Opinion

Opinion

• Thought for the day:Who's serving who?

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.  Continue Reading

• Getting rights right

  Digital rights management is becoming more important as we head towards chargeable content. Danny Bradbury finds out more.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:Pass the cornflakes

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.  Continue Reading

• Don't just sign on the dotted line

  Recent IT press headlines illustrate the increase in outsourcing over the past few years, and the trend is likely to continue....  Continue Reading

• The ASDL era finally dawns

  As ISPs force down prices and BT retreats to the exchange, broadband take up is soaring  Continue Reading

• Revenue created a one-horse race

  The Aspire competition, the Inland Revenue's attempt to inject some measure of competition into the tendering process for its...  Continue Reading

• SLAs are just pieces of paper

  Recent research into outsourcing corporate Web presence found that the most important factor for companies when considering...  Continue Reading

• We are blind to site visitors' needs

  Do not assume your customers are as knowledgeable as you are when building a Web site  Continue Reading

• Sun sues Microsoft from inside a glass house

  Sun is railing at Microsoft, but maybe it should be hiring coders rather than lawyers  Continue Reading

• Inland Revenue seeks partner that can meet its aspirations

  The Inland Revenue's director of business services explains why it decided to hold a competition, codenamed "Aspire", to select a...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:I can't stand up for falling down...

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:Pick up a Penguin

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:The silence of the LANs

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:Press the red button on your remote to vote

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day."Democracy," said the Greek...  Continue Reading

• Microsoft, mobile phone saviour

  I recently upgraded my mobile phone. Of course, that is no big news, many people do the same on a regular basis, dividing the...  Continue Reading

• Interoperability is key to Web services

  Can the problem of interoperability be addressed to make Web services work for business? Users and suppliers have united to form...  Continue Reading

• Open source opens doors

  Whether or not your organisation is ever likely to go down the open source software route, you should welcome the formation this...  Continue Reading

• Sounds like the Cs have it

  If telecoms providers want users to upgrade their voice networks, they are going to have to take a leaf from their computing...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:Licensing is like being politely mugged

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.  Continue Reading

• Are cards, clubs or clicks best for e-billing?

  Content providers must find a flexible method of charging for their online services  Continue Reading

• Garnish IT team with dyslexics

  They may find reading difficult, but people with dyslexia have much to offer the IT department as they are streets ahead when it...  Continue Reading

• No getting off the hook

  IT recruitment companies, having fallen on hard times, need to re-evaluate the values that drive them, and put the customer first  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Wireless trap is still snaring business

  Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.  Continue Reading

• Strategy Clinic

  What does the panel think will be the emerging technologies to have an impact over the coming year?  Continue Reading

• Behind Closed Doors: Business continuity planning is a disaster waiting to happen

  We have still not taken on board the need to get ourselves properly organised to sustain operations in the event of circumstances...  Continue Reading

• Don't use ROI in investment decisions

  I am a hard-bitten chief executive officer and my staff tell me that we must invest millions in a customer relationship...  Continue Reading

• Where are NTOs' successors?

  The Government's record on creating an environment attractive to e-businesses is less than perfect. Now the training...  Continue Reading

• Mobile skills are key to the future

  E-business applications skills are rapidly falling from favour, according to the most recent SSP/Computer Weekly survey of IT...  Continue Reading

• A step in the right direction

  The sector-wide software deals signed last week mark a turning point in government procurement  Continue Reading

• ITers fail to finish their

  We have heard a lot recently about how the dearth of good project management skills has caused major IT project disasters.  Continue Reading

• You must secure the future

  If IT managers can prove the value and reliability of security systems businesses will be prepared to invest in them, despite the...  Continue Reading

• Sun has accepted the inevitable and thrown its weight behind Linux

  One of the most fascinating spectator sports of the last decade has been watching how businesses have coped with the irruption of...  Continue Reading

• Putting productivity back on track

  Have you ever battled into work purely because you need to check your business e-mail? Ever spent hours working on a document in...  Continue Reading

• Take on town hall ostriches

  Delivering e-government services is not enough. We must change council chiefs' attitudes  Continue Reading

• Lock down the law

  We would never dream of dispatching police officers to the scene of a crime with their hands tied behind their backs. Yet this is...  Continue Reading

• The topsy-turvy world of CRM

  By attempting to use CRM to get closer to their customers, many companies are getting further away from them than ever. Martin...  Continue Reading

• What if the Internet collapsed?

