The mainframe mammoths have no doubt served their masters well over the decades and are known for their legendary reliability and stability. However, during today's times of tighter budgets, attention naturally turns to these expensive computing resources in order to reduce costs. Additionally, the need to address changing business requirements more quickly and the need to cater to a broader spectrum of end users make it pertinent for these legacy systems to be modernized.

The mainframe mammoths have no doubt served their masters well over the decades and are known for their legendary reliability and stability. However, during today's times of tighter budgets, attention naturally turns to these expensive computing resources in order to reduce costs. Additionally, the need to address changing business requirements more quickly and the need to cater to a broader spectrum of end users make it pertinent for these legacy systems to be modernized.

Hundreds of articles have been written about an industry-wide problem that I like to call the "IT-business disconnect," or the gap that exists between business and IT. It's an issue that consistently receives a lot of press because it costs companies around the world billions of dollars in lost productivity annually.

Hundreds of articles have been written about an industry-wide problem that I like to call the "IT-business disconnect," or the gap that exists between business and IT. It's an issue that consistently receives a lot of press because it costs companies around the world billions of dollars in lost productivity annually.

Hundreds of articles have been written about an industry-wide problem that I like to call the "IT-business disconnect," or the gap that exists between business and IT. It's an issue that consistently receives a lot of press because it costs companies around the world billions of dollars in lost productivity annually.

You're probably thinking, the last thing our industry needs is another article about IT organizations being out of sync with their companies. In the past decade, there have been countless articles written about this problem, known as IT-business alignment or what I like to call the "IT-business disconnect."

Sharing risk information is an organizational challenge. Telling management, team members, and even family what bad things may happen can be a lesson in frustration. On the one hand, we are supposed to have a measure of what doctors refer to as "professional detachment"; while on the other, we want to empathize, sympathize, and relate to the potential negatives. But there is a "gospel" in sharing the negatives: there is a bright spot associated with invoking bad news. It's a matter of basic management communication.

Sharing risk information is an organizational challenge. Telling management, team members, and even family what bad things may happen can be a lesson in frustration. On the one hand, we are supposed to have a measure of what doctors refer to as "professional detachment"; while on the other, we want to empathize, sympathize, and relate to the potential negatives. But there is a "gospel" in sharing the negatives: there is a bright spot associated with invoking bad news. It's a matter of basic management communication.

Outsourcing continues to raise expectations and pose challenges for all organizations. Time and again, even experienced organizations run into massive problems, suffer from slow organizational learning, and work in a reactive rather than an anticipatory mode. Many outsourcing initiatives are conducted with inadequate forethought, albeit rarely intentional.

Outsourcing continues to raise expectations and pose challenges for all organizations. Time and again, even experienced organizations run into massive problems, suffer from slow organizational learning, and work in a reactive rather than an anticipatory mode. Many outsourcing initiatives are conducted with inadequate forethought, albeit rarely intentional.

There have been a lot of "studies" on job migration and outsourcing over the past five years that try to position outsourcing as something political: outsourcing creates jobs; outsourcing is the inevitable consequence of globalization; outsourcing will destroy the US labor force. But what's really going on? How do we avoid the spin that proponents and critics of outsourcing present every time the topic comes up?

There have been a lot of "studies" on job migration and outsourcing over the past five years that try to position outsourcing as something political: outsourcing creates jobs; outsourcing is the inevitable consequence of globalization; outsourcing will destroy the US labor force. But what's really going on? How do we avoid the spin that proponents and critics of outsourcing present every time the topic comes up?

There have been a lot of "studies" on job migration and outsourcing over the past five years that try to position outsourcing as something political: outsourcing creates jobs; outsourcing is the inevitable consequence of globalization; outsourcing will destroy the US labor force. But what's really going on? How do we avoid the spin that proponents and critics of outsourcing present every time the topic comes up?

Editor's note: All uncited remarks and quotations used in this report are from personal phone interviews with the author.

Business processes are the muscle of any organization's operations and thus merit preeminent attention if enterprises want to be more cost-effective, productive, agile, and therefore technologically future-proof and competitive in the long run. Enter business process management (BPM). BPM is more than a technology; it's also a process. It manages multistep, long-lived transactions and messages through processes that span multiple applications, departments, and organizations.

This Executive Update is the third in a series of Updates stemming from a December 2005 Cutter Consortium survey addressing business intelligence (BI) outsourcing. The survey asked 140 companies worldwide about their BI practices and their plans or predispositions for outsourcing these practices to third-party experts.

This Executive Update is the third in a series of Updates stemming from a December 2005 Cutter Consortium survey addressing business intelligence (BI) outsourcing. The survey asked 140 companies worldwide about their BI practices and their plans or predispositions for outsourcing these practices to third-party experts.

Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.

Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.

Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.

Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.

Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.

Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.

Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.