Opinion

Opinion

• Thought for the day: Cybersex and the kiss of death

  By hiding trojans within the pornographic images so enthusiastically pinged around the internet, hackers have finally made...  Continue Reading

• The law's not a chore

  Data protection laws may seem onerous for small firms, but not if common sense processes are put in place as early as possible  Continue Reading

• Bigger is not better: manage applications to deliver improved network performance

  Over the past few years organisations have come to expect more from their networks.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: We must be responsive to industry's needs

  Labour minister for e-commerce, Mike O'Brien explains what it is doing to support e-business and deliver e-government  Continue Reading

• Protect your firm's intellectual property

  SCO's action against IBM over disputed Unix code highlights the grey area of software as intellectual property. So how do you...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: To SP2 or iMac?

  Escaping the world of the PC and Microsoft for an alternative such as the iMac, may be harder than you think, says Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Businesses can't work without current information

  The high-speed online nature of the world businesses operate in means managers need up-to-date information all the time. The...  Continue Reading

• £28bn: the cost of the 'worst case worm'

  Study assess the dameage that the worst possible electronic attack could inflict  Continue Reading

• Multi-core chips deliver faster operations but could double per-processor OS charges

  Intel's move to put two processors on the same chip may give Linux a boost  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Rights management, who needs it?

  Will the promotion of rights management technology by the EU mean the end of a competitive IT market, asks Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Have faith in adding Linux to the IT mix

  Forget about competing claims for total cost of ownership, Linux is fit and ready for the enterprise if you need an operating...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Openness will improve public IT success

  Richard Allan of the Liberal Democrats explains why they support publication of Gateway Reviews  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Sink or swim

  Citrix needs to re-evaluate its position in the large company market if it is not to be eaten by the big fish Microsoft, says...  Continue Reading

• Don't let killer apps be the death of the firm

  Since the early days of computing, software applications have been plagued with problems: unexplained crashes, intermittent slow...  Continue Reading

• Build ERP upgrade costs into the business change programme - not the IT budget

  In terms of business processes and employees, the reach of enterprise resource planning systems in large companies covers a...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Whose fault is it anyway?

  It is time CIOs stood up and made the contribution to the business that they are capable of, says Roderick Angwin  Continue Reading

• People.com: Euro flaws

  Just what can employers expect from the present government and its apparent empathy with any European directive that happens to...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: At your Service (Pack2)

  The security benefits of XP SP2 are probably worth the risk of disrupting your system when you install it, says Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Meaningful relationships

  Abandoning service level agreements will not hinder the business, but free up valuable management time, says Colin Beveridge  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On small businesses using open source

  In response to the debate on the advantages of Linux and Microsoft Windows (Computer Weekly, 7 September)  Continue Reading

• Learning lessons of Libra's history

  We congratulate the Department for Constitutional Affairs on its openness. But, for all the department's sincere assurances (see...  Continue Reading

• Defences must be multi-layered

  Spam blights many networks, but it can be managed and blocked  Continue Reading

• Five golden rules of knowledge management

  Knowledge Management: A Blueprint for Delivery  Continue Reading

• No more papering over the cracks

  Standard can help IT to control problem-solving process  Continue Reading

• The difference between project and programme management

  That IT projects tend not to deliver many sought-after benefits is not news. Accusing the usual suspects - excessive optimism,...  Continue Reading

• Get into office politics if you want to get on the board

  Our continuing research into the nature and consequences of the IT stereotype have shown that there has been some progress over...  Continue Reading

• The IT director holds key to sales

  We live in a multi-channel world. Gateway's stores have become showrooms in which the shop assistant expects you to buy elsewhere...  Continue Reading

• Challenge of change

  New electronic reporting requirements imposed bu the government will force many small businesses to upgrade their IT, says Dennis...  Continue Reading

• How giants squash the online ambitions of small businesses

  Small firms are being denied the Internet access they require by restrictive BT packages  Continue Reading

• Better broadband

  Poor service blights growth in broadband penetration, says Lucy Woods.  Continue Reading

• Strategy Clinic: Don't forget the users!

