation for SMEs

  Bert van der Zwan, vice-president of EMEA for WebEx, explains why SMEs need to give more thought to their business continuity plans.  Continue Reading

• Don't let turmoil distract attention from security

  With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be concerned about lax security? Is...  Continue Reading

• How to implement network access control

  In spite of the billions of dollars spent each year on IT security, companies still suffer data leaks, security breaches, and virus outbreaks, writes Chris Boscolo, CTO and founder of Napera Networks.  Continue Reading

• Guard business assets against increased threat

  With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be concerned about lax security? Is...  Continue Reading

• How to be a good IT customer

  Can the relationship between IT development teams and their customers be improved? It can, say Ross Hamilton, director, and Joe Morrison, managing consultant,...

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• NCC: Beware employees' "exit strategies" during downturn

  With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be concerned about lax security? Is...  Continue Reading

• Security is not primarily a technical issue

  With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be concerned about lax security? Is...  Continue Reading

• Women falling out of love with IT

  Women are falling out of love with the IT industry. Since 2001, the number of female IT professionals has dropped 6%. I believe it is time the IT...  Continue Reading

• Drop in staff morale increases security threat

  With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be concerned about lax security? Is...  Continue Reading

• Why bother with policy and procedure?

  Policies and procedures are important tools in the information security toolbox and they are most important when they apply to the IT department.  Continue Reading

• Technology in the next 100 years: the futurologist’s view

  Futurologist Ian Pearson discussed technologies of the future to more than 200 IT, security and finance delegates on the Aurora cruise ship.  Continue Reading

• Grievance, Dismissal and an Employment Tribunal

  A self evident truth omitted from the Declaration of Independence is that: Employers will go to any lengths to avoid a just outcome. They will do anything to avoid accountability and pay damages.  Continue Reading

• Making the most of SMB opportunities

  Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the UK have increased their spending...  Continue Reading

• Should you do an MBA?

  The MBA (Master of Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree that is awarded to students who have mastered the study of business. Students of MBA...  Continue Reading

• Beat the bullies

  Bullying in the workplace Bullying in the work place is something I feel very strongly about having been a victim myself in the past I very much feel...  Continue Reading

• Mobile payments offer new hope to smartphone makers

  Non-European countries are rapidly improving their citizens' ability to pay for goods using their mobile phones , writes Elodie Franceschini ,...  Continue Reading

• How to hang onto your job

  In these difficult times it's natural for people to worry that their jobs might be at risk, writes Jeremy I'Anson, director at HR consultancy xlSys Consulting....  Continue Reading

• Email blunders, messaging mishaps and more: Your stories...

  Many people have fallen foul of the ‘email quarantine trap’, or have mistakenly sent the wrong email to the wrong person. Well, we asked for your stories - and you certainly had plenty of blunders to share!  Continue Reading

• Security Zone: why 'need-to-know' is not always best practice

  I was recently reviewing an article which argued that in the absence of a clearly defined set of confidentiality requirements one should apply the concept of "need-to-know". Indeed it recommended this approach as following best practice!  Continue Reading

• itSMF UK: Communication in the real world

  Read any project "lessons learnt" report and it will say "We should have had better communication". Read any book on business change and it will say you have to concentrate on "communication, communication, communication". Listen to any politician ...  Continue Reading

• How to prevent internal data breaches

  How internal data breaches happen How internal data breaches can be prevented Since...  Continue Reading

• Is the government's 'super-database' legal?

  The Home Secretary has announced the government's intention to consult on plans for a "super-database" for communications data. Few details were provided, but it has been reported that the database will be used to monitor the internet use, mobile ...  Continue Reading

• Computer security when travelling by train – an expert’s observation

  Like many others, I endure a daily commute into London by train. Until recently I passed my time reading a newspaper. Lately though I have restricted myself...

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• Lost in Translation - a handbook for information systems in the 21st century

  The so-called 'business/IT divide' appears to be getting wider at the very time when business and technology are fusing.  Continue Reading

• Identity theft: What have we learned?

  Short memories or complacency? ask Ray Binnion, non-Executive Chairman, Defend-IT Limited and James Colby, Vice President Marketing, Insightix.  Continue Reading

• Managing IT in a downturn: beyond cost cutting

  Looking to slash your IT investments? Consider the possibility that targeted ones might generate savings and revenues exceeding what you could save through cost cutting.  Continue Reading

• What came first: the technology or the process?

  Has the increasing sophistication of technology helped to evolve business processes or have evolving business processes driven the pace of technology change?  Continue Reading

• IT enables SME business

  We live in an era of unprecedented global economic expansion. Continuing gains in productivity and the ever-faster flow of goods and information have combined to bring new levels of prosperity to millions of people around the world. The result, as ...  Continue Reading

• The IT Professional's Survival Guide

  Michael Pincher on how to keep your job (and sense of humour) while all about you are losing theirs.  Continue Reading

• Microsoft licensing programme promises bigger software discounts

  Microsoft is launching a new enterprise...  Continue Reading

• Real time threats demand real time security

  Some 30 billion text messages and 40 billion e-mail messages are transmitted across the network every day and it only takes one to wreak havoc. The annual...  Continue Reading

• How do we tackle political cyber-crime?

