Do You Manage A Website Or A Warehouse?
There are two types of people involved in websites today: those who see content as an asset, and those who see it as a commodity. The latter better start looking for a new career.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/1207.html
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12.07.04 |
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Disaster
Recovery: A Critical Business Issue
In
today's environment, the effects of a long-term operations outage
could have catastrophic consequences to an organization, making
contingency planning a critical business issue rather than exclusively
a data processing issue.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/1116.html
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11.16.04 |
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To
Each His Own
I
give a fair number of speeches for conferences and private IT
department meetings, and there's almost always a chance for
questions and answers during the formal presentation.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/1019.html
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10.19.04 |
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Microsoft
Great Plains Installation – Overview For IT Director/Controller
This
is short article, written in question/answer/FAQ style to give
IT Director/Controller balanced top level information on Microsoft
Business Solutions Great Plains implementation. If you have
decided on Microsoft Great Plains as main accounting and ERP
system you need to know some technical details on Great Plains
installation and implementation and what is going on behind
the scenes. As of right now the current version is Microsoft
Great Plains 8.0
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/1005.html
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10.05.04 |
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Web-based
Project Management
QuickBase is Web-based, so you can view the latest information,
then share it instantly with anyone on your team. No more details
falling through the cracks or not knowing who was responsible
for a particular task.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0907.html
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09.07.04 |
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Questions
Trump Answers
Information
technology people tend to be answer people. When users, managers,
family members or even random people from the Internet have
questions, we're right there with the answers, because we're
always the smart people. One of the first things we learn in
school is that being smart means having the answers.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0817.html
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08.17.04 |
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IT
governance is on the hot seat
Before
Allstate Insurance Co. formed a capital spending committee with
IT governance responsibilities about 18 months ago, the process
of prioritizing IT projects typically was decided by "whoever
spoke the loudest or whoever had the biggest checkbook," said
Chief Technology Officer Cathy Brune.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0720.html
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07.20.04 |
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When
modelling business processes, upside down is the right way up
One
of my all time favorite ideas in problem solving is from the
Hungarian mathematician George Pólya. It is known as Pólya's
Inventor's Paradox. It comes in many forms but the easiest is
this:
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0615.html
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06.15.04 |
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Evaluating
ROI For Anti-spam Initiatives
Nearly
36% of all e-mail messages received today are spam, according
to a recent NetIQ study of 750 small and large organizations
worldwide. That's a 6-fold increase over the past three years.
The issue has reached such epidemic proportions that if its
growth goes unabated, it can potentially ruin the utility and
business value of e-mail.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0601.html
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06.01.04 |
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The
demise of Hara-Kiri computing
If
you disembowel any run-of-the-mill software application and
examine its entrails - the software - you will notice that a
significant amount of effort goes into dealing with errors.
Pass within hearing distance of a white board when application
developers are sketching a design and you will hear lots of
questions of the form "what if X happens?".
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0518.html
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05.18.04 |
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Protecting
Your Software Investment in Case of a Merger or Acquisition
Critical work in your organization is directly
tied to the fate of your software vendors. So when PeopleSoft
buys J.D. Edwards or Oracle attempts a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft,
you are understandably nervous. Your nervousness usually does
not stem from your love of PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards or Oracle,
but because the future of the software products you use everyday
to run your business is now questionable at best and in jeopardy
at worst.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0504.html
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05.04.04 |
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The
Top Three Problems IT Managers Face and How to Overcome Them
Today’s
business environment has changed drastically from just a few
years back. Rather than working exclusively with equipment,
data, and systems, today’s IT managers face issues such as cross
training, personnel management, interdepartmental communication,
and a widening job scope for all IT employees.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0420.html
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04.20.04 |
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How
To Sell: SMEs - Can you manage?
|
What
Kind Of Manager Are You, Anyway?
It's
often said that there are two types of managers: those who manage
things and those who manage people. And a great divide of misunderstanding
lies between them, rarely to be crossed or reconciled.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0316.html
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03.16.04 |
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Clawing
Through Change
Some
of the most important lessons I've learned about transforming
organizations came from the struggle to shed an unpleasant habit.
During high school and most of college, I was a fingernail biter.
It's one of those nasty nervous habits that no one feels good
about. My jagged, raggedy, nibbled, nubbin nails were a constant
source of embarrassment.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0217.html
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02.17.04 |
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Is
The Value Worth The Risk?
When
you invest in a major IT project, you expect significant value.
If you didn't, you wouldn't start the project. At some level
you know that achieving the value is not going to be risk free.
Here's the $64,000 question. Is the value worth the risk? Many
IT software vendors would prefer you think only about the value
and not about the risk. Their sales process may not include
helping you understand the risks you will have to manage to
gain the value.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0204.html
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02.04.04 |
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Embrace
Politics To Enhance IT/Business Alignment
Every
January, we're treated to a plethora of surveys about IT executive
priorities for the next year. From year to year, the top one
or two items seem to change, but virtually everything below
that level stays the same. Beyond the current hot topics, the
priorities and problems of IT departments tend to be relatively
stable.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0120.html
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01.20.04 |
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Preparing
A Contract With An Outsource Service Provider
When
your in-house expertise and/or budget doesn't allow you to implement
a vital IT development project, it's time to weigh the advantages
and disadvantages of outsourcing. If you finally decide to outsource
your project, you have to choose an outsource service provider
(OSP) that best fits your needs. The next step - a most important
and responsible one - is negotiating and preparing a contract.
http://www.ctoupdate.com/2004/0106.html
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01.06.04 |
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