  A vulnerability in SNMP could have horrendous implications for us all  Continue Reading

• The other online bully

  AOL is throwing its weight around in the instant messaging market  Continue Reading

• Why outsource desktop management?

  With a weak economy and companies looking for ways to cut costs, desktop outsourcing is set to take off  Continue Reading

• Let's drop the Mr Bean image for Sim City

  Increasing broadband Internet access will provide local government with real opportunities not only to improve citizen engagement...  Continue Reading

• Don't bet on telecoms' future

  Telecoms is going the way of the dotcom bubble: we are awash with optical fibre but the broadband services companies don't have...  Continue Reading

• E-gov standards body must deliver

  Plans to develop the UK's first standards body for e-government could not be better timed.  Continue Reading

• Behind Closed Doors: Training? Leave it all to the other guy

  In such straitened times, companies are even less inclined to shell out on expensive courses for staff who may pack their bags...  Continue Reading

• A coalition is born

  This is the year when the open source movement takes a true step towards embracing business. For most IT directors the topic has...  Continue Reading

• Prove your business worth

  Take a lead in making sure that IT delivers visible business benefits  Continue Reading

• We must fight the spam menace

  I am not in debt and neither do I need parts of my anatomy enlarged or medicated. If you know what I am talking about, then you...  Continue Reading

• Go hunting for e-books

  Stalking new markets, Safari Books Online has IT workers in its sights  Continue Reading

• Build better IT teams

  This week saw the launch of the most thorough survey of IT skills and aptitudes in the past 20 years.  Continue Reading

• XP set to knock out software heavyweights

  Microsoft's new operating system presents a hefty threat to the enterprise software elite  Continue Reading

• Death of the big package deal

  A component-based architecture will cut costs, ease implementation and be future-proof  Continue Reading

• Value versus cost: governing IT on a reduced budget

  The current wave of IT budget cuts can be turned to advantage if companies grasp the opportunity to align IT more successfully...  Continue Reading

• Will the suppliers break Linux?

  Proprietary Linux systems could undermine the open source dream  Continue Reading

• Rise of the new consultant

  A new breed of consultant is emerging from the death throes of the contractors' market  Continue Reading

• Share your service vision

  Shared service centres are fast becoming a fact of business life. Designed to administer routine processes cost-effectively, such...  Continue Reading

• Take the pain out of outsourcing

  Software development is part of your investment in your business, so decisions to place contracts offshore should not be taken...  Continue Reading

• Clear and present danger: why CW refused to give up on Chinook

  The loss of Chinook ZD576, with its four crew and 25 VIP passengers, was more than a helicopter crash. It led to a notorious and...  Continue Reading

• Reasons to be cheerful

  2002 will be the biggest IT spending year ever  Continue Reading

• Prime minister must act as MoD defies the Lords on Chinook

  The Government is facing mounting pressure to overturn the Ministry of Defence's verdict of gross negligence against the pilots...  Continue Reading

• Be paranoid

  Last week's revelations that fraudsters have been targeting the Government's £260m Individual Learning Account (ILA) scheme...  Continue Reading

• Mandarins need huge e-shake-up

  Progress towards e-government is looking increasingly as if it might follow the familiar path of all too many large, complex...  Continue Reading

• Set your own standards, and meet them

  The beginning of a New Year sees us set new targets and ambitions for the 12 months ahead.  Continue Reading

• The way ahead with Web services

  The huge price of duplicating the IT services that every company needs can no longer be sustained. Web services will allow...  Continue Reading

• Why real-time CRM analytics is hot

  Tough market conditions mean that companies which have invested heavily in customer relationship management (CRM)systems in...  Continue Reading

• Swanwick goes live at last

  One of the longest running IT development projects in the history of computing in the UK is about to go live.  Continue Reading

• Weakness in the Web

  Since its launch last year, the Government's £260m Individual Learning Account (ILA) scheme has been the victim of abuse by...  Continue Reading

• The nature of IT spend is changing

  It is time to stop treating IT spend as a capital outlay and instead regard it as a continuous cost  Continue Reading

• Set projects on firm foundations

  It is hard to recover from a bad start, so IT managers need to make sure they get projects right first time  Continue Reading

• Dawn of the next Web battle

  Microsoft is turning its big Visual Studio .net gun on Sun's Java in a bid to maintain its domination of the software developer's...  Continue Reading

