Opinion

Opinion

• Voice over IP special report: Voice gets louder

  Data has been the belle of the corporate IT ball for long enough. Now voice is getting the attention and users need to look at which form of VoIP is going to best suit the needs of their business  Continue Reading

• Review of computer misuse laws essential to keep up with rapidly developing market

  Participate in consultation to develop most effective computer legislation  Continue Reading

• Revenue must learn to say no

  It is time for the leaders of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to spell out some home truths to ministers and opposition politicians. The staff and systems at HMRC cannot cope with more rapid change.  Continue Reading

• The road to real change

  Practical steps needed to bring more women into IT.  Continue Reading

• Get your projects to work

  A clear understanding of the basic principles of project management will pay dividends for any SMB looking to harness IT for...  Continue Reading

• In search of the perfect fit

  Choosing the right supplier and products need not prove onerous as long as sound principles are followed. Jane Dudman finds that...  Continue Reading

• Get a handle on CRM

  An effective SMB customer relationship management system relies on buy-in from the business  Continue Reading

• Capitalising on the opportunities of SOA

  Service oriented architecture (SOA): An SOA can help IT become more responsive to business needs, but confusion about the approach means some fail to realise its potential.  Continue Reading

• Opinion: Are you ready for a crisis?

  Business leaders must beware creeping complacency.  Continue Reading

• Planning and process key to good recruitment

  Over the past five years the public sector has been successful in attracting a highly skilled IT workforce. Much of this can be attributed to the slowdown in the private sector from about 2001.  Continue Reading

• End-user buy-in is IT's insurance

  If the end-users of a business system are not convinced by the merits of a new approach, IT directors should understand that there is usually little point in forcing it on them.  Continue Reading

• Traffic management, not more bandwidth, is key to improving network performance

  Optimisation devices can avoid the need for expensive server upgrades.  Continue Reading

• Managing the effects of change

  Change management lies at the heart of every major IT deployment. Experts agree that building systems and deploying them is barely half the challenge faced by IT departments and their businesses.  Continue Reading

• Offshoring goes onshore

  Importing IT skills could have wide repercussions  Continue Reading

• End the tick-box mindset

  With Ian Watmore elevated to the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, the hunt is on for a new CIO for government. But how will his successor assemble the business processes to ensure the government gets best value on the shared services environment at ...  Continue Reading

• Business data follows where blog feeds lead

  An important bit of the business data infrastructure is now being decided in the "blogosphere" - that amorphous cloud of interlinked personal weblogs that mainly seems to consist either of geeks or teenagers writing about their personal lives.  Continue Reading

• True meaning of partnership

  Only a fool would dispute the importance of getting the written contract right in any major business relationship. But the relationship will always be more important than the contract if things are to go well rather than fall into dispute mode.  Continue Reading

• Savings and strike threats at the ministry

  Technology is bringing about big improvements at the Department for Work and Pensions, according to Stephen Timms.  Continue Reading

• Revenue IT still has a hill to climb

  HM Revenue and Customs was coy late last year about listing its IT-related achievements. Aware that its chairman David Varney and chief information officer Steve Lamey had enjoyed some success with IT-enabled reforms, we had asked its officials for ...  Continue Reading

• E-government: from strategy to delivery

  Ian Watmore, former government CIO and newly appointed head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, considers the challenges of delivering citizen-centred reforms  Continue Reading

• Inside the hacker's mind

  Crime prevention requires a non-academic approach, says Ian Johnstone-Bryden  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Responsible RFID, patchy patches

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading

• Outsourcing: keeping divorce private

  Public outsourcing failures could be laid bare by FOI, says Renzo Marchini.  Continue Reading

• Your shout: World's best OS, hardware horror story

  Computer Weekly readers have their say.  Continue Reading

• Collaboration is way to fix a hole

  IT directors have come back after the Christmas break to the first big security scare of the year - a flaw affecting all versions of Windows - raising concerns about how IT departments can cope with so-called "zero day attacks".  Continue Reading

• What CFOs really want

  Since the late 1990s enterprise resource planning suppliers, analysts and CIOs have advocated a move to single-instance ERP as a solution to data integration and reporting problems. ERP suppliers have argued that the extended functionality in ...  Continue Reading

• IT departments do the business

  IT has proved its worth in 2005. In many organisations it has been a year of significant achievements, a year when IT enabled business innovation and business agility while showing prudent control of budgets.  Continue Reading

• Do rich internet apps offer business value?

