Business Operations

Domain registration SCAM derailed

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:59:59 -0400

A federal judge has stopped a Toronto company from continuing to deceptively pose as a domain name registrar and sending bogus bills to thousands of U.S. small businesses and nonprofit organizations for their annual "WEBSITE ADDRESS LISTING."

Many of the businesses and nonprofits believed they would lose their website addresses unless they paid the bill. The Federal Trade Commission alleged that, in most cases, the defendant did not provide domain registration services or the "search optimization" services it claimed to provide, and bilked small businesses and nonprofits out of millions of dollars.

For more on this scam:
- check out this FTC press release

Why women leave tech careers

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, the founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy in New York, said her research shows women are excelling in science, engineering and technology. But she said many women often don't survive the educational process, and if they do, they end up dropping out of the workforce at a very high rate.

Hewlett said women--discouraged by the male-dominated work culture, long hours, a lack of mentors, a feeling of isolation and a lack of support--reach the "fight-or-flight moment," and often vote with their feet. Computerworld reports that a number of companies are experimenting with programs to alter the female exodus from IT, including Cisco Systems, Intel, Johnson & Johnson and General Electric.

To get more details on female IT flight:
- check out this Computerworld.com article

IT workers would take pay cut to telecommute

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:59 -0400

A new survey by Dice Holding has found that IT workers don't like commuting and in fact, 37 percent would be willing to take up to a 10 percent pay cut to work from home full time. With the high cost of gasoline, the time lost getting to and from work, and the flexibility it offers, telecommuting is beginning to look better every day.

And with improvements in personal computers, videoconferencing, and Internet speeds, many telecommuters can deal with virtually all of their tasks from a home office.

For more on telecommuting:
- see this InformationWeek.com article

Farm workers vs IT workers on H-1B visas

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Legislation to make it easier for foreign high tech workers to stay in the U.S. ran into a bit of a buzz saw last week from one lawmaker who wants the same kind of equity for immigrants further down the economic scale.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) told a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing that the high tech companies should get "the innovators they need,'' but added that farm workers are "just as critical and relevant to the innovation of that industry." He urged the panel to take a "holistic approach" to immigration so that the most vulnerable "are not stigmatized by actions of the Congress."

His concerns reflect one of many elements involved in the contentious effort to reform the nation's immigration system, and why the push to separately raise caps on H-1B visas and green cards faces such a difficult time in Congress.

For more on the ongoing immigration debate:
- see this Computerworld.com article

How to get the CFO to buy into an IT project

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

How does a CIO get approval for new technology projects in tight budgetary times? Greg Baker, the CFO of technology provider Logicalis, said the issue is not always money, but the ability of the CIO to communicate and tie the proposal to business needs and future growth.

In broad terms, said Baker and other experts, a CIO must explain how the initiative will improve the security of the company's applications or operations, how it will increase productivity, whether customer service will improve, and what the impact will be on strategic, tactical or operational goals. In short, said the experts, the CFO will not want to know technical details, but whether the IT project will save money, make customers happy and mean more efficiency.

For more in selling IT projects:
- check out this baselinemag.com article

For more tech stories from the FierceCIO network:
> Not all flash drives are created equal. Article
> Prediction: Faster USB drives next year. Article
> Touch screen Blackberry spotted. Article

Questions to ask IT job candidates

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Yuri Aguiar, senior partner and chief technology officer at Ogilvy & Mather, a global advertising agency, says his search for top job candidates always includes two questions: What decisions have made you stand out? What mistakes have you made in your career?

Aguiar said asking such questions give him a sense of turning points in an individual's work life, and whether they have learned and moved on from their mistakes. But he said he also wants to know what a job candidate does outside of work to see if they have balance in their lives.

For more on the job interview:
- see this CIO.com article

Small businesses select call center systems

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

High-tech contact center systems now are widely available to small businesses, not just large companies. CIOs have many choices in speech recognition, IP contact center solutions, call recordings, analytics, customer self-help solutions and CRM. So the question comes down to figuring out what system is best.

CIO-Today asked some experts for advice. CosmoCom Executive President Stephen R. Kowarsky recommended picking a product that offers a complete, consolidated solution for all call center needs so that there is no reason to buy multiple point solutions from different vendors and integrate them together.

Tracy Tufillaro, Vice President of Marketing for Five9, said the choice must balance "customer needs, business practices and operational goals.'' She recommends vendors that offer fast, affordable and easy-to-use solutions, in bite-size chunks over time.

To get more detailed advice:
- see this CIO-Today.com article

Does a CIO need to be a technocrat?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

The times, they are a changin'. CIOs once needed a high level of technical expertise to succeed. Today, CIOs certainly must still have a solid foundation of IT knowledge, including an understanding of the latest technologies to be credible. But other responsibilities have become just as important. InformationWeek reports that as IT becomes more integrated into the core of a business, the more a CIO must become a business leader and less of a technology manager.

To read more:
- see this InformationWeek.com article

For more stories from the FierceCIO network:
> Second outage for Amazon.com. Article
> Mac OS X 10.6 showcased. Article
> Apple unveils 3G iPhone. Article

The CIO wish list

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:59:56 -0400

If you could start all over again and build a top-of-the-line data center, what would it look like? That question was posed by Computerworld to IT executives and industry experts and, as you might guess, they let their imaginations run wild.

Joshua Aaron, president of Business Technology Partners LLP, said he would want "nearly infinite bandwidth and resiliency'' as well as "the latest and greatest in blade server technology and server virtualization..."

Bill Maguire, CIO of Virgin America Inc., said his wish list would include redundant communications, two separate power sources and a secure building. Colbert Seto, IT director of Hawaii Pacific Health, said he would like a "lights-out data center, where we have close to 100 percent virtualization."

To find out other CIO data center dreams:
- check out this ComputerWorld article

IT certifications losing value

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

There was a time when IT certifications were worth their weight in gold--evidence of special skills and a way to improve job security. No more. David Foote, a management consultant,tells eWeek there has been a loss of value in certifications because of the shift away from purely technical roles in IT departments.

"Certifications were created by vendors to sell products. Once people were trained, these companies ended up with all of these specialists out there that didn't work for them but advocated for them," said Foote. Today, he added, the hiring focus in IT is "less about pure technology and more about technology instinct, the ability to get stuff done and develop solutions that can be used down the road."

For more on the change in IT:
- check out this eWeek.com article