Opinion

Opinion

• 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

• Trust packages to deliver

  Tailor-made software distracts managers from the business issues  Continue Reading

• Beyond the backlash, it's bright

  It is time for policy-makers to move beyond the backlash brought on by the Internet's crazier days and appreciate how e-democracy...  Continue Reading

• Editorial: Public money, private profit

  Today Microsoft co-founder and chief technology architect Bill Gates is due to stand on a stage with senior UK government...  Continue Reading

• Political machinations in the Valley affect us all

  It has been a bizarre year, and nothing has been more bizarre than the progress of the Microsoft anti-trust case. After a decade...  Continue Reading

• Embrace new technologies or lose out

  Recent high-profile outsourcing wins have highlighted the fact that this is still a growth area for services. If anything the...  Continue Reading

• E-commerce: Vision on-line

  E-commerce is a mixed bag for customers and until a common platform is created the potential of Web services won't be realised  Continue Reading

• The spoils of war

  While Silicon Valley shudders at the prospect of global recession, the "smart" software companies are reaping the spoils of war,...  Continue Reading

• Best for both worlds

  The next major technology development could help organisations as much as vendors, says Martin Butler  Continue Reading

• McKinsey: Why IT does not improve productivity

  The recent McKinsey report, IT and Productivity, pours cold water on the widespread belief that IT has improved productivity.  Continue Reading

• Christmas crackers: how we did it

  Richard Brain, technical director at ProCheckUp, explains how the results of his company's report on e-commerce security were...  Continue Reading

• XPerience leads to memory improvements

  When Windows XP finally arrived I asked a journalist friend whether I should use the CD as a coffee mat or risk the installation....  Continue Reading

• Have Internet will travel

  Is the mobile Internet a reality and, if so, where in the ether can companies find it?  Continue Reading

• Guess who hates Opera?

  Microsoft's redesigned MSN hit the high notes when the Opera browser tried to get in  Continue Reading

• That personal touch shows so much potential

  Are portals life-changing gateways to a world of information or just a euphemism for a data funnel? The jury on enterprise...  Continue Reading

• Cybercrime and punishment

  Businesses and authorities across the world need to get together and come up with a suitable punishment to act as a deterrent to...  Continue Reading

• Celebrating the best

  This week 11 companies were rewarded for their innovative use of technology. From travel companies to solicitors, UK companies...  Continue Reading

• Opportunities in lean times

  You know things are bad when IT consultants start reducing their charges. The number of job advertisements in the press and on...  Continue Reading

• Bring the board online with IT governance

  The commitment of board directors to effective IT governance is vital, says Paul Williams. And if they fail to take the lead,...  Continue Reading

• Becoming a CIO: the three leadership challenges

  Would you like to be a CIO some day? If so you could make a start today by investing in your personal leadership development,...  Continue Reading

• Coping with e-business change

  Firms should not forget the corporate culture changes a successful e-business demands.  Continue Reading

• EU cookie recipe is half baked

  Brussels' new move on online privacy smacks more of paranoia than a realistic concern for the rights of the individual, argues...  Continue Reading

• Rethinking just-in-time

  Several years ago I interviewed the test pilot of the first British totally fly-by-wire jet - a prototype of the Eurofighter. A...  Continue Reading

• Still locked in behind double-glazed Windows?

  So maybe the "one-armed man" did it after all and what should have been the front-page news of Microsoft's historic antitrust...  Continue Reading

• Sourcing data from way back

  The Alexa Internet archive stops big, powerful companies from trying to bury events  Continue Reading

• Unite and form a band of brothers against Microsoft

  Many firms in the UK are dependent on Microsoft as their software supplier, but how was this situation created and who is to...  Continue Reading

• Make it simple - or else

  Compared to the hard slog of back-office integration, the issue of ensuring a positive user experience may seem to be the more...  Continue Reading

• Taking training for granted

  The Government is facing calls for an enquiry into the failure of its flagship Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) after...  Continue Reading

• Outsourcing to the core

  What are the emerging opportunities in business support services and which of these are appropriate for your company? Outsourcing...  Continue Reading

• Behind closed doors: In at the deep end and drowning!

  The sink-or-swim school of project management training is leading to a growing pile of costly failures. Isn't it time to splash...  Continue Reading

• AOL and Microsoft square up in the message ring

  Imagine the furore if Microsoft dominated the instant messaging arena and blocked people with rival products from communicating...  Continue Reading

• BACs to the future

  The mooted shake-up at Bacs could prove a great leap forward for the role of technology in the UK payments industry.  Continue Reading

• Over-ambitious project stumbles

  Outsourcing rule number one: don't outsource major chunks of your business when it is changing or unstable. Ignore this rule and...  Continue Reading

• Virus prevention is better than 'cures'

  Never before has Internet security been at the forefront of so many minds - and that includes the security experts. Threats of...  Continue Reading

• What's in a name (or job title)?

  There may be more to the name game than meets the eye. The job title of the IT chief, and who he or she reports to, can determine...  Continue Reading

• How corporate IT will be transformed

  We're at the end of corporate computing as it has been practised for the past 50 years. From now on, billions of computers will...  Continue Reading

• Web watch

  In times of trouble you've got to turn somewhere, says Steve O'Brien  Continue Reading

• Talking is not dissent

  Behind the scenes alarm bells are ringing at the lack of consultation as the Government prepares the anti-terrorism legislation.  Continue Reading