  Enterprises have enjoyed great benefits from the internet, browsers and web applications, but it is time for a change.  Continue Reading

• Giving ERP users the Windows feeling

  Microsoft owns the desktop, with at least 400 million Office users around the world. This has led to it becoming the de facto standard as the preferred user interface for enterprise software.  Continue Reading

• Ten steps to get a grip on your IT spending

  Working smarter, not harder is the key to cutting the corporate IT budget. Simplify your department and take on the right projects to reap the financial benefits.  Continue Reading

• Awareness is the key to avoiding disputes

  Low profit margins, tight budgets and a competitive market increase the pressure on IT managers to reduce their legal spend by avoiding disputes. Handling a dispute can be an unnecessary and unwanted strain on the resources of any IT manager and can...  Continue Reading

• Time of choice creeps up on Netware users

  Gartner is usually reluctant to advocate doing nothing, but with regard to the next step for Netware users, this might make sense for the next two to three years, assuming you are on Netware 6.5. This is because Novell will probably stop updating ...  Continue Reading

• To move or not to move? Plotting career progression in a buoyant IT jobs market

  If anything in life is certain, it is that change will affect your career. Change in your worklife could be driven by either a merger, downsizing or shift in company strategy. A new boss or new responsibility may make your role redundant or take ...  Continue Reading

• Opinion: does outsourcing add up?

  The root cause of why so many organisations are experiencing problems with outsourcing is not badly written contracts, poor relationship management, lack of supplier proactivity and flexibility, disappointing quality of services or hidden costs.  Continue Reading

• IT will be key to pensions reform

  The Turner Review of pensions poses a challenge not just for the government, but for IT as well. A New Pension Settlement for the Twenty-First Century is a hefty tome, which proposes policy options to provide decent old age pensions for all and ...  Continue Reading

• Opinion: openness, accountability and awareness of risk are vital for ID card scheme to succeed

  The Commons Public Administration Committee asked Computer Weekly for a paper on the implications of ID cards for public services. Here is our submission.  Continue Reading

• Cases show reform of Computer Misuse Act is essential if it is to be fair and relevant

  It used to be possible to argue that concerns about the limitations of the 15-year-old Computer Misuse Act were based on theory, not tangible cases.  Continue Reading

• Bridges should be built on trust

  Many IT directors and their staff feel - rightly or wrongly - that they are still seen as "the techies" who are there simply to sort out the IT nuts and bolts while others make the important decisions.  Continue Reading

• Beyond the blame game

  It is encouraging to see the government's recently published ITstrategy focusing on addressing the success rate of public sector IT projects.  Continue Reading

• How to solve the problem of loss of application knowledge

  The dearth of application knowledge is a solvable issue. Application mining tools and APM tools can solve the issue and have the potential to bring many additional benefits.  Continue Reading

• Appearance of 'legacy' Java apps highlights danger of losing application knowledge

  Java and Perl applications that were developed just three years ago have developed "legacy" attributes: the original authors are gone, the applications are poorly documented and poorly understood, and although the business relies on the applications...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Why IT education requires a rethink

  Why education needs sorting out, a look at problem abbreviations and a reminder about a looming deadline  Continue Reading

• IT managers must measure up or lose out

  IT managers must measure up or lose out  Continue Reading

• Insourcing is no panacea

  When outsourcing goes sour, think before you act.  Continue Reading

• NHS IT project: divided we fall?

