corporate environment

Google tries to sneak one past IT

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:59:58 -0500

During the last year, we've seen Google slowly sneaking into the enterprise, with a series of solutions that bring the company's web-based consumer technologies into a corporate environment. Just this past week, we saw the latest such product from Google, an email security/discovery suite based on Postini technology. Despite Google's best efforts, however, we haven't exactly seen enterprises rushing to deploy Google's software, which has proven quite popular with consumers. So, what's a Google to do? Why, sneak its software into the corporate world, of course.

The company's latest enterprise product, Google Apps Team Edition, is a version of Google Apps that's designed for corporate users but can be used without the IT department's knowledge. "Current business versions of Google Apps are linked to an organization's Internet domain and therefore require IT approval and at least some degree of administration," Ars Technica writes. "Team Edition eschews this approach, and allows end-users to create sharing workgroups so long as the individuals in question have valid e-mail addresses within the employer's Internet domain."

So, what's the big idea? Seems like Google is aiming to use GATE as a sort of Trojan horse--a way of convincing businesses to deploy Google Apps. "Google Apps has been, by definition, an IT project, and now we want to let people use it without IT involvement," Google Apps senior product manager Rajen Sheth said. "The IT department always has the option to sign up for the Standard Edition for free if they want to provide control over this. This is a solid, happy medium."

For more on Google's sneaky new product:
- see this Ars Technica article

Standardize the system

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:59:58 -0500

Standardization is not a four-letter word in IT. But sometimes it is treated as one. No one is at fault. It is just the way systems have grown. The effort to create a standardized PC fleet is not easy but it is important for IT managers to make sure the hardware can support the software and applications for day-to-day operations. Standardization is an important component of making sure the IT shop runs smoothly, according to a Forrester Research survey of 565 enterprises in North America and Europe. But the reality is that many IT operations buy pieces of a system and patch them together over time.

"Enterprises that can settle on one desktop and one laptop configuration from a single supplier with standard application configurations save big on building, maintaining, and deploying images across their distributed corporate environment," Benjamin Gray, an analyst with Forrester, wrote in the report. Standardization is one of the biggest challenges IT executives face. As systems are refreshed and legacy components are phased out, the important strategy is to have a plan that will make every piece of the pie fit together as a whole.

For more on the importance of standardization:
- See this eWeek article

Will SOA help or hinder the alignment of business and IT?

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Theoretically, a company's business culture can benefit from absorbing the principles of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), a conceptual approach to computing, people and processes. Whether it will succeed, however, depends in large part on corporate culture and the type of management structure already in place. For example, SOA might be particularly useful in a tightly organized and centralized corporate environment, since it can promote more unified IT methods, with high reuse and standardized ways to assemble and provide services. Decentralized organizations that value innovation also can benefit from SOA. Core services can be made available to units, or each unit can acquire and create processes geared toward their specific needs. The best way to ensure success of SOA in the enterprise is for companies to understand their own cultures.

Learn more about whether your company will succeed with SOA:
- read the article at RedmondDeveloper

Related articles on SOA:
- for the basics on SOA, read this
- for more on whether SOA will work in your environment, read this
- for the four stages of successful SOA, read this
- for a case study on SOA, read this
- for information on using SOA to boost e-commerce efforts, read this

Debating the value of IT

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:01:36 -0400

Ever since writer Nicholas Carr declared that IT doesn't matter, the debate has been furious about where technology, as a business initiative, fits or doesn't fit within the corporate environment. That's why a wide ranging Q&A with Carr and Microsoft's VP for information worker business value, Robert McDowell, is a compelling read. Carr clearly hasn't changed his mind, despite the fact that McDowell's arguments are quite persuasive.

For more on the IT "doesn't matter" debate:
- read the interview at BusinessWeek

Editor's Corner

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:01:40 -0400

There are unique challenges for today's CIOs, no matter if they're working within a huge enterprise or a smaller corporate environment. As an interesting article over at CIO magazine details, the tech leadership job may actually be harder to perform if you are working for a small-to-mid size corporation. Mid-market CIOs expound on the various challenges they face on a daily basis and offer up insight and real life experiences on how they've handled the challenges and still managed to forge technology ahead within their business. As one tech leader notes, it's tough to plan and strategize while also helping the troops put out the daily tech fires that flash up. Yet while it's a much tougher job, most CIOs in the sector are happy to point out working for a mid-market enterprise can also prove to be the most rewarding.
- Judy

Editor's Corner

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:01:40 -0400

Since the technology became available, my take on Web monitoring programs in the corporate environment has morphed. I've gone from viewing it as being too invasive and "Big Brotherish" to understanding the need to check in on employee use of email and the Internet. Simply, there's just too much risk and too many potential vulnerabilities to allow unfettered Internet and messaging use. I don't believe there are tons of workers scheming to send confidential information or accessing networks they have no authorization to touch, but there is human error to consider, and it's a huge security issue. As an article at BPM Today relates, virtually all of us use the Internet and messaging during the workday. About 93 percent of workers surveyed said they spend at least some time accessing the Internet at work, up from 86 percent in 2004. And while more enterprises are responding by pulling in monitoring systems, that may or may not be the right response. I'm interested in hearing your viewpoint on using such tools. Are they necessary? Do they work or do they generate other issues, such as disgruntled employees? Email me and let me know, and I'll share the insight in a future issue. - Judy