Business intelligence (BI) has been evolving recently under the combined pressures of more sophisticated processing requirements, wider access for nonanalysts, and the increasing need for real-time analysis. The need for analysis is acute, yet meeting that need with the traditional enterprise data warehouse structure is viewed as increasingly problematic.

Business intelligence (BI) has been evolving recently under the combined pressures of more sophisticated processing requirements, wider access for nonanalysts, and the increasing need for real-time analysis. The need for analysis is acute, yet meeting that need with the traditional enterprise data warehouse structure is viewed as increasingly problematic.

In this issue, you'll discover how a midsized online retailer, still reeling from lawsuits and a highly public data breach, righted its course by implementing a formal risk management program with information security, privacy, and regulatory compliance components. You'll hear from a professional penetration tester, who will tell you why it's in your best interests to have someone like him (or your own IT professionals) break into your network -- and how such tests can benefit everyone from compliance and security employees to your audit and legal departments. You'll even learn how a “global governance” approach can enable you to bring “diverse economic, political, professional, and educational resources” to bear on your organization's security and privacy compliance challenges. Join Cutter Senior Consultant Rebecca Herold, one of Computerworld's “Best Privacy Advisers” of 2008, for a closer look at why this topic should be at the forefront of your agenda.

Struggling with the age-old challenge of too much demand and not enough time and resources to do it all? We all know what the solution is: focus on those things that yield the greatest value for your organization. Fortunately, two major methodologies -- portfolio management and lean -- have emerged over the past decade that can help you find and maintain that focus. But what if you could take these two proven approaches and bring them together? Would it work?

From not enough resources to more demanding customers to the rapid pace of change, IT faces increasing challenges. And in the midst of all this, the business depends on us even more to find new ways to leverage technology to increase business competitiveness. IT must also deal with a variety of problems, such as legacy system costs, backlog of demand, and "solutions" that are often more hype than reality.

This Executive Report by Dr. Sara Cullen is the third in a four-part series on the outsourcing lifecycle. The series is based on a detailed understanding of the outsourcing experiences of 107 organizations. This report picks up where Part II left off and takes you through the final building block of the Architect Phase (Design) and the two building blocks of the Engage Phase (Select and Negotiate), the first two of four phases in the outsourcing lifecycle. These building blocks will have a crucial effect on how successful your outsourcing initiative will be.

This Executive Report by Dr. Sara Cullen is the third in a four-part series on the outsourcing lifecycle. The series is based on a detailed understanding of the outsourcing experiences of 107 organizations. This report picks up where Part II left off and takes you through the final building block of the Architect Phase (Design) and the two building blocks of the Engage Phase (Select and Negotiate), the first two of four phases in the outsourcing lifecycle. These building blocks will have a crucial effect on how successful your outsourcing initiative will be.

Security

More major breaches have set the stage for regulations penalizing organizations when personal data in their files is compromised.

Security

More major breaches have set the stage for regulations penalizing organizations when personal data in their files is compromised.

Security

More major breaches have set the stage for regulations penalizing organizations when personal data in their files is compromised.

A large international company's agile transition recently got me contemplating countries' cultural differences and their impact on such transitions. The same thing happens in company transitions, of course, but cultural differences among countries have most been on my mind.

"We learn from history that we learn nothing from history," or so wrote Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in The Revolutionist's Handbook

The swine flu pandemic gives us an opportunity in real time to see how accurate Shaw's observation is in practice, especially in regard to "near misses."

We read much these days about business process management (BPM) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) converging. Is that just hype, or does it really make sense? And if it does make sense, just what might that mean for our organization -- not just in terms of technology, but also in terms of that subtler, softer kind of thing we call "culture" -- the unwritten rules of the game?

Nearly four years ago, Tim O'Reilly offered up a "compact definition" of Web 2.0. He wrote that it is:

Nearly four years ago, Tim O'Reilly offered up a "compact definition" of Web 2.0. He wrote that it is:

We've been involved recently in a number of client initiatives to improve their IT governance. But what exactly does that mean?

I was startled a few weeks ago while talking to someone about enterprise architecture, when a question about data architecture came up. One of the EA folks in the group said, "3,3" -- as if that was the conclusive answer to a question, and a number of people nodded knowingly.

"Huh?" I said.

"Column 3, Row 3," he responded.

Many reviews over outsourcing agreements are conducted in a similar fashion as employee performance reviews. There are a few categories, and the current contract manager gives his or her personal opinion about performance on an annual basis.

Many reviews over outsourcing agreements are conducted in a similar fashion as employee performance reviews. There are a few categories, and the current contract manager gives his or her personal opinion about performance on an annual basis.

Oracle Corporation is buying real-time data integration vendor GoldenGate Software, Inc. Although this deal can hardly be considered a strategic acquisition (financial terms were not disclosed), it is important, nevertheless, because it gives Oracle several real-time data integration technologies.