pipeline

Survey: Top IT priorities are alignment, staffing

Judi Hasson — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:57:59 -0400

The Society for Information Management's annual survey of CIOs and senior IT managers has found that IT business alignment remains of paramount concern, while recruiting and retaining top talent also continue remain high priorities. CIO Insight reports that survey author Jerry Luftman, of Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, believes IT executives understand IT-business alignment better than in the past. He notes, however, that the corporate leaders too often see IT as subservient to business processes.

"IT and business should be partners," he said. "It drives me nuts when people talk about IT aligned with business and not with each other." Luftman added that some business leaders think they know more about IT than they really do, and he urged CIOs to help educate business executives how to better understand and leverage IT.

The survey of more than 350 company executives also found IT managers were more concerned with finding than retaining business-tech talent. Attracting new IT pros ranked No. 4 on the priority list, while retaining existing talent was ranked No. 8. "It is relatively clear that the pipeline of available, adequately skilled people is not as strong as the demand for resources," Luftman said.

For more on the survey:
- see this CIO Insight article

IBM cultivates students for next generation IT

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

Always seeking ways to find and develop new IT talent, IBM has expanded its web-based Academic Initiative by adding a new section for students that supplements the current program for faculties who teach IT and IT-related courses. The new student section includes tutorials, games, skill assessments and online forums that can be incorporated with regular university courses.

"Our key concern is the skills pipeline," said Kevin Faughnan, director of the company's Academic Initiative. He said IBM and the entire industry need "young workers who have the skills to continue innovating," and who are "ready to contribute from day one."

For more on the IBM program and needed tech skills:
- check out this NetworkWorld.com article

Apple seeds OS X 10.5.3 to devs

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:34:43 -0400

It might seem like Apple pushed out its last major release of OS X not too long ago but according to Mac developers, another release is in the pipeline. Apple seeded a beta of OS 10.5.3 to developers on Friday, in an attempt to test the patch before greenlighting it for public release. Among the changes included are critical memory leak fixes for CoreAnimation and iCal, in addition to a number of other minor tweaks for built-in applications. According to AppleInsider, the new release should see release in either April or May.

For more on the new beta:
- see this AppleInsider article

Keep your IT job safe in a recession

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

With the economy on a roller coaster and every company looking to cut costs, it is probably the time to take a few steps to protect your IT job, according to experts. "Right now, in this day and age, if anyone is working in IT, the closer you work on relationships with customers, the better the opportunities you're going to have," said Jim Lanzalatto, vice president of strategy and marketing at staffing agency Yoh LLC in Philadelphia. If you are a project manager for a bank or a financial services company, you are in a precarious place right now because those industries are having a tough time. But if you are working in consumer products, it is much more stable, he said.

In the tech, engineering and scientific communities, there's pent-up demand from customers. There are projects in the pipeline and budgets have already been set, so those are big pluses in the marketplace "because that work is already under way," Lanzalatto said. "The current demand is still strong, and that's where the optimism comes in." Remember, companies will always be looking for ways to streamline an operation, so make sure you are an essential part of their team.

For more on protecting our IT job:
- See this ComputerWorld article

Being nimble pays off

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 19:01:36 -0500

The CIO of a billion-dollar multinational company is pushing a new IT strategy within his organization, what he's calling "rapid mobilization," as the path toward aligning IT with business. It's all about having a quick response and solid results. With about 100 big tech projects constantly in the pipeline, it's no easy task, but as Geir Ramleth explains, it's about getting started, accomplishing your goals fast and then moving on to the next task. It's a strategy that has clearly paid off for Bechtel.

For more on getting IT-nimble:
- read the Q&A at Optimize

Hackers take aim at AIM users

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 20:01:39 -0400

America Online's instant messaging system is the vehicle of choice for hackers building a huge botnet, according to security researchers at FaceTime. The worm, tagged as W32.pipeline, is sent through AIM disguised as a photo file. Once opened, the executable file then downloads another program that gives the hackers control of the victim's PC. Once in control, it sends copies of the worm to all the users on the victim's buddy list. The goal, says FaceTime, is for hackers to create a huge botnet of desktops.

For more on the latest worm threat:
- read the article at CIO Today

Best practices in plugging in a Skype network

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:01:36 -0400

The decision's been made to pull in Skype and now the hard work of planning, setting policy and determining good management approach has to begin. As one experts details out, you really need to start at the very bottom and determine if Skype is already in place thanks to some rogue user or tech savvy business unit leader. Then it's policy-setting time and finally network implementation, where you need to bend and massage the communications application to match your network configurations.

For more on getting Skype up and working the right way:
- read this article at Networking Pipeline

Network building needs assessment before tools

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 19:01:38 -0500

There's a vendor ad that says today's business is all about the network. It's on target given all that today's networks are being tasked to do. That's why it's never too late to take a good look at your networks and assess if they are stable, strong and secure enough for all you're piling onto their foundation. As experts point out, everyone's goal is building the ultimate network, and while it's a tough achievement there are some good practices and network build aspects that can get you closer than you are today to reaching that goal. One is to get rid of any hodge-podge environments and start rebuilding from the bottom up. Second, don't just rush out and buy up new hardware and tools. A good assessment is necessary before the shopping list is created.

For more on building the ultimate network:
- read this article at Networking Pipeline