All the recent talk in the US surrounding proposed healthcare reform has inspired me to take a look at how BI and data warehousing are making an impact on healthcare and medicine. For our international readers who've not been following the healthcare debate in the US, the political discourse has reached a level of circuslike behavior.

All the recent talk in the US surrounding proposed healthcare reform has inspired me to take a look at how BI and data warehousing are making an impact on healthcare and medicine. For our international readers who've not been following the healthcare debate in the US, the political discourse has reached a level of circuslike behavior.

There was an interesting and well-written column in the New York Times editorial section a few weeks ago called "Sleepwalking Through September," by Doug Glanville (20 August 2009).

Cloud computing is bringing about a radical change in how IT and computation are done today. Cloud computing is all about elastic computing, and making effective use of this elastic nature not only helps reduce cost but also harnesses huge raw computing power only when it is needed. All these features make cloud computing quite attractive to several industry verticals that are constantly on the lookout for more easy-to-use computing capabilities at a much lower cost.

Cloud computing is bringing about a radical change in how IT and computation are done today. Cloud computing is all about elastic computing, and making effective use of this elastic nature not only helps reduce cost but also harnesses huge raw computing power only when it is needed. All these features make cloud computing quite attractive to several industry verticals that are constantly on the lookout for more easy-to-use computing capabilities at a much lower cost.

Cloud computing is bringing about a radical change in how IT and computation are done today. Cloud computing is all about elastic computing, and making effective use of this elastic nature not only helps reduce cost but also harnesses huge raw computing power only when it is needed. All these features make cloud computing quite attractive to several industry verticals that are constantly on the lookout for more easy-to-use computing capabilities at a much lower cost.

The idea of separating an organization's core functionality from its contextual functionality, with the view of concentrating its own resources on what it does best -- the "core" -- and outsourcing what others can do faster, cheaper, and better -- the "context" -- is highly prevalent and well known.

"Everything's negotiable" is a phrase we hear a lot these days. It applies to buying a car, a home, or even a vacation. It especially applies to technology services.

"Everything's negotiable" is a phrase we hear a lot these days. It applies to buying a car, a home, or even a vacation. It especially applies to technology services.

"Everything's negotiable" is a phrase we hear a lot these days. It applies to buying a car, a home, or even a vacation. It especially applies to technology services.

We've never seen the effects of a recession during a time when so many customers and businesses depend on IT. Companies are responding very naturally by cutting projects and cutting investments in IT.

We've never seen the effects of a recession during a time when so many customers and businesses depend on IT. Companies are responding very naturally by cutting projects and cutting investments in IT.

Agile testing is, among other things, about testing early, testing often, and testing smart. How do you achieve that? A combination of actions that can take place in parallel can help you get there. You can start by increasing your QA staff's skills through training (formal or peer-based) so that they are able to not only execute automated tests but also enhance the existing test-code base and create new ones.

Efectuar pruebas de forma agile tiene que ver, entre otras cosas, con probar tempranamente, muchas veces, y astutamente. ¿Como puede lograr eso? Llevando a cabo una serie de acciones en paralelo. Puede comenzar con incrementar el nivel de conocimientos del personal de QA mediante entrenamiento (el cual puede ser formal o mediante compañeros de trabajo) con el fin de que no tan solo puedan ejecutar pruebas automatizadas sino también mejorar el código de pruebas existentes, e inclusive codificar nuevas pruebas.

In one of my recent Trends Advisors ("One Small "Oops" for Amazon, One Giant "Holy #$@%" for Mankind," 23 July 2009), I discussed the unpleasantness between Amazon and its customers who found one morning that their (now illegal) copy of George Orwell's 1984 had been somehow removed from their Kindle electronic rea

In one of my recent Trends Advisors ("One Small "Oops" for Amazon, One Giant "Holy #$@%" for Mankind," 23 July 2009), I discussed the unpleasantness between Amazon and its customers who found one morning that their (now illegal) copy of George Orwell's 1984 had been somehow removed from their Kindle electronic rea

I was having coffee this morning with colleague Ken Collier and we were talking about Test-driven development (TDD) and the trials and tribulations of trying to implement TDD in a development environment. I left Ken and went out for a leisurely bike ride down from the Ponderosa pines in Flagstaff to the Scrub Oak and Juniper 1,500 feet lower and 15 miles out of town (then back up-ugh).

"The worst may be behind us."

So said US President Obama in August, ever the optimist. He was not alone, however. Joining him was a rather large chorus of investors who over the past few months cheered some of the economic data, driving the stock market up.

"The worst may be behind us."

So said US President Obama in August, ever the optimist. He was not alone, however. Joining him was a rather large chorus of investors who over the past few months cheered some of the economic data, driving the stock market up.

In ancient times, the Oracle (the person, not the database) was someone to whom you addressed important questions. The answers that the Oracle gave were always true, but were often given in an elaborate code. I imagined recently that I took some of my clients' questions to a modern version of the Oracle for enlightenment.

Search is having a major influence on BI and data retrieval and analysis in general. Although the technology is still developing, the combination of BI and search is important because it can provide nontechnical business users and BI consumers with easier access to -- and the ability to analyze -- both structured and unstructured information.

Cutter is paying attention to IT governance in 2009. The September Cutter Benchmark Review (CBR) reports the results of the recent Cutter IT Governance Survey. The December Cutter IT Journal, which we're editing, is about IT governance. Recent CIO surveys done by others place IT governance in the top echelon of concerns.

Why all this attention? Simply, because effective IT governance creates IT value.

If agility is about delivering customer value by being flexible, then how can adherence to a traditional scope, schedule, and cost plan be the best way to measure performance? It can't be. With pervasive change the norm, we can no longer "follow the plan with minimal changes." Instead, our focus needs to be on successfully adapting to inevitable changes. We need to move beyond the classic Iron Triangle measures to an Agile Triangle that focuses on Value, Quality, and Constraints.

In his groundbreaking book Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore develops his interpretation of the technology adoption cycle of Everett Rogers. This cycle starts with the innovators, moving on to the early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and finally, the laggards.

The shift from local to distributed, from physical to truly digital, is inevitable. Maintaining digital infrastructures, however commoditized, is not core to any of the beneficiaries of the Web, just as running one's own power plant makes no sense. Preteens, adolescents, and young adults don't even think about these things.