In the past months we have been asked by three different IT organizations some variation of this question: "In our industry, what percent of revenue should we be spending on IT?" The question seems to be driven by one of the following three pressures, most coming from outside of IT:

In the past months we have been asked by three different IT organizations some variation of this question: "In our industry, what percent of revenue should we be spending on IT?" The question seems to be driven by one of the following three pressures, most coming from outside of IT:

As companies gain more experience and become more adept at business process optimization, they are beginning to examine the use of simulation tools for modeling and analyzing business processes.

IBM's recent acquisition of SRD -- a vendor of "identity resolution management" technology -- helps shed some light on this very interesting application of data cleansing software.

Readers of my Advisors know that I'm a big fan of Douglas Engelbart. Among other things, Engelbart and his group at Systems Development Corporation were responsible in the 1960s for many of the fundamental ideas behind personal computers, including windows, full-screen text editing, the mouse, and perhaps even the concept of the personal computer itself.

Business intelligence (BI) vendor Cognos has acquired Optima Analytical Solutions S.A., of Spain, for an undisclosed amount. Optima is an established financial performance management solutions provider with a strong presence in the Spanish market. Optima will continue its operations in Spain under the name Cognos Espana.

Last month I talked about the effect that "politics" has on business technology decision-making (see " Politics, Smolitics ...," 13 December 2004). This month I'd like to expand the "context" discussion to include the rest of the variables that influence the technology acquisition, deployment, and support processes.

The last on-site meeting of the Trends Council was pervaded by a sense of technology malaise. This feeling emanated not just from the subgroup of uber geeks present (and of which I am a proud member) but also from those who would be considered IT users or managers. As I pondered this phenomenon, I wondered if it actually indicated an overall positive development.