• Much more than MP3

  MPeg-4 is taking audiovisual streaming over the Internet to new levels  Continue Reading

• Beat the security maze

  Providing adequate security is a responsibility companies must learn to take seriously  Continue Reading

• Time to deliver business value

  What you do with your business applications is just one part of this year's IT strategy  Continue Reading

• IT spend will grow

  Two schools of thought are emerging about growth prospects for 2002. The first reckons we are at the bottom of the curve with a...  Continue Reading

• Make time for innovation

  A relaxed attitude around the office allows time for individuals to evaluate their own experience and exercise their creative...  Continue Reading

• Planning for the Osama effect

  Business continuity should be a serious concern for the coming year  Continue Reading

• Google leads the search

  As many early search engines fade away, Google continues to improve  Continue Reading

• Will open wishes now come true?

  Last week UK research group the National Computing Centre said UK businesses could gain much from the use of open source...  Continue Reading

• Justice exacts a heavy price

  Seeking redress in the courts is expensive and rarely satisfies your desire for revenge  Continue Reading

• How to define the real benefits of CRM

  Everyone is talking about return on investment (ROI) in customer relationship management (CRM), but what is really achievable?  Continue Reading

• Piecemeal CRM won't work

  Don't let IT carry the can for failing to deliver CRM. A customer-centric culture must come from the top  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:Machines get macho

  We're still in the early days of artificial intelligence, but given the advent of grid computing, Simon Moores predicts a great...  Continue Reading

• A year of drama and romance

  Mergers, job cuts and ASP - few things went according to plan in 2001  Continue Reading

• The "right" IT spending for your company

  In 1986, General Motors' top management became alarmed about escalating IT costs. To benchmark IT spending against Ford, GM hired...  Continue Reading

• Don't dither over the euro

  Less than two weeks from now, on 1 January 2002, the euro will become legal tender across much of continental Europe. In what is...  Continue Reading

• Is VoIP the answer to call centres' prayers?

  The techies are already on-side with Voice over Internet Protocol but can it really work miracles with mixed traffic?  Continue Reading

• Twelve days still gives you time to get euro-ed

  It is not too late to start thinking about the impact the introduction of euro notes will have on your business  Continue Reading

• Evicting the cybersquatters

  The right domain name can be crucial to the success of a Web site, but getting hold of the perfect name is not always easy -...  Continue Reading

• Mirror Image

  Mark Lillycrop advises readers to look at themselves in the mirror, and see themselves as users see them.  Continue Reading

• BPO: Improve your operations and costs will fall

  In outsourcing business processes, the key is to prioritise efficiency and customer relationships rather than cost, says...  Continue Reading

• Storage networks

  The massive growth in data and the development of storage systems, have created exciting new technologies that have added...  Continue Reading

• Thank goodness that year's over and done with

  Only a small handful of channel players will be able to look back on 2001 and regard it as an enjoyable experience.  Continue Reading

• Move the finance department out of the dark ages and into the dark

  Despite the hype, the Internet's impact on business processes is still patchy. Sure, there has been massive investment in...  Continue Reading

• NHS IT in poor health

  In London last week health secretary Alan Milburn announced another £85m for NHS IT and Microsoft's Bill Gates assured...  Continue Reading

• Behind closed doors:Ho-ho-ho.com

  Our intrepid columnist braves some very chill winds to send this report from his latest posting. Another mince pie, anyone?  Continue Reading

• Art imitating life - again?

  Can you recognise anyone from this cast of characters in your office?  Continue Reading

• Open discussions turn the tide on Microsoft

  If I start by mentioning open source computing, it is quite likely that I will lose your attention. But bear with me for a...  Continue Reading

• The consumer really is king

  Give them what they want, not what you want - organisations are starting to find that their overall brand strategy is...  Continue Reading

• The key to e-Christmas success

  IT managers have helped e-tailers overcome problems with security and Web site navigation, but they still have a massive role to...  Continue Reading

• The road to recovery

  2001 has been a year of spectacular highs and lows for the computer industry. CW360.com offers an insight into what the sector...  Continue Reading

• Business case must dominate

  Talking to a representative group of IT directors the other day I quickly realised, yet again, the gap between the magic carpet...  Continue Reading

• Playing for fast-changing stakes

  A stakeholder is anyone who has any interest in or contact with the systems IT delivers, writes Julia Vowler. Once that just...  Continue Reading