Opinion

Opinion

• Brevity and honesty will give your CV style

  Becoming a team leader in the third millennium won't be easy, and so as the jobs season approaches David Taylor looks at the...  Continue Reading

• Caveat vendor

  Many senior corporate users are bracing themselves for an increased outbreak of software licence abuse this autumn.  Continue Reading

• Why adopt a Knowledge Management strategy?

  Key pointers about the value of adopting a knowledge management strategy. Is KM a business or an IT tool?  Continue Reading

• Technology turmoil begins to turn

  
  
  

  There are signs that life is returning to technology share prices. The Nasdaq Index has been flirting with the psychologically important 4,000...

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• E-business: new faces in the looking glass

  
  
  David Bicknell

  As the Mad Hatter might have said to the White Rabbit, "I'm going to talk to the director of consumer delight and loyalty, and I'll get...

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• Too young to die, too old for IT?

  Perhaps the IT industry isn't old enough to know better, but ageism in the workplace is driving away potential employees and...  Continue Reading

• The geek shall inherit the Earth

  For years, conference organisers have made a comfortable living from hosting events aimed at preaching to IT directors on how...  Continue Reading

• Wap site links graduates

  
  
  Nicholas Enticknap

  From September, graduates of the University of Buckingham will be able to access their alumni Web site using mobile...

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• Finding the work/life balance

  The over-50s in our industry are very sensitive, and that's to be expected.  Continue Reading

• Future is looking up for e-business

  Everyone's been talking about it for a while, but now it seems that the green shoots of recovery are giving way to a blooming of the market for IT spending - especially in e-business.  Continue Reading

• JBB toasts its PDS scheme

  
  
  The success of the BCS Professional Development Scheme (PDS) among IT staff at drinks manufacturer JBB (Greater Europe) has won the company this year's...  Continue Reading

• Procurement specialists set for advertising battle

  
  
  David Bicknell

  Not satisfied with having created demand for marketplaces from every sector from financial services to aircraft parts, from steel...

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• 'We listened to industry on RIP Act' says Straw

  Last week Computer Weekly columnist David Taylor slammed the new RIP Act as an obstacle to e-business. The home secretary Jack...  Continue Reading

• A suppliers' checklist for selling solutions

  Suppliers selling IT solutions could make things easier for themselves  Continue Reading

• RIP is threat to Net safety

  
  
  Geert Kampschoer

  Soapbox

  A ll sorts of emotions have been stirred by the RIP Act - anger, offence, mistrust. Opponents claim that...

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• Glossy and glorious - but out of touch

  Despite the regular appearances of the e-minister Patricia Hewitt and e-envoy Alex Allan at recent e-commerce-related events, the Government is in danger of substituting quantity for quality  Continue Reading

• Y2K ripples still rocking consultancies

  It has been a buyer's market for IT services over the past year, with the Y2K lockdown and a refusal by consultants to cut back...  Continue Reading

• RIP Act negates tenet of e-friendly country

  In an open letter to the home secretary Jack Straw, David Taylor asks for clarification of some disturbing implications of the...  Continue Reading

• Get prepared for Web-enabled euro e-business

  
  
  Roger Annett

  Opinion

  Companies entering the e-commerce fray are salivating at the prospect of EuroLand's 300 million consumers using...

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• Users sigh as captains' fists fly

  
  
  High-profile fisticuffs between the captains of the supply industry, such as Microsoft's Bill Gates, Sun's Scott McNealy and Oracle's Larry Ellison, is all...  Continue Reading

• Will SP1 for Win 2000 make life sweet for Microsoft?

  As predicted and eagerly expected, Windows 2000's first service pack (SP1) has arrived  Continue Reading

• E-training diary: week four

  It is the final week of the four-week e-commerce training course provided as a prize to one of our readers by People Energy...  Continue Reading

• The nightmare scenario

  Y2K for 'dummies'?  Continue Reading

• E-training diary: week three

  It's week three of the four-week e-commerce training course provided as a prize to one of our readers by People Energy Training....  Continue Reading

• E-commerce: non-delivery fines must ring alarm bells

  
  
  David Bicknell

  E-business

  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is one of the few government organisations that seems to...

