Whether to centralize or to decentralize is one of the perennial questions in IT. It never goes away; it just advances and recedes in an irregular cycle. Since this question is currently looming large in industry, this Executive Update analyzes data from Cutter Consortium's ongoing Business-IT Strategies Survey to explore the facets of decentralized IT.

Remote access and virtual private network (VPN) growth continue to accelerate, due to an increasingly mobile work force and the globalization of companies. The rate of growth in these technologies is causing some unique challenges for IT management.

I have been involved with statistical analysis of IT trends since 1989. Gathering and analyzing statistics provides a reality check of actual industry practices against anecdotal evidence, vendor hype, and media hyperbole. The most enjoyable results for me are when the statistics differ so significantly from popular perception that they demand we reconsider our thinking.

The quiet revolution of the Internet and its related technologies continues unabated despite the negative swings in the stock market. Although the hype and hope associated with dot-coms and the new economy have started to fade, make no mistake: the pervasive and profound force of the Internet is very much a part of the real economy, and we ignore the consequences at our peril.

The 22 February e-Project Management E-Mail Advisorsparked a lively debate between the author, Jim Highsmith, and Karl Wiegers, well-known author and frequent contributor to the Cutter IT Journal. This Executive Update contains the original advisor, the debate between Highsmith and Wiegers, and an interesting comment from Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Chris Pickering.

This Executive Update contains the second part of our series containing advice from a panel of Cutter Consortium Senior Consultants -- Mike Epner, Ian Hayes, David Herron, and Wendell Jones -- on the outsourcing process.

This Executive Update contains the second part of our series containing advice from a panel of Cutter Consortium Senior Consultants -- Mike Epner, Ian Hayes, David Herron, and Wendell Jones -- on the outsourcing process.

Editor's note: Assertion #32 from the Cutter Technology Council states, "There will be an increasing move to highly dynamic business-to-business (B2B) relationships." This assertion will be debated in an upcoming Council Opinion.

Editor's note: Assertion #32 from the Cutter Technology Council states, "There will be an increasing move to highly dynamic business-to-business (B2B) relationships." This assertion will be debated in an upcoming Council Opinion.

Without a great deal of fanfare, instant messaging (IM) has become a major interest area for a good many companies. Like so many technologies, it slipped under the corporate radar as part of the Internet, disguised as a way to let teenagers and retired people talk to each other. Somewhere along the line, it became obvious that millions of people were using IM to send billions of messages each day.

Without a great deal of fanfare, instant messaging (IM) has become a major interest area for a good many companies. Like so many technologies, it slipped under the corporate radar as part of the Internet, disguised as a way to let teenagers and retired people talk to each other. Somewhere along the line, it became obvious that millions of people were using IM to send billions of messages each day.

Outsourcing as a business option has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. US spending on outsourcing increased from US $9 billion in 1990 to $250 billion in 1999. 1 Cutter Consortium asked a panel of Cutter Consortium Senior Consultants -- Mike Epner, Ian Hayes, David Herron, and Wendell Jones -- to guide us through the outsourcing process.

It seems like you can't open a magazine without reading about the fast-growing software industry in India. Recent issues of Business Week, CIO, and even IEEE Software have all focused on the fortunes of India-based software organizations and their mounting challenge to US-based service providers.

It seems like you can't open a magazine without reading about the fast-growing software industry in India. Recent issues of Business Week, CIO, and even IEEE Software have all focused on the fortunes of India-based software organizations and their mounting challenge to US-based service providers.

The Cutter Technology Trends Council Assertion #39 states, "We will see a new class of applications that we don't even know how to characterize yet (e.g., Zaplets)." This assertion will be explored fully in a future Council Opinion; the purpose of this Executive Update is to provide information about the Zaplet technology.

The Cutter Technology Trends Council Assertion #39 states, "We will see a new class of applications that we don't even know how to characterize yet (e.g., Zaplets)." This assertion will be explored fully in a future Council Opinion; the purpose of this Executive Update is to provide information about the Zaplet technology.

During the meteoric rise of e-business, e-business hype grew right along with dot-com market valuations -- until the bubble burst in the spring of 2000. Since that time, the hype has dropped from the absolutely ridiculous ("e-business is changing the laws of economics") to the merely unrealistic ("e-business will change the world as we know it").

It's a ritual reminiscent of a peacock strutting its tail feathers. To woo potential clients, service providers parade their quality achievements and certifications in front of potential suitors, trying to convince them that on-time delivery is a foregone conclusion.

It's a ritual reminiscent of a peacock strutting its tail feathers. To woo potential clients, service providers parade their quality achievements and certifications in front of potential suitors, trying to convince them that on-time delivery is a foregone conclusion.

Outsourcing as a business option has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. US spending on outsourcing increased from US $9 billion in 1990 to $250 billion in 1999. 1 Cutter Consortium asked a panel of Cutter Consortium Senior Consultants -- Mike Epner, Ian Hayes, David Herron, and Wendell Jones -- to guide us through the outsourcing process.

One rule of critical thinking, popularized by Ayn Rand, is to be aware of your premises and to check them regularly against reality. Cutter Consortium's ongoing Business-IT Strategies Survey helps us do this in the case of business-IT issues.

Project management frameworks are usually thought of as a structure for managing complex projects. Risk management is typically considered to be a part of the overall project management approach -- an exercise in which risks are identified, mitigation tactics are applied, and contingency plans are developed.

In the first part of this Executive Update (" Using a Project Dashboard to Manage an Outsourced Portfolio: Part 1," December 2000, No. 2), we described how project dashboards can be used to monitor project and portfolio status.

In the first part of this Executive Update (" Using a Project Dashboard to Manage an Outsourced Portfolio: Part 1," December 2000, No. 2), we described how project dashboards can be used to monitor project and portfolio status.