  Private angst among senior executives that spills over into the public domain is a compelling spectacle.  Continue Reading

• Watch your KPIs as new law starts to bite

  The Operating and Financial Review (OFR) has become a legal requirement for all UK quoted companies for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2005.  Continue Reading

• Protect yourself and get the best out of outsourcing deals with India and China

  There are several legal issues that companies need to consider in order to get the best from their offshore outsourcing arrangements with India and China.  Continue Reading

• Service can offer route to respect

  It is understandably galling for many IT directors that their departments are often seen as simply providing a service and as a cost centre rather than a profit generator.  Continue Reading

• Web application development continues to evolve as the Ajax approach catches on

  Google put the Ajax development method on the map with the launch of its Google Mail service, and now there are more than 50 websites taking a similar approach to online applications.  Continue Reading

• Time for a PC lock down

  Forget hacking, a significant proportion of unauthorised access to systems occurs when someone sits down at sombody else's computer. In our increasingly litigious and regulation-bound society, e-mail messages have become one of the primary forms of ...  Continue Reading

• Employers must tackle age discrimination now to avoid losing talented IT employees

  Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who is perhaps the best known IT worker on the planet, celebrated his 50th birthday last month, and it is worth contrasting his fortunes and prospects with those of other people working in IT.  Continue Reading

• Noble intentions, but can government IT strategy deliver its shared services vision?

  In the Cabinet Office at Admiralty Arch in London, on 2 November, John Hutton, then a Cabinet Office minister, parried questions from journalists about the publication of the government's new IT strategy.  Continue Reading

• Public sector IT 'on the verge of era of delivery'

  Government CIO Ian Watmore assesses progress on his pointers for a successful technology profession  Continue Reading

• Secure measures

  Network security is a daily challenge as hacking and viruses proliferate. Cliff Saran reviews some approaches to keeping the bad guys at bay  Continue Reading

• Steer clear of confusion

  Avoid outsourcing storms by giving clear directions, says Phillip Everson  Continue Reading

• The challenges of on-demand integration

  Integrating in-house applications with those provided on demand by a third party can be complex if issues such as data duplication are to be avoided, says Teresa Jones  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Princely project manager, and e-mail aliases

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading

• What makes a good chief security officer?

  The qualities and skills of an effective chief information security officer include strong ethics, professional qualifications and the right experience, says Richard Starnes  Continue Reading

• Not all dangers have a headline

  The crash of the trading system at the Tokyo Stock Exchange because of a software problem offers a timely reminder that disaster recovery and business continuity planning are essential not simply because of the more sensational incidents such as ...  Continue Reading

• Compliance gets real

  This time it is for real. The government last week published a bill on corporate governance that means there is nowhere for UK directors to hide.  Continue Reading

• Chip virtualisation could boost resilience

  Intel and AMD multicore chips promise more consistent performance, argues Clive Longbottom  Continue Reading

• Beating the USB burglars

  Policies are needed to counter removable media risks, say John Rostern and Jared Landin  Continue Reading

• Whitehall must embrace honesty and openness to succeed with IT

  Government ministers and CIOs have identified the key causes of public-sector IT disasters. So why are mistakes repeated?, asks Tony Collins  Continue Reading

• Getting serious about security

  Security is a topic that raises strong emotions among IT managers. Ask any one of them what they think should be done to improve the state of corporate security and you are likely to elicit one of two pessimistic opinions.  Continue Reading

• Common sense at the Revenue

  The decision by HM Revenue and Customs to postpone the introduction of an online tax collection system for 12 months represents a welcome dose of common sense.  Continue Reading

• Dangers of compromise

  Stephen Castell, in his opinion piece (Computer Weekly, 13 September), related an all too familiar chain of events leading to a systems disaster, and eight points at which warnings should be seen. The problem almost certainly started way before his ...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: NHS e-mail, password security and e-recycling

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading

• Users need to clear the short-term hurdles in pursuit of the long-term RFID dream

  For fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retailers, an enterprise-wide investment in radio frequency identification technology based on case and pallet tagging will not generate enough revenue to significantly add to the bottom line.  Continue Reading

• The network's missing link moves closer

  With "application oriented networking", Cisco aims to improve performance through closer interaction between the network and the applications that run on it.  Continue Reading

• Why Microsoft is learning from Linux in its drive to deliver software as a service

  "We are not anti-open source," says Martin Taylor, Microsoft's general manager of competitive strategy. In fact, he makes a point of hiring people with Linux and open source skills for his R&D team and Linux lab.  Continue Reading

• House of cards set to fall?