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• First-mover advantage or going out on a limb?

  
  
  Gregory Darmohray

  First-mover advantage? What advantage? The events of the past few months in both business-to-consumer and...

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• Sex, booze and karaoke: doing business in Asia

  A belly full of beer is a pre-requisite for negotiating deals in South East Asia.  Continue Reading

• AOL playing a dangerous game with ICQ monopoly

  
  
  Jack Schofield

  Opinion

  America Online (AOL) may already have swallowed its biggest rival CompuServe plus Netscape and various...

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• Convergence: one rule for all?

  
  
  John Riley

  Convergence - where voice, data and video are all delivered digitally down the same pipes - is at an early stage. But with a White...

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• CIOs see a future in the chief exec's job

  
  
  David Taylor

  Inside track

  John Whitworth, chief information officer (CIO) of Cox Insurance, explains the difference between chief...

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• Sting in the tail of the chancellor's high-tech largesse

  
  
  Suki Gallager

  Opinion

  In his latest budget, chancellor Gordon Brown made moves to try to get organisations big and small to make...

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• There's our Wap and their Wap, but it certainly ain't open

  Now if you believe the ad-men, wireless application protocol (Wap) is plug-and-play, and if you listen to our excitable friends...  Continue Reading

• Two years down the line

  After two years on the staff of Computer Weekly, Cliff Saran pens his swansong, recalling Java lows and Microsoft highs  Continue Reading

• Time to learn from IT disasters

  The public sector is failing to learn from its mistakes and is developing a cover-up culture - at great cost to the taxpayer  Continue Reading

• Keep in the know without going barmy

  You want the information and you want it now. Welcome to modern living. But beware data overload.  Continue Reading

• E-training diary: week two

  Computer Weekly reader Jonathan Steel, the winner of a four-week e-commerce training course provided by People Energy Training,...  Continue Reading

• Cute chicks add fun to a fowl job

  Martin Couzins talks turkey with the egghead who designed the Web site for the hit film Chicken Run  Continue Reading

• Adopt a new code of conduct

  
  
  David Bicknell

  Getting to grips with supplier relationship management can help you streamline your company's purchasing processes and at the...

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• Ask Jeeves adds "human touch" to e-commerce

  
  
  David Bicknell

  Search engine Ask Jeeves has launched a business service to help companies ramp up their lagging Web-based customer...

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• Paying due attention to the GUI

  
  
  Ian Benn

  Soapbox

  By the early 1980s everyone knew that if you were going to travel any kind of distance, your chances of getting...

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• Why we need to beef up the law on spam

  We need better legislation to restrict junk e-mail  Continue Reading

• How to be a good boss

  No one wants to be a bad boss, but passing company directions down to the workforce may not always make you the most popular...  Continue Reading

• Pervasive benefits: the rise of mobile Internet devices

  The next customer service revolution - when customer service is delivered via powerful and ubiquitous mobile Internet devices -...  Continue Reading

• Nurture, not nature, is the key to leadership

  
  
  David Taylor

  Inside track

  Many people believe that leaders are born, and not made. Presumably new-born leaders behave in a...

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• 'Sack over-50s' call from IT analyst

  Older IT staff considered unable to cope with changes in working practices  Continue Reading

• Stop IT directors from moving on

  Watching captains of the established services and software industry enjoying themselves on the merry-go-round at the Computing Services & Software Association's 25th birthday party  Continue Reading

• RIP needs safeguards

  
  
  David Bicknell

  Data protection commissioner Elizabeth France has warned that controversial government legislation to monitor e-mail...

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• Stand firm on data privacy

  The EU's decision to back a report questioning the USA's willingness to protect personal data may cause delays in legislation, but will benefit user-privacy in the long run.  Continue Reading

• Worth studying for an MCSE?

  
  
  I have a background in helpdesk support with some experience of PC support, installation and software testing. I should gain a Diploma in Computing from...  Continue Reading

• What would you consign to Rm101?

