Music to any company's ears is the promise to help it realize its goals and enable it to face the future with confidence. Taking that a step further, for the shareholder, this translates into improved share price and shareholder value.

There are lots of steps we're all taking to succeed in the 21st century. Now that the fear of a worldwide meltdown due to Y2K noncompliance is well behind us, we can turn to supply chain connectivity, customer relationship management, and business intelligence (BI).

"An army marches on its belly." In this Executive Update, Napoleon's motivational maxim will guide us as we continue our look at the issues involving project management husbandry, drawing on data from Cutter Consortium surveys. (See Executive Updates Vol. 2, No. 21; Vol. 2, No. 22; and Vol. 3, No.

Say you're the vice president of IT in a major corporation, and your customers are looking for consistently high-performance, continuous improvement, and state-of-the-art technical solutions that satisfy their ever-changing business.

Say you're the vice president of IT in a major corporation, and your customers are looking for consistently high-performance, continuous improvement, and state-of-the-art technical solutions that satisfy their ever-changing business.

Editor's note: An assertion from the Cutter Consortium Business Technology Council states, "Groupware will come into its own (or at least the need for it). This includes shared whiteboards, document control over the extranet, effective cross-organizational to-do lists, e-mail improvements, and improved intranets."

Editor's note: An assertion from the Cutter Consortium Business Technology Council states, "Groupware will come into its own (or at least the need for it). This includes shared whiteboards, document control over the extranet, effective cross-organizational to-do lists, e-mail improvements, and improved intranets."

In the past few years, the explosion of the Internet has propelled instant messaging (IM) from chat room fixture to boardroom issue. The dramatic growth of consumer IM services (from AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and others) has triggered a secondary effect: IM has gone corporate.

As we move forward in the 21st century, the landscape for delivering technical solutions to business continues to change, and the concept of outsourcing IT products and services continues to gain momentum. In fact, more companies are using outsourcing than ever before. Traditional IT outsourcing -- such as product development, application support, and staff augmentation -- is now just another way of doing business.

Table 1 -- Quality criteria used by survey respondents to evaluate and select service providers. (Respondents able to choose more than one category.)

Table 1 -- Quality criteria used by survey respondents to evaluate and select service providers. (Respondents able to choose more than one category.)

With the recent acceleration of the economic downfall of several industries, the business community is entering an untested playground mined with all sorts of unpredictable threats.

With the recent acceleration of the economic downfall of several industries, the business community is entering an untested playground mined with all sorts of unpredictable threats.

With the recent acceleration of the economic downfall of several industries, the business community is entering an untested playground mined with all sorts of unpredictable threats.

Editor's note: Assertion 57 from the Cutter Business Technology Council states: "Every server on the Internet is attacked every day by hackers or hacker agent software.

Editor's note: Assertion 57 from the Cutter Business Technology Council states: "Every server on the Internet is attacked every day by hackers or hacker agent software.

The reason why enterprises pursue systematic knowledge management (KM) is clear: they wish to make people -- and the whole enterprise -- act intelligently to operate more effectively and better satisfy their stakeholders. However, the practical issue of how to approach introducing or expanding the KM practice is complex.

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.

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.

As a project manager, I adhere to J.R.R. Tolkien's advice on risk management: "It doesn't do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations if you live near him." Dragons come in all sizes and attitudes. Some dragons are small and inconsequential to the safety of the village. Others are mean and nasty and leave nothing but fire and destruction in their wake. Project management has a lot to do with dragon management.

"Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." In this month's Executive Update, Oscar Wilde's adage will be our guide as we continue our look at the issues involving project management husbandry, drawing on data from Cutter Consortium's surveys. (See e-Project Management -- now known as Agile Project Management -- Executive Updates Vol. 2, Nos.

Like IT outsourcing in the past decade, companies today are increasingly outsourcing business processes such as payroll, training, benefits administration, billing, logistics, and human resources. Both IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) are independent of the economic cycle -- companies outsource in bad times to reduce costs, and they outsource in good times to access new markets, compete more successfully, and grow.

Like IT outsourcing in the past decade, companies today are increasingly outsourcing business processes such as payroll, training, benefits administration, billing, logistics, and human resources. Both IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) are independent of the economic cycle -- companies outsource in bad times to reduce costs, and they outsource in good times to access new markets, compete more successfully, and grow.

As we move forward in the 21st century, the landscape for delivering technical solutions to business continues to change, and the concept of outsourcing IT products and services continues to gain momentum. In fact, more companies are using outsourcing than ever before. Traditional IT outsourcing -- such as product development, application support, and staff augmentation -- is now just another way of doing business.

Editor's note: This is the third Update in a three-part series. The first two appeared previously as Business-IT Strategies Executive Update Vol. 4, No. 20 and Vol. 4, No. 22.