  Politically motivated computer crime has been growing steadily since the late 1980s. How should we deal with it? Kent Anderson, managing director at Encurve, LLC and member of ISACA’s Security Management Committee, offers his opinion.  Continue Reading

• Five tips on contract negotiations

  IT directors and managers will already be very familiar with how to negotiate IT contracts. What they might not be fully aware of is how much time,...  Continue Reading

• Tackling Computer Vision Syndrome

  Have you ever considered that your laptop or computer could be affecting your health? We all know that toothache means a trip to the dentist, but do we think...  Continue Reading

• How to prepare for job interviews

  Most of us only have to attend a few interviews during the course of our careers. Not surprisingly, many senior managers approach an important interview with some trepidation.  Continue Reading

• Talented people: how to find them, how to keep them

  Despite extensive research showing the high cost of recruiting the wrong people, many employers seem to have a surprisingly unstructured approach to the screening and selection of their key staff, writes Jeremy I'Anson, director at HR consultancy ...  Continue Reading

• Data loss: how to minimise risk, liability and reputational damage

  As public awareness of the dangers of data loss by businesses increases, Phil Sherrell and Vinod Bange from the technology team at international law firm Eversheds offer advice on mitigating the risks.  Continue Reading

• When mobile phones become mainstream clients

  A wireless local area network (Lan) was once a tool that enabled guests to access the internet, but today organisations increasingly rely upon it.  Continue Reading

• Will ID cards ever be in demand?

  As the private sector around the world adopts ID cards for various uses, will voluntary demand for such schemes ever happen in the UK? Home Secretary...  Continue Reading

• Expert opinion: e-tailers should copy online fraudsters' tactics

  It is credit crunch time, the belts are tightening whether you are a consumer or a business. Well for the consumer it is how they use their cash that is at the forefront of their minds: where can we save? Where can we go for the big bargains?  Continue Reading

• Why the ultimate customer experience need not cost the earth

  How many times have you heard that the customer is king? Countless, no doubt.

  At the risk of continuing with platitudes, it is also often said that...

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• The danger within

  The insider threat issue is undoubtedly creating a stir in the technology world, but do organisations actually take it seriously, and what are they doing...

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• The benefit of thin client computing

  There is a lot of talk at present about virtualisation, rack dense computing, and thin client technology  Continue Reading

• IT-enabled change: the knowledge

  Do you consider yourself business or technology-­focused? Or are you a business and IT hybrid? It is now almost a truism to say that business and IT goals...  Continue Reading

• Take a structured IT approach for successful mergers and acquisitions

  Computer Weekly reported recently that merger and acquisition activity is likely to continue despite - or perhaps because of - the credit crunch, writes Marc Bray, operations director at Totalamber.  Continue Reading

• Another data loss, another lax response

  When TV crews went into the offices of PA Consulting in London last week the staff looked as if they thought they were in the midst of an armed raid.  Continue Reading

• Focus on the quality of software projects

  Businesses are spending more money on software development as the complexity of applications increases.  Continue Reading

• Network security: get a complete view of your network

  Network security: get a complete view of your network

  By Ofir Arkin and Ray Binnion

  What's on your network?

  This is a simple question but...

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• Older generation could scupper £4.4bn National Identity Scheme

  The cost of the government's controversial £4.4bn national identity card scheme , could rise...  Continue Reading

• DPM's diary: 19 August 2008

  Monday

  I went to the local BCS meeting this evening - well, I don't go to the kirk much, so this is the only way I can feel like one of the younger...

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• Will cheap broadband drive video conferencing?

  It was at an IT industry symposium I attended back in 1996 where some American network rep boldly stated, "Within two years, WAN bandwidth will be free and...

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• IT outsourcing in a global economic downturn

  The continuing global economic downturn presents UK companies with a growing challenge to cut internal fixed costs and maximise profits, writes Nick Holland,...

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• Internet crime? Global justice?

  This week we feature two stories that show how ICT intersects with national legal systems to produce very novel scenarios of crime and punishment.

  A...

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• Top 10 information security tips for C-level executives

  Vernon Poole, head of business consultancy Sapphire , and former security manager for Deloitte...  Continue Reading

• ERP to grow in utilities, says Deloitte

  More than £500m is expected to be invested in enterprise resource planning (ERP) services in the UK utilities industry over the next two years, looking at...

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• Interest in hosted services will increase

  Having read the recent article on how the downturn could help IT get banks off legacy systems, it came as a surprise to learn that these financial institutions are not interested in the hosted model  Continue Reading

• Use summer slowdown to build the brand of me

  We live or die professionally by our contacts, brand and knowledge. With holidays coming up and some free time on your hands, here are some useful things to do so that you come back from the break skilled-up, marketable, informed and better ...  Continue Reading

• Onus is on mobile operators to maintain security

  The recent survey into corporate mobile security from Decipher shows just how much company-sensitive data is accessible via company mobile devices. Although it is encouraging to see businesses arm their employees with the tools to make the best use ...  Continue Reading

• Free cost per transaction calculator

  The impact of the credit crunch has meant small and medium-sized companies have fewer resources to spend on evaluating the efficiency of their business…  Continue Reading

• Technology in tough times: preparing for economic downturn

  Microsoft research has shown that 76% of business owners have made no provision for an economic downturn, and 86% have not sought any advice on how to prepare for the worst  Continue Reading

• Plain speaking on outsourcing

  We report this week on two ground-breaking local government outsourcing developments  Continue Reading

• Hijacking blog strikes

  Christoph Alme, Team lead of Secure Computing's Anti-Malware Research Labs Hijacking blog strikes The infamous Storm...  Continue Reading

• Financial markets: How low can 'low latency' go?

  One of the buzz terms in the European financial markets in 2008 is "low latency".  Continue Reading