  
  
  David Taylor

  inside track

  Welcome to the darkest column of them all. Welcome to IT room 101 - a sinister celebration of my 101st...

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• Gates' .net is long on vision but short on infrastructure

  
  
  Simon Moores

  Tech talk

  Smoke and mirrors with lots of Plasticene holding it together. The unkindest of comments to describe...

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• Councils told: set your own target

  Local authorities have been given a looser rein for e-services but they must be consistent, writes Mike Simons  Continue Reading

• Don't worry about ASP confusion

  It appears that IT directors are confused about the role of application service providers (ASPs)  Continue Reading

• Learn the Y2K lesson

  
  
  Neil Kell

  Soapbox

  The cynical opinion now says that the millennium bug was over-hyped. But this assessment dismisses the fact that a...

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• ASP model does not convince directors

  
  
  John Riley

  Groundswell

  One of the biggest areas of disconnection between suppliers and corporate IT users relates to application service...

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• The need for B2B exchanges

  Everyone is talking about business-to-business exchanges. We look at some of the issues you should consider before rushing to...  Continue Reading

• The Hollerith hand punch

  Nick Barry, project manager at Geac JBA, shares his hand punch reminiscences.  Continue Reading

• Time for revisiting long-term strategies

  IT suppliers face tough times for some time to come, to judge from those who pay the wages - corporate IT users.  Continue Reading

• Take positive steps to secure the future

  
  
  David Taylor

  Inside track

  This is my 100th column, and it is dedicated to everyone who is making a positive, decisive difference...

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• Microsoft's .net vision shows a company re-energised by Gates

  Forum 2000, where Microsoft outlined its .net strategy, was a punishing event, even watching the satellite downlink. But it...  Continue Reading

• Oracle claims 'no more middleware'

  
  
  Cliff Saran

  Oracle's Internet platform announced last week by the database giant promises simpler Internet application development by...

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• Don't ignore savings tips

  Recently some companies have chosen to ignore suggestions made by their consultants, unlike Greenwich Nat West where everyone is benefiting from a top-down strategy  Continue Reading

• Another direct site

  
  
  Contractors and clients wishing to "find each other" without paying for the services of a middleman can do so via the recently launched www.No-Agency.com...  Continue Reading

• Constellar win top footy prize

  David Bicknell reports from the final of the Computer Weekly five-a-side football tournament  Continue Reading

• More IT profit warnings issued

  It's been another week for profit warnings from hardware, software and services companies in the industry  Continue Reading

• Bank of Scotland outsourcing deal: a calculated risk

  
  
  John Riley

  How committed is your IT department to outsourcing? Last week's 10-year, £700m outsourcing deal between Bank of Scotland and IBM breaks...

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• Cabinet backs open standards

  Local government is calmed by assurance that e-government will be based on XML. Mike Simons reports  Continue Reading

• Accounting software players need to set standard

  
  
  Eduardo Loigorri

  Soapbox

  Picture the scene: you're at a supermarket checkout and your last item sails past the cashier. She says...

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• Clearing Lane

  Is Oracle's loss of its CEO a sign of the times?  Continue Reading

• Don't marginalise e-ideas

  While some companies are viewing e-business as a mysterious new technology, others, led by General Electric, are recognising it as simply a new medium for business success  Continue Reading

• Don't let it pass you by

  
  
  Jacqueline de Rojas

  Soapbox

  What will you say when your grandchildren ask, "How was Internet advent for you?"

  You could...

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• No respite in face of ongoing innovation

  
  
  David Taylor

  Inside Track

  In the first of an occasional series of interviews with leading IT directors, David Taylor asks Chris...

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• Brave.net world? Microsoft must explain its new strategy

  Microsoft is vague on what .net really means to users  Continue Reading

• What's really in a name?

