This survey examined current views on Web 2.0 and its importance to the enterprise. The geographic distribution of the 133 respondents is worldwide, with 45% of responding organizations headquartered in North America, 25% in Europe, 23% in Australia/Pacific, and the rest in other parts of the world. Organization size varies, with 17% reporting more than 50,000 employees, 17% reporting between 5,000 and 50,000 employees, 25% reporting between 500 and 5,000 employees, 17% reporting between 100 and 500 employees, and the remainder reporting 100 or fewer employees.

Open source business intelligence (BI) is attractive for a number of reasons, especially a lower initial cost, perceived lower overall cost, simplicity of operation, and adherence to standards. The power and capability of business intelligence is growing, and the capacity to perform sophisticated data analysis with easy-access reporting -- hallmarks of BI -- is increasingly attractive to smaller businesses that do not have the budget to undertake full-scale commercial implementations.

Open source business intelligence software is beginning to come of age, not so much as competition to the major BI platforms but instead as market enhancement.

Businesses are required to comply with a significant number of laws and regulations governing everything from human resources to environmental matters. As if these laws and regulations were not enough, businesses also have to comply with a new industry standard affecting the security of credit card data -- the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI, for short). The goal of PCI is to create a security standard that businesses must follow in their handling of credit cardholder data.

Businesses are required to comply with a significant number of laws and regulations governing everything from human resources to environmental matters. As if these laws and regulations were not enough, businesses also have to comply with a new industry standard affecting the security of credit card data -- the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI, for short). The goal of PCI is to create a security standard that businesses must follow in their handling of credit cardholder data.

"For me, the position of CIO is simply the most interesting and challenging job in the business world, and guess what? The job will continue to change and morph in the years ahead, making it more interesting and challenging than ever."

-- Sheleen Quish, Guest Editor

"For me, the position of CIO is simply the most interesting and challenging job in the business world, and guess what? The job will continue to change and morph in the years ahead, making it more interesting and challenging than ever."

-- Sheleen Quish, Guest Editor

I'm honestly getting tired of all this CIO navel-gazing.

I've scanned the CIO self-help cottage industry for some time now, and I've never seen so much hand-wringing about the failures of IT and the difficulties in becoming a good CIO. The angst is truly amazing.

I'm honestly getting tired of all this CIO navel-gazing.

I've scanned the CIO self-help cottage industry for some time now, and I've never seen so much hand-wringing about the failures of IT and the difficulties in becoming a good CIO. The angst is truly amazing.

The call for papers for this issue of Cutter IT Journal asked whether the CIO of today is primarily a technology manager or a strategic visionary.

The call for papers for this issue of Cutter IT Journal asked whether the CIO of today is primarily a technology manager or a strategic visionary.

Long before Nicholas Carr published his now-famous "IT Doesn't Matter" article in the Harvard Business Review [1], technology leadership was changing.

Long before Nicholas Carr published his now-famous "IT Doesn't Matter" article in the Harvard Business Review [1], technology leadership was changing.

Thomas Friedman's book The World Is Flat [3] has finally disappeared from the Top Ten books list, but for more than a year it was a must-read for anyone interested in understanding what is happening in global business these days and how globalization is impacting our lives and our children's lives. That said, the book really was more of a current-state/future-state snapshot of globalization.

Thomas Friedman's book The World Is Flat [3] has finally disappeared from the Top Ten books list, but for more than a year it was a must-read for anyone interested in understanding what is happening in global business these days and how globalization is impacting our lives and our children's lives. That said, the book really was more of a current-state/future-state snapshot of globalization.

The demand to reduce cost and increase business performance, while at the same time evolving systems to fit global markets, ensures that IT is no longer the sideshow that it used to be. Nonetheless, one consequence of moving technology's act into the center ring is that every CIO is now accountable for getting maximum return on investment out of each corporate IT dollar.

The demand to reduce cost and increase business performance, while at the same time evolving systems to fit global markets, ensures that IT is no longer the sideshow that it used to be. Nonetheless, one consequence of moving technology's act into the center ring is that every CIO is now accountable for getting maximum return on investment out of each corporate IT dollar.

The distributed nature of projects in today's workplace deprives project managers of many of the traditional, authoritative management tools that were common not too long ago. In the past, staff working on a given project reported to and were accountable to the same organization as the project manager. The project staff all worked for the same department in the same company, were colocated with the project manager and with each other, and worked with each other on projects over a long period of time.

The distributed nature of projects in today's workplace deprives project managers of many of the traditional, authoritative management tools that were common not too long ago. In the past, staff working on a given project reported to and were accountable to the same organization as the project manager. The project staff all worked for the same department in the same company, were colocated with the project manager and with each other, and worked with each other on projects over a long period of time.

It had been nearly 20 years since a new electronic stock exchange had been built, and the community needed new technology. The Swiss Stock Exchange took up the challenge, hoping to sell the system to other exchanges. Two previous attempts had been made to move the traders from the floor to electronic trading, but these attempts failed. The third attempt finally worked.

Privacy and trust are essential to maintaining good relationships with customers, employees, and business partners. Addressing privacy issues is also necessary in order to comply with a growing number of privacy regulations worldwide.

Privacy and trust are essential to maintaining good relationships with customers, employees, and business partners. Addressing privacy issues is also necessary in order to comply with a growing number of privacy regulations worldwide.

Privacy is essential to maintaining good relationships with customers, employees, and business partners.

Privacy is essential to maintaining good relationships with customers, employees, and business partners.

The increase in the proportion of a company's value that stems from its intellectual assets has become a fact of business in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. As companies use, create, and license more and more intellectual property (IP), they are forced to draft, review, and negotiate agreements on a daily basis that contain clauses concerning the licensing, purchase, or protection of IP rights.