  What do you feel is the most common - and avoidable - mistake that organisations make when initiating an e-business operation?  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Organised crime sews up internet scams

  Where do we start in defending ourselves against the ever growing internet scams, asks Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• The business case for wireless mobility

  The productivity and flexibility from wireless usage in today's working environment is of vital importance, particularly in...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: IT is not just technology

  Business opportunities present new IT challenges  Continue Reading

• Beware of spies in the machine

  While spyware is widely used to track the patterns of individual users' internet usage, there is an unexplored and more sinister...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: From Beijing to Whitehall

  Will taking the Chinese approach to compliance ensure companies meet new government regulations, asks Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Your Shout! On the likely rise in cost of the ID card project

  In response to the news that the Home Affairs Select Committee expects the national ID card project to cost more than £3bn (Computer Weekly, 3 August)  Continue Reading

• Going the extra mile for SMEs

  Among British politicians' favourite platitudes is the importance of smaller companies to the overall performance of UK plc.  Continue Reading

• Watmore's tough task

  Ian Watmore, the new head of e-government, faces a formidable task in persuading Whitehall vested interests to change business...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: MFI and the case for flexibility

  As the furniture chain admits to problems with an implementation, Colin Beveridge says being flexible with your business model...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Buy-in depends on softer skills

  Employee commitment to new working practices is crucial to project success, says Lindsay Wittenberg  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Preparing for the worst

  Updating PCs with more and more security products does not stop Simon Moores worrying when the next viruses will hit.  Continue Reading

• Fight spyware with tactics, tools and technologies

  Spyware is a critical security threat to corporate systems and data. Prepare a tactical response now using multiple tools, and...  Continue Reading

• Outsourcing is a people issue

  The three-week strike by IT staff at Swansea Council in protest at possible outsourcing raises serious issues with ramifications...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Finding the true cost of IT projects

  Until the the government can reveal the real risk to the security of its latest projects, should users remain suspicious, says...  Continue Reading

• Getting rid of the bottlenecks

  The market for application performance management is a relatively new one in IT.  Continue Reading

• Fine-tune your software to drive efficiency in IT

  The market for application performance management is a relatively new one in IT.  Continue Reading

• Prepare to install Windows XP SP2

  Microsoft has finally released the long-delayed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, and it had people working over the bank holiday to...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Variety is the spice of IT life

  We need to rethink our approach to IT systems to stop them making the world an ever more complex place, says Colin Beveridge.  Continue Reading

• Companies buy a piece of the outsourcing action

  Companies seem increasingly keen to buy a piece of their offshore outsourcing suppliers.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Friends Reunited for professionals

  Having access to a network of professionals may prove to be invaluable for business, says Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Newham Linux trial: We made right choice for the people we serve

  "Disgust at your lack of critical analysis"..."Cost the taxpayer millions"..."This fiasco should cost you your job"..."Made...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Unite to beat the bad guys

  Work with your users to protect corporate systems, says Stuart Okin  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Class of 2004

  Knowing what you want and where you want to be in the IT world will be an advantage to your career, advises Colin Beveridge  Continue Reading

• Business needs open standards for applications

  Push suppliers to provide greater interoperability, says Graham Bird  Continue Reading

• Inquiry is vital for NHSsuccess

  We hope officials at the Department of Health will be delighted to hear that public spending watchdog the National Audit Office...  Continue Reading

• Involve key users when choosing a supplier

  One of the critical stages of effective supplier management is selecting a supplier. A good supplier can be selected in a number...  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On legal rights when buying from suppliers

  In response to Bill Goodwin's report on how IT directors are given rights in court when buying a service from an IT supplier (Computer Weekly, 17 August)  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: What are your systems made of?

  Further laws in IT disposal put a burden on IT directors, says Tony Grzesik  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Keep it clean

  If private sector staff lose their jobs for accessing pornography at work why should civil servants staff not face the same...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Too many questions asked

  Crime prevention is being used as the excuse to obtain personal information before providing basic services. Simon Moores asks...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The thin red line

  As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you - and technology is increasingly making...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day Beer is good for you

  I've been on the Beer all week and I feel great, indeed thoroughly refreshed because the Beer I've been imbibing is not a...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Don't create a monster

  Bolt-on security products can prove difficult to control, says Gerry Carroll  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Damned if you do and damned if you don't

  Updating software is an arduous task often resulting in getting something no better than the last version, says Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Countdown to zero-day

  The time between the attack and the patch is critical, writes Bart Vansevenant  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Take a deep breath

  ... And then step back from the ID card precipice before you do something we will all regret, Simon Moores urges the government  Continue Reading

• Next move: What courses are best for IT support?