  The government says ID cards will cost around £100 each, while The London School of Economics says they will cost £300. But this dispute becomes almost insignificant next to the likely cost of poor project management.  Continue Reading

• Your shout: New outsourcing skills, PDF features, Offshore testing

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading

• A clearer view of real-world IT

  Do you know what you are doing? Do you know what your staff are doing? Pretty basic questions, but ones that it is tempting to ignore. We are not talking about competence here, but about how you and your staff spend your time.  Continue Reading

• Public lessons for private firms

  Many companies are keen to exploit the benefits of mobile IT but fewer have a coherent strategy about how to harness it for the good of the whole organisation.  Continue Reading

• Storage: Age of awareness

  Companies are rapidly adopting a more mature approach to storage, focused on how to manage and protect data through its entire lifecycle, says Cliff Saran  Continue Reading

• Public, not managers, drive online agenda

  As Socitm prepares for its annual conference, the president of the public sector IT directors group looks at the achievements of e-government and future challenges  Continue Reading

• Could companies be getting more from their business intelligence?

  Rationalise and integrate for better value  Continue Reading

• Licensing: Do not become a target

  Beware licence complications of second-hand software, says Quentin Archer.  Continue Reading

• Choose a mentor who will push you out of the comfort zone to reap maximum benefit

  Whether it is a teacher at school, a particularly inspiring boss, or your parents, we all rely on mentors to help our personal development. Some will have a profound effect on our lives, others may not exert such obvious influence, but all will ...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Security is everyone's responsibility, e-recycling

  Computer Weekly readers have their say.  Continue Reading

• Government focus on management 'laws' reduces the number of problem projects

  For government CIO Ian Watmore, IT is the servant of business and sound business approaches can help bring complex IT projects in on time and to budget  Continue Reading

• Microsoft plans route through the desktop

  Windows users will need to assess carefully how specialised their content needs are before lining up for the software giant's new content platform, says Jim Murphy  Continue Reading

• No jobs for the bad boys

  Can there ever be such a person as an ex-hacker?, asks Mark Hanvey  Continue Reading

• Your shout: 'Dark side' dynamic, contract is king, cyber-terror hysteria

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation offers higher asset usage while masking complexity

  Virtualisation of IT systems enables admin staff to run datacentres effectively while hiding complexity from end-users, says Hamish Macarthur  Continue Reading

• Power struggle could be costly

  The electricity consumption of datacentre servers and desktop PCs should be a concern for any IT director looking to make savings in their IT systems.  Continue Reading

• Putting IT in place

  End-users have technologies that serve their purpose – now they want assistance on how best to use them, says Jon Collins  Continue Reading

• A question of quality

  It is good to see Oracle's chief security officer, Mary-Ann Davidson, admit that the IT industry's biggest challenge is software quality. With users needing masses of patches to manage, the industry is at the bottom of the curve of software quality,...  Continue Reading

• Polishing up the act

  The new Companies Act will affect firms to different degrees but makes proper data management essential, says Jon Fell  Continue Reading

• End-users speak out

  As the increasing volume of data makes storage a hot issue, end-users are spending their money carefully, says Frank Timons  Continue Reading

• Tiers are not enough

  Everyone seems to want a tiered storage architecture but the correct approach is essential to business efficiency, says Geoff Hough  Continue Reading

• Storage and security

  Keeping data stored safely means finding a balance between accessibility, protection and staying within the law, says Correy Voo  Continue Reading

• Your shout: SOA shivers, men only, the real offshore objective

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading

• SOA: Beware IT balkanisation

  Service-oriented architectures raise security issues, says Jean-Noël Ezingeard  Continue Reading

• Boost IT's credibility

  IT departments and IT leaders are used to being undervalued and taken for granted.  Continue Reading

• Making a habit of strong security

  There is a lot of talk about creating a security culture in the workplace, but for most IT departments it is a tough job to get users across the organisation to understand why it is important, to put it into practice and, even more important, to ...  Continue Reading

• EBS users will have an advantage, but move to Fusion will require careful evaluation

  Enterprise Business Suite should be first choice for new Oracle customers, says Lee Geishecker  Continue Reading

• Can Google bring openness to messaging?

  E-mail style universal interoperability would add huge value for users, says Jack Schofield  Continue Reading

• Web services and SOA enable organisations to simplify exploitation of the mainframe

  The arrival of web services has reduced terrors of mainframe deployment, says Andy Gutteridge  Continue Reading

• Your shout: pear-shaped projects, Scottish teamwork, open-source copyright

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading