In honor of this week's International Green IT Awareness Week, I was asked to write “something green.” I thought of writing something in green ink, but realized that wasn’t what was desired.

In honor of this week's International Green IT Awareness Week, I was asked to write “something green.” I thought of writing something in green ink, but realized that wasn’t what was desired.

There has been much talk and action about business-IT alignment and misalignment and their impact on business. Now, one more factor -- environmental sustainability -- needs to be included in the business-IT nexus. With growing concern about the deterioration of our environment, businesses -- IT and non-IT, small and large -- are required to minimize their environmental impacts and take on a new agenda, environmental sustainability, into their portfolio.

This is the second in a series of Executive Updates about how the management unit of a nonprofit organization, finding itself faced with a problematic IT function, turned adversity to advantage over a 12-month period.

-- Vandana Shiva (in Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis)[1]

IT outsourcing, as a valid business strategy, encompasses such IT services as software and Web development, technical and customer support services, data analysis, customer relationship management, and business intelligence (BI).

IT outsourcing, as a valid business strategy, encompasses such IT services as software and Web development, technical and customer support services, data analysis, customer relationship management, and business intelligence (BI).

IT outsourcing, as a valid business strategy, encompasses such IT services as software and Web development, technical and customer support services, data analysis, customer relationship management, and business intelligence (BI).

SAP AG's announcement that it is acquiring Sybase Inc. for US $5.8 billion primarily has to do with the enterprise software giant getting its hands on Sybase’s mobile computing infrastructure, which SAP can use to significantly bolster its mobile applications initiatives.

Companies such as Siemens USA, Best Buy, and Sun Microsystems use social media to form powerful online communities. Those communities — through an “amplification effect” — foster innovation and process improvements far more quickly than companies can achieve with traditional improvement mechanisms.

If you hear the words "social media" and think Facebook and Twitter, then you have some idea what it is.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) and agile software development have both evolved in recent years toward a combined concept of enterprise agility. Coming from different environments and differing in requirements, they are nonetheless founded in many of the same principles. Bringing them together, however, requires some changes to both.

Recent years have shown a range of vital changes to core IT concepts, resulting in evolutionary developments from cloud computing to enterprise risk management. In particular, in the area of software development and deployment, agile development methodologies and service-oriented architecture (SOA) have seen wide-scale implementation in response to the need to embrace rapid change to business conditions.

In this issue of Cutter Benchmark Review, we focus at the intersection of three topics discussed previously: mobile technology (Vol. 9, No. 3) on the one hand and privacy (Vol. 6, No. 1) and security (Vol. 5, No. 12) on the other. We do so because we feel that these topics, interesting each on its own, take on renewed relevance when combined. It is undeniable that mobile form factors, from the laptop to the smartphone to the iPad and who knows what next, will continue to gain prominence in the personal and organizational technology arsenal. As they do so, the importance of securing the mobile platform while ensuring the privacy of its users will continue to increase commensurably. In short, given the unabated trends toward continued miniaturization, connectivity, and battery longevity, it is undeniable that mobile security and privacy are only going to grow in importance.

This issue of CBR on security and privacy of the mobile platform centers on a combination of topics we have already covered in previous installments. However, when combined, these issues introduce some idiosyncrasies that warrant special attention. We cover these issues by tapping into the expertise of two contributors who have been following the evolution of the mobile platform, in its many incarnations, over a number of years.

This Executive Report by Steve Andriole and Vince Schiavone focuses on the roles that social media can play in the execution of your business strategies and the improvement of your business processes and models. The report describes a process that should lead to the optimization of social media in your company.

Social media is everywhere, all the time. It's about participation -- by everyone. It's also fueled by consumerization, where technology innovation and adoption are driven by requirements and preferences that originate with consumers (and consumer vendors) rather than cubicle-constrained professionals and their corporate technology providers.

This Executive Report by Robert K. Wysocki explores the collaborative relationship that can and should exist between a project manager (PM) and a business analyst (BA).

The accompanying Executive Report explores the collaborative relationship that can and should exist between a project manager (PM) and a business analyst (BA).

Innovation

Colleges and universities are rapidly adopting online learning and other computer-based learning tools and techniques. The next generation of graduates will be computer savvy but not necessarily technically or socially competent. CIOs should take an active role with educational institutions as colleges struggle to redefine their core curriculums to be relevant for today's learning community.

Innovation

Colleges and universities are rapidly adopting online learning and other computer-based learning tools and techniques. The next generation of graduates will be computer savvy but not necessarily technically or socially competent. CIOs should take an active role with educational institutions as colleges struggle to redefine their core curriculums to be relevant for today's learning community.

Here's a notion that I mentioned at a meeting last year. It caused a little stir in the room, so I thought I'd pass it along here. Writing about politics, T. D. Weldon had a helpful idea in The Vocabulary of Politics (Penguin Books, 1953).

Here's a notion that I mentioned at a meeting last year. It caused a little stir in the room, so I thought I'd pass it along here. Writing about politics, T. D. Weldon had a helpful idea in The Vocabulary of Politics (Penguin Books, 1953).