In his recent E-mail Advisor, titled "Software as a Service," Mike Rosen, the Director of Cutter Consortium's Enterprise Architecture Practice, does a great job of identifying some of the technological advancements which are making "SaaS" a viable solution for a variety of application requirements.

Although everyone's known that it's been in the works for some time now, Microsoft last week finally revealed its plans for its upcoming on-demand CRM offering: "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live."

One important fact to keep in mind when considering Microsoft's planned entry into the CRM software as a service (SaaS) market, is that it will not become generally available until sometime in mid-2007 for North America, with other locales to follow.

Although everyone's known that it's been in the works for some time now, Microsoft last week finally revealed its plans for its upcoming on-demand CRM offering: "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live."

One important fact to keep in mind when considering Microsoft's planned entry into the CRM software as a service (SaaS) market, is that it will not become generally available until sometime in mid-2007 for North America, with other locales to follow.

We think that this is a great time to focus on IT innovation because, as George Westerman, a research scientist with Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) points out in the May 2006 issue of Cutter Benchmark Review (CBR), innovation is alive and well in IT shops around the world, after years of tightening budgets and requests for keeping the lights on utilizing fewer and fewer resources.

We think that this is a great time to focus on IT innovation because, as George Westerman, a research scientist with Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) points out in the May 2006 issue of Cutter Benchmark Review (CBR), innovation is alive and well in IT shops around the world, after years of tightening budgets and requests for keeping the lights on utilizing fewer and fewer resources.

We think that this is a great time to focus on IT innovation because, as George Westerman, a research scientist with Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) points out in the May 2006 issue of Cutter Benchmark Review (CBR), innovation is alive and well in IT shops around the world, after years of tightening budgets and requests for keeping the lights on utilizing fewer and fewer resources.

An IT management idea that has not outlived its usefulness suggests how improved might be the performance of the IT organization were its members to undergo communications skills training. Put a router in a computer jock's hands and he's happy. Put him in front of a capital planning committee to justify the IT shop's 20% budget increase request and the result might be an audience recommendation to stick with routers.

Most CIOs lead lives of quiet desperation, standing on a burning platform surrounded by a turbulent technological sea. But a few fortunate souls live in a different world -- one in which technology is seen by the organization as the "go-to" source for process improvement, as an enabler of business strategy, and even occasionally, as the means for achieving competitive advantage.

Given the increasing use of mobile technology in many corporations, how can we weave that technology into a future IT department architecture that will prove resilient over the years to come while still addressing the immediacy of making a difference to the bottom line today?

In April 2006, Cutter Consortium conducted a survey that asked 106 end-user organizations about their use of open source business intelligence (BI) tools. The goal was to determine the degree to which companies are using or planning to use open source BI tools. In particular, the survey was designed to identify the issues and trends encountered in these efforts and to provide statistics useful for benchmarking and measuring your own organization's use of open source BI tools.

Projects have problems. Most problems arise and are solved somewhat quickly; on some projects, however, the problems accumulate and are compounded to a point where they cannot be resolved successfully. These are sometimes called "troubled projects." These projects may limp along to the finish line. However, if the sponsor and management stakeholders perceive that the project cannot get to the finish line, a project rescue should be attempted.

Conducting audits of outsourcing deals is not something every organization focuses on. There are usually so many operational fires to be put out that review and compliance processes can easily be overlooked. Imagine, however, if you never reviewed your staff: they may become disinterested and unmotivated, and (worst of all) you may not know what they are actually doing! Outsourcing arrangements are no different.

Conducting audits of outsourcing deals is not something every organization focuses on. There are usually so many operational fires to be put out that review and compliance processes can easily be overlooked. Imagine, however, if you never reviewed your staff: they may become disinterested and unmotivated, and (worst of all) you may not know what they are actually doing! Outsourcing arrangements are no different.

Conducting audits of outsourcing deals is not something every organization focuses on. There are usually so many operational fires to be put out that review and compliance processes can easily be overlooked. Imagine, however, if you never reviewed your staff: they may become disinterested and unmotivated, and (worst of all) you may not know what they are actually doing! Outsourcing arrangements are no different.

Global sourcing is the hallmark of the 21st-century organization. As New York Times best-selling author Thomas L. Friedman articulates so brilliantly in his latest book The World Is Flat [1], China -- along with other low-cost country sourcing (LCCS) phenomena -- is fast becoming part of the global supply chain through the convergence of technology.

Global sourcing is the hallmark of the 21st-century organization. As New York Times best-selling author Thomas L. Friedman articulates so brilliantly in his latest book The World Is Flat [1], China -- along with other low-cost country sourcing (LCCS) phenomena -- is fast becoming part of the global supply chain through the convergence of technology.

The US government has mandated federal agencies to create a transition plan for migration to IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) by February 2007 and to comply with the edict by mid-2008. Given the paternity of the US Department of Defense (DoD) in establishing the Internet as we know it, one would expect rapid acceptance in the private sector, but, of course, one would be wrong. Migration to this advanced networking protocol has proceeded slowly, and there are many reasons why.

The US government has mandated federal agencies to create a transition plan for migration to IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) by February 2007 and to comply with the edict by mid-2008. Given the paternity of the US Department of Defense (DoD) in establishing the Internet as we know it, one would expect rapid acceptance in the private sector, but, of course, one would be wrong. Migration to this advanced networking protocol has proceeded slowly, and there are many reasons why.

The US government has mandated federal agencies to create a transition plan for migration to IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) by February 2007 and to comply with the edict by mid-2008. Given the paternity of the US Department of Defense (DoD) in establishing the Internet as we know it, one would expect rapid acceptance in the private sector, but, of course, one would be wrong. Migration to this advanced networking protocol has proceeded slowly, and there are many reasons why.

I always enjoy the annual Cutter Summit conference. At this wonderful event, I have a chance to talk to a lot of old friends and Cutter clients and, most important, I always meet and learn from people who I haven't heard from before. This year was no exception: there were great talks about wikis, open source, and technology roadmapping planning. However, there was also something I find distressing: there was still an inordinate amount of discussion about code and coding.

I always enjoy the annual Cutter Summit conference. At this wonderful event, I have a chance to talk to a lot of old friends and Cutter clients and, most important, I always meet and learn from people who I haven't heard from before. This year was no exception: there were great talks about wikis, open source, and technology roadmapping planning. However, there was also something I find distressing: there was still an inordinate amount of discussion about code and coding.

Given how besieged organizations must feel today by both the growth in the incidence of information security breaches and the types of information security breach techniques that result in those breaches, the knee-jerk reaction is to throw money at perceived problems -- or at breaches that have already occurred -- in the hopes that this will constitute effective risk management. A more level-headed approach is to balance information security spending against actual risk.

Given how besieged organizations must feel today by both the growth in the incidence of information security breaches and the types of information security breach techniques that result in those breaches, the knee-jerk reaction is to throw money at perceived problems -- or at breaches that have already occurred -- in the hopes that this will constitute effective risk management. A more level-headed approach is to balance information security spending against actual risk.

In an earlier Advisor (see " Management's Performance Levers," 29 June 2006), I discussed the fact that, over the last four to five years, I've worked with a significant number of product companies in implementing agile development and project management practices.

Shared services and business process offshoring have in common some basic principles around the focus on value and accountability, so is the existence of a shared services (SS) model the optimal condition for organizational readiness in business process offshoring?