Risks are a part of life, and therefore business. For organizations that practice sound risk management, and use risk techniques and tools, risks can be identified, avoided, minimized, and accepted to give companies a competitive advantage.

Risks are a part of life, and therefore business. For organizations that practice sound risk management, and use risk techniques and tools, risks can be identified, avoided, minimized, and accepted to give companies a competitive advantage.

Agile software development is a hot topic. As a generalization, it emphasizes team-oriented software develop practices that incorporate activities and steps that lead to successful software development.

In an IEEE Software column earlier this year (Greg Goth, "Federal Government Calls for More Secure Software Design," IEEE Software, Vol. 19, No. 1, January/February 2002, pp. 90-92), we read the following quote from John Gilligan, CIO, US Air Force: "It is clear that the quality of software design and testing in the past does not measure up to the needs of the present and future." Along with this quote is a discussion of how terrorist attacks have galvanized agencies. All of this sounds impressive, but will there be any changes of consequence?

September 11 changed many things. Our personal lives have changed as much -- if not more -- than our professional lives. Some years ago, I had to beg for more money to enhance a security infrastructure. Why should we spend so much money on a "low-probability event" I was asked. Do we really need such a large off-site contingency facility? How will we pay for all this stuff? Today, it would be easy.

Many of us are finally very concerned about security. We've already documented this increased awareness and commitment to just about all aspects of security (see the previous article). But what technologies are we looking at? Which ones should we buy? Which ones are likely to become "standard"? What should your technology hit list look like?

Editor's note: Assertion 57 from the Cutter Business Technology Council ("Pandemic II," Cutter Business Technology Trends and Impacts Council Opinion, Vol. 2, No. 12) states: "Every server on the Internet is attacked every day by hackers or hacker agent software.

As we all know, achieving IT and business alignment is not easy. We must tie business strategy, technology, and people into a comprehensive and synergistic package that, as Paul Strassmann of Strassmann, Inc. Consulting Services says, will demonstrate a positive relationship between IT and accepted financial measures of performance. However, as my mother used to say, you need to be careful for what you wish for, because you just might get it.

I think he's right. Everywhere you turn nowadays, you hear another what-if horror story.

Why rethink the IT function? There have been many articles in recent popular technology and business journals questioning the need for the chief information officer (CIO) role and internal corporate IT departments.

Why rethink the IT function? There have been many articles in recent popular technology and business journals questioning the need for the chief information officer (CIO) role and internal corporate IT departments.

For the average non-IT executives, IT expenses within their companies are one giant black hole that is beyond their understanding. The brave executive who tries to make an effort to understand is confused by the IT organizational structure.

For the average non-IT executives, IT expenses within their companies are one giant black hole that is beyond their understanding. The brave executive who tries to make an effort to understand is confused by the IT organizational structure.

Variation in your environment -- whether furniture, heating, air-conditioning, transportation, or your technology infrastructure -- is expensive. But while there are great savings embedded in standardized environments, the whole is fraught with emotion.

Everything you buy, you have to support -- or hire someone else to support. That's the problem with buying and deploying lots of stuff: it all needs attention. To make your support dollars effective, there are a number of things that you need to know.

Executive Summary

This Executive Report discusses the challenges that legacy applications and data structures place on organizations attempting to meet a wide variety of business requirements along with options for addressing these challenges. Leveraging legacy applications to meet time-critical business requirements is not a luxury in today's competitive business environment -- it is a necessity.