  I have a business degree taken in Denmark but have been working in the UK for the past four years, mainly doing customer service....  Continue Reading

• Microsoft tightens up

  On the matter of security, Microsoft comes in for more flak than most, but the imminent roll-out of Windows XP Service Pack 2 is...  Continue Reading

• The risk is real, so be prepared

  We live in a society that seems to increasingly abhor the idea that there should be any risk. As health and safety officers...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day IT downtime is a crisis

  Educate the board in the importance of IT continuity to reduce the business' exposure to risk, says Russell Flower  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On how to stop the deluge of spam e-mail

  In response to Peter Kidson (Letters, 10 August), who said he has completely eradicated spam with a program that uses a combination of whitelists and blacklists.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day Follow that herd!

  You may suspect that the unceasing evolution of the Windows operating system has more to do with Microsoft making sure the bucks...  Continue Reading

• Strategy Clinic: The cure for the annual holiday headache

  My IT team of 15 is unable to meet its workload without using contractors. Most of the staff take holiday during the school...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day Tin men eat their words

  They swore they would never make Linux servers, but the tin makers are changing their tune now that the open-source OS is taking...  Continue Reading

• Bad data eats IT budgets

  Effective data integration is vital for business success  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The world turned upside down

  The dark side of the internet is an affront to decency and a risk to employers, writes Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Look after staff or pay the price

  The steady stream of encouraging news on the jobs and pay front shows that the long-awaited recovery in the IT industry is a lot...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Joined-up thinking

  Aligning technology with business strategy and adopting a problem-solving discipline will make an organisation more successful,...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Qualifications cut risk

  Educated staff reduce exposure to corporate liability, writes Richard Starnes  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Carts and horses

  The government's push for the next phase of e-government targets is adding to the pressures already crippling local councils,...  Continue Reading

• We can all profit by Murphy's law

  The notion that there is a golden state of IT management where nothing ever goes wrong is a beguiling one. It always seems that...  Continue Reading

• Personal storage advances add to security risks

  Soon, most PC users could have a personal terabyte of storage they can leave at home, in the office or chuck in the boot of a...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The real price of progress

  Mobile gadgets offer a wealth of functions, but be warned, even if you find you can't use them, you will be charged, says Simon...  Continue Reading

• Customer will be king

  Microsoft cost cuts reflect changing balance of power  Continue Reading

• Thought for day: Spot e-marketing pitfalls

  IT directors should take heed of EU anti-spam ruling, says Gillian Cameron  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Individuals and politics cripple IT projects

  It never ceases to amaze me how many people believe that the campaign to improve IT projects in the public sector means making...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Can you see what IT is?

  Businesses need to look beyond the whiteboard draft and develop systems that will work, not ones that might work, says Colin...  Continue Reading

• Calculate true outsourcing gains

  Initial hype may hide the long-term costs and risks  Continue Reading

• What is the business case for going mobile?

  Some of you may have read that most companies have deployed mobile technology for the benefit of their workforce.  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On IT systems and civil service job reductions

  In response to Colin Beveridge's Thought for the Day (computerweekly.com) on the chancellor of the exchequer's plans, announced in the Spending Review, to reduce civil service headcount by 100,000 through the use of IT systems  Continue Reading

• Argument won, time for action

  For many months the need for openness and honesty has been trumpeted by Computer Weekly in its campaign to shake up government...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: A bad case of the DDs

  Trying to calculate how much time you and your team wastes thanks to the introduction of technology that is meant to make...  Continue Reading

• BT pushes ahead with public voice over IP service in UK

  BT Group has launched BT Communicator with Yahoo! Messenger to give consumers telephone, e-mail, text and instant messaging and...  Continue Reading

• A virtual business model for the real world

  Running enterprise software over a Wan or the internet can be expensive and less than satisfactory. Could an innovative new...  Continue Reading

• Productivity revolution still to come

  Book profile: Jan De Sutter, The Power of IT, Survival Guide for the CIO  Continue Reading

• Don't get lumbered with HR's job

  IT is key to implementing flexible working. Your input is vital, but IT directors should not have to make policy decisions  Continue Reading

• IT directors must be ready to drop projects as business needs change

  Beware of "scope creep" as project goals evolve  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Is there an R in the month?

  The British should look across the channel for tips on project management rather than the Far East, says Colin Beveridge  Continue Reading

• Mobile kit can give ROI

  Productivity gains drive growth in mobility  Continue Reading