The reasons why enterprises pursue systematic knowledge management (KM) are clear: they wish to make people -- and the whole enterprise -- act intelligently to operate more effectively and satisfy their stakeholders better. However, practical issues of how to approach, introduce, or expand KM practices are complex. When KM practices are implemented in an enterprise, the efforts become continual processes that will go on for years.

There has been a love-hate relationship between IT and performance measurement ever since IT emerged from the freight elevator, stumbled into the express elevator, emerged on the executive floor, and became a reluctant member of the business's management team. Accountability became the word of the day, along with budgets, controls, standards, and, eventually, key performance indicators (KPIs) and performance reporting.

Practically no area of corporate computing remains untouched by the open source Linux movement. Consequently, a big question on a lot of data warehousing and BI practitioners' minds has been: to what extent are companies actually adopting open source Linux for their data warehousing platforms?

A recent survey we conducted in April 2006 that asked 106 end-user organizations (of various sizes based worldwide) about their plans to use open source BI and data warehousing tools helps provide some insight on this issue.

In recent years, a number of seminal books have helped to define the software security field [1, 2, 5]. The approach to "building security in" introduced in these books has been enhanced and expanded by practitioners and published in various technical articles, including the "Building Security In" series in IEEE Security & Privacy.

Everyone has been complaining about Sarbanes-Oxley and other government-induced compliance formulae for several years now (everybody, of course, except the auditors and the consultants who make their money on compliance and related activities). Technology has become part of the compliance process in some very important ways. Let's talk about the role that IT governance plays in compliance and the frameworks out there to help us all stay legal.

Everyone has been complaining about Sarbanes-Oxley and other government-induced compliance formulae for several years now (everybody, of course, except the auditors and the consultants who make their money on compliance and related activities). Technology has become part of the compliance process in some very important ways. Let's talk about the role that IT governance plays in compliance and the frameworks out there to help us all stay legal.

Everyone has been complaining about Sarbanes-Oxley and other government-induced compliance formulae for several years now (everybody, of course, except the auditors and the consultants who make their money on compliance and related activities). Technology has become part of the compliance process in some very important ways. Let's talk about the role that IT governance plays in compliance and the frameworks out there to help us all stay legal.

For one of my manufacturing clients, "lean" is in. This client analyzes ergonomics, steps taken, rework, and refit to an excruciating level of detail. In watching this, it has saved hundreds of resource hours on the shop floor and has rendered its organization more responsive and worker-friendly. Its environment makes more sense today from a work perspective than it did just six months earlier.

For one of my manufacturing clients, "lean" is in. This client analyzes ergonomics, steps taken, rework, and refit to an excruciating level of detail. In watching this, it has saved hundreds of resource hours on the shop floor and has rendered its organization more responsive and worker-friendly. Its environment makes more sense today from a work perspective than it did just six months earlier.

Man is a measuring animal. Making a choice between alternatives requires sensing, thinking, and doing. Sometimes we need to decide within seconds; sometimes we have the luxury of time. It is clear that some people make better choices than others. But how should people decide?

As an IT architect involved in enterprise architecture (EA), I often recall that this branch of IT is not new at all. Rather, it is strictly related to cybernetics,1 a term the Greek philosopher Plato used to refer to "the art of steering" or "the art of government." In 1958, French cybernetics pioneer Louis Couffignal called cybernetics "the art of assuring efficiency of action." Indeed, EA has this final goal: to allow the control and governance of an enterprise.

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 being encountered in these efforts and to provide statistics useful for benchmarking and measuring your own organization's use of open source BI tools.

If you wanted to dramatically improve the productivity of a software development team, what would you do? Well, you might start by providing training to improve team members' skills; you might then improve the tools they work with; and finally, you might improve their software process. Is that all? Can you do anything else to make the team more productive?

Over the last few years, companies in the music and entertainment industries have repeatedly sued a host of businesses such as Napster, MP3.com, and others for contributory copyright infringement. The defendants in such cases typically provided software or sites that users could access to download or swap music, based on peer-to-peer (P2P) technology.

Over the last few years, companies in the music and entertainment industries have repeatedly sued a host of businesses such as Napster, MP3.com, and others for contributory copyright infringement. The defendants in such cases typically provided software or sites that users could access to download or swap music, based on peer-to-peer (P2P) technology.

Over the last few years, companies in the music and entertainment industries have repeatedly sued a host of businesses such as Napster, MP3.com, and others for contributory copyright infringement. The defendants in such cases typically provided software or sites that users could access to download or swap music, based on peer-to-peer (P2P) technology.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology now occupies that unenviable position all enterprise IT finds itself in at some point in its lifecycle. Born on the mountaintop of huge expectations, it fell into a canyon of disillusionment and confusion as companies were slower to utilize it than anticipated and that utilization has been less innovative than originally expected. Now, climbing out of the abyss into the light of hope, RFID is poised to see accelerated adoption over the next several years.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology now occupies that unenviable position all enterprise IT finds itself in at some point in its lifecycle. Born on the mountaintop of huge expectations, it fell into a canyon of disillusionment and confusion as companies were slower to utilize it than anticipated and that utilization has been less innovative than originally expected. Now, climbing out of the abyss into the light of hope, RFID is poised to see accelerated adoption over the next several years.

Ten to fifteen years ago, a lot was being written about the concept of coopetition. This was just at the beginning of the huge growth in technology -- capabilities, products, companies, and, of course, stock value. Well, things have cooled off a bit since then; however, the concept is just as relevant today, if not more so. We just don't hear much about it because most companies have learned how to better manage their relationships with vendor partners.

Ten to fifteen years ago, a lot was being written about the concept of coopetition. This was just at the beginning of the huge growth in technology -- capabilities, products, companies, and, of course, stock value. Well, things have cooled off a bit since then; however, the concept is just as relevant today, if not more so. We just don't hear much about it because most companies have learned how to better manage their relationships with vendor partners.

Experimentation is essential to the growth of all organizations. It fuels the discovery and creation of knowledge and leads to the development and improvement of products, processes, and business models. Without experimentation, we might still use rocks as tools and live in caves. With breakthrough technologies, it is now possible to perform a greater number of experiments in an economically viable way to accelerate the drive toward innovation.

You may know the authors from their Web site, zapthink, which provides analysis on XML, Web services, and service orientation, and which is where I first became aware of the book Service Orient or Be Doomed, by Jason Bloomberg and Ron Schmeltzer.

I was intrigued by the book's catchy title and thought I should give it a look.

A good friend of mine, who was quite active in the AI community in the late 1980s and early 1990s, asked me an interesting question the other day: "When did rule-based systems go from being 'expert systems' to 'business rules management systems'?"

Microsoft's announcement that it is developing a new, comprehensive business performance management application called Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 was received like a 500-pound firecracker detonating at a fireworks show. Everyone has been expecting something from Microsoft in the way of a major BI announcement, because of the way it has been aggressively assembling all the necessary pieces for a more comprehensive BI product strategy (either through product development or acquisitions) over the past few years.

The "human side" of an outsourcing deal may be difficult to visualize at first, but if the fears and apprehensions of your staff are not managed well, it may not be long before it is the leading problem your organization faces. In some outsourcing deals, employees have not only refused to work, but they have deliberately sabotaged the process itself.