time and money

The danger of being a 'nice guy' at work

Judi Hasson — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:22:42 -0400

There is that old adage that nice guys finish last. Well, CIO.com suggests there may be a good bit of truth to the idea that being a nice person--a quality we should hopefully all strive for--may actually not serve your best interests. Too often, the publication suggests, nice, competent people get passed over for promotions, and the good job goes to the prima donna or the person who plays politics.

Russ Edelman, co-author of the book, "Nice Guys Can Get the Corner Office: Eight Strategies for Winning in Business Without Being a Jerk," argues that if you come off as very nice, people will take advantage of you.

He also notes that being too nice is a problem for businesses, who see easy-going employees as costing them time and money. In a survey of 50 CEOs, Edelman asked about the impact of "being too nice" on their businesses. The CEOs responded that being too nice cost them eight percent of their gross revenues.

Edelman also notes that managers who are too nice avoid confrontations and are reluctant to make decisions for fear of hurting the feelings of others, wasting time and leading to missed opportunities. "Softies need to toughen up," he says.

For more on the danger of being too nice:
- see this CIO.com article

Paying attention to the next generation

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:00:00 -0400

An article at Networkworld.com tells how IBM is trying to close the IT skills gap, launching a web-based resource to better help prepare college students for job opportunities. IBM says it no longer can afford to spend as much time and money with on-the-job training as it has in the past, and expects young workers to be productive sooner. It hopes that increased collaboration with the university community and making a direct connection with students will help. All this makes a good deal of sense, and the article is worth a close read because it offers insight into the types of skills companies like Big Blue are looking for in their hires. These include service science management and engineering, database technology, Web 2.0 development, web server technology and enterprise systems. Are you prepared for the present, and the future? - Judi

Microsoft and Yahoo: What now?

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:31:45 -0400

It sure feels like the Microsoft-Yahoo negotiations have been going on forever, but judging by the looks of it, it seems like there isn't going to be a Microhoo to speak of after all. Sure, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has been making some interesting allusions in the press following the tumble that his company's stock price has experienced ("We were totally willing to do a transaction, and they walked away," he told the Financial Times) but despite his urgings that he was open to a deal, it seems that there won't be one. So, what now? According to Ars Technica, a deal of another sort. "Having failed to deliver Jerry Yang's proverbial head on a silver platter and bringing Yahoo under his domain, [Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer] needs to show his own shareholders that the whole mating dance wasn't just wasted time and money while management could have been doing something better with its talents and assets," Ars writes. "So I would be surprise--no, shocked--if Microsoft didn't announce another rather large acquisition very soon."

For more on the post deal shakeout:
- see this Ars Technica article
- also check out this article in FierceFinance

Telecommuting can ease recession pain

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Rising gasoline prices and the financial impact on employees should make IT managers stand up and take notice. What should they do? Well, consider letting more of your valued employees telecommute. This means that IT managers should have a solid remote computing plan in place, providing a framework that will help get the job done and increase employee satisfaction. Fewer hours on the road could mean more productivity and certainly a savings in both time and money for tech professionals. The technology certainly makes it possible.

To read more about this emerging trend:
- See this eWeek article

Tax tips for busy CIOs

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Now that tax season is almost upon us, it's a good time for CIOs and their companies to figure out how they can increase their return on investment (ROI) on technology improvements. It's certainly a wise maneuver to consult your company's tax advisors because there are plenty of federal and state R&D tax credits that can provide as much as 15 percent of the wages and contractor expenses involved in qualified activities.

It's estimated that companies will claim $1 billion in R&D credits on their 2007 tax returns--hardly chump change for any company that is growing with new products on the market and others in development. It includes credits for such endeavors as improving storage, security, VoIP and other IT applications. Not to be overlooked are credits offered by states and large cities for jobs, training and IT-type investments within their borders. In addition, other countries also provide R&D credits and it's worth your time and money to find out who they are and if you qualify. For example:

Canada offers a 20 percent credit to large companies.
China provides a 150 percent deduction without a requirement that a company's spending increase by 10 percent.
India allows a 100 percent deduction.

So this year, before a company signs off on its 2007 tax return, plow the ground, and make sure you have taken every deduction that is available for your business, and be sure to look ahead for tax break opportunities in 2008.

For more on tax tips for the CIO:
- Check out this CIO Magazine Article

ALSO NOTED: Indian outsourcing continues to grow despite weaker dollar; R&D spending in Europe increases;

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:59:58 -0400

> Indian outsourcing continues to grow despite weaker dollar. Article

> R&D spending in Europe increases. Article

> Alignment still a priority for CIOs. Article

> Microsoft's Steve Ballmer on advertising and SAAS. Article

> Dell sees profits in green computing. Article

And finally... former Microsoft techie puts time and money into building schools and libraries in developing countries. Article

Navigating the red tape of compliance

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0400

The starting point for any compliance exercise is to carry out a full audit to understand what information the business holds, what its vulnerabilities are and what elements of the IT systems can be locked down. These include databases, information storage systems and business applications, which could put customers and the business itself at risk. Next, publish a security policy and inform everyone who works in the organization about what is and what is not allowed. Software products also can help organizations better audit, test and document their security processes. Examples include an on-demand PCI compliance service from Qualys and an enterprise-wide threat management and real-time compliance tool from Tier-3. Other suppliers include Computer Associates and IBM.

Learn more about compliance:
- read the article at ComputerWeekly

ALSO:
- read this on how flexible compliance saves time and money
- this on how compliance is more of an art than a science
- and this on compliance taking a leap forward

Toward more proactive performance monitoring

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

New holistic application performance management products offer companies the chance for more proactive performance monitoring. Application performance is critical to the bottom line. Application performance management vendors, like Hewlett-Packard, Digital Fuel Technologies, Integrien, Oblicore and OpTier offer predictive application performance with faster and more reliable monitoring. This new generation of APM products discover and map relationships between applications and underlying infrastructure automatically. APM products that understand the multiple components in your environment and automatically correlate and integrate with them have an immediate value. Truly holistic approaches to APM should locate and predict performance problems across all components of the application and supporting infrastructure, including system and network performance. They must diagnose the underlying problem and suggest or take corrective action before the problem reaches the user community. Anything short of this means wasted time and money.

Read more about application performance management:
- read the article at Network Computing

The Semantic Web

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

To better understand how different pieces of online data relate to each other, some companies are turning to a new technology called the Semantic Web, which provides a way to tag, describe, and provide context for individual bits of online information. Simply put, the Semantic Web is an efficient way of representing data on the Internet in the form of a globally linked database. This technology, however, is new and unproven. To give it a try, test the concept with a pilot project before committing time and money. Also, find a partner skilled in semantics and expect users to take some time to adjust to the concept. And set usage guidelines to safeguard employee privacy. Finally, be patient--it takes years to justify the investment.

Learn more about succeeding with the Semantic Web:
- read the article in BusinessWeek

ALSO NOTED: What it takes to be an effective CIO; Personality clashes on the job;

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:01:38 -0500

> What it takes to be an effective CIO. Article

> Personality clashes prevent the sharing of information-sharing between departments. Article

> Study: Convergence fears are in decline. Article

> Nearly half of businesses can't quantify the benefits of their outsourcing deals. Article

> Human error to blame for most network availability incidents and security issues. Article

> Combating Denial of Service attacks. Article

> Dirty data costs time and money, study says. Article

> The challenges faced by IT executives. Article

And finally… How technology buyers can get the most value from advisory firms. Column