  Consultants, analysts and academics are whipping up a whirlwind over whether the future of the IT director is as a chief information officer (CIO) or as a chief technology officer (CTO).  Continue Reading

• Welcome openness

  
  
  National Air Traffic Service (Nats) responded in the best possible way to last week's Computer Weekly which asked: "Seven more years of this?" in...  Continue Reading

• Standardising desktop services

  With many users to support it is important to find a way to deliver standardisation across the desktop and related facilities  Continue Reading

• Compare the good, bad and ugly council Web sites

  
  
  The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee ripped into public sector Web sites earlier this month, accusing the Government of squandering its early...  Continue Reading

• Now is the time to seek funding

  
  
  Ian Mitchell

  City briefing

  The greatest hurdle fledgling technology companies face is winning over enough investors to back...

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• Forget the suppliers, ASPs need to consider customers

  Tech Talk  Continue Reading

• NATS must be more open

  Accountability is key to Nats' project success  Continue Reading

• Isn't it all over yet?

  
  
  Spurred on by Euro 2000 football fever, Swedish mobile entertainment company, Picofun, has made its first interactive, multi-operator WAP game, Picofun...  Continue Reading

• More staff shortages, says Recruitment and Employment Confederation

  
  
  Growing demand for both permanent and contract staff resulted in a further rise in skills shortages and wages in May, reveals the Recruitment and...  Continue Reading

• Unite staff distanced by remote working

  
  
  Much of the debate on teleworking to date has focused on full-time working from remote rural locations. This may be idyllic for some, but in reality it is only...  Continue Reading

• Career briefs

  
  
  

  • Employers prefer IT qualifications to degrees and A-levels, according to a study by training company New Horizons. Over 55% of the 700 recruitment and...
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• A Tower of Babel: controlling Internet costs

  
  
  Mark Lancaster

  Soapbox

  Congratulations. You've successfully rolled out a global e-commerce strategy and have a fully functional...

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• Hays IT wins award

  
  
  Recruitment company, Hays IT was recently presented with the BT IT Supplier of the Quarter award for "outstanding all round performance", during a ride on...  Continue Reading

• Wap listings service takes off

  If you are looking for somewhere to eat, sleep or be entertained, Citikey puts knowledge at your fingertips  Continue Reading

• Y2K still ripples through the market

  Y2K may no longer be an issue that bothers IT directors very much, but the reverberations continue to be felt in the City where...  Continue Reading

• ZX80, ZX81, ZX Spectrum

  Reader Ray Gillies-Jones fondly remembers early Sinclair hardware.  Continue Reading

• Best practice may not always be best policy

  As IT leaders, we are positively drowned in best practice. Armies of academics, researchers and gurus publish, present and patter...  Continue Reading

• Two Baby Bills will rake in the readies even more than one big MS

  Microsoft may be acting irrationally to the threat of a split-up because it is Bill Gates's baby, but two Microsofts should be...  Continue Reading

• Institute of Directors starts crusade to boost IT influence with the board

  
  
  John Riley

  IT managers still have too little influence in shaping commercial strategy, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD),...

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• The Microsoft paradox: punished for being too successful

  Bill Gates and Microsoft are being penalised for being too successful. Gates is a good businessman and, as such, he wants to grow...  Continue Reading

• EU comes out fighting

  e-business The plan by the European Union to levy tax on foreign companies for services delivered in Europe via the Internet...  Continue Reading

• Don't expect B2B to cover your organisation in glory

  Promoting a fancy e-business Web interface is little more than putting lipstick on the pig.  Continue Reading

• E-business hampered by logistics

  IT directors at the recent Computer Weekly 500 club meeting expressed serious concerns about the logistics of e-business. Julia...  Continue Reading

• Experian bags £80m outsourcing deal -- and other sales win briefs

  
  
  Finance house signs £80m outsourcing deal

  First National Tricity Finance (FNTF) has signed an outsourcing deal with Experian worth £80m over...

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• We're all part of the business now

  
  
  David Taylor

  Inside track

  When I attend IT conferences, I often hear speakers refer to "the business", presumably meaning all...

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• Desktop standardisation

  A wide variety of hardware and software within one IT infrastructure can be a real headache for the IT department. We offer some...  Continue Reading

• Implementing CRM

  
  
  Implementing CRM will entail flexible thinking

  ERP is out and CRM is in - that is the message the pundits are giving in the wake of troubles...

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