business users

Gartner: Better BI tools on the way

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

A new Gartner study finds that the role of corporate IT units in business intelligence will be shrinking. In its place, search and collaboration tools will allow individual users and business units to build their own analytical applications, according to the study released last week. Gartner said that it expects this change to occur by 2012. By then, users will turn to interactive visualization, in-memory analytics, search integrated with BI, Software as a service and service-oriented architectures to build their own reports. Search and collaboration tools, probably off-the-shelf, will allow individual users and business units to build their own applications. "Evidence suggests that BI is used aggressively by just 15-20 percent of business users," said Kurt Schlegel, an analyst at Gartner, in a statement. "For the BI sector to thrive, it needs to overcome the fact that most business users feel BI tools are hard to use." And we bet that BI tools will get much cheaper, too.

For more on BI tools to come:
- See this ComputerWorld article

Seagate shipping encrypted laptop platform

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

Seagate has announced that it will ship its Momentus 5400 FDE.2 hard drive to be used in ASI Computer Technology's newest laptop PC. Targeted at business users, the "FDE" initials mean "Full Disk Encryption." All data written to the hard disk is transparently encrypted via on-board hardware with government-grade Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption. This effectively prevents external parties from salvaging data from lost or stolen laptops by taking out the hard disk and then reading the data off of it directly. The ASI C8105 laptop PC in question will be available in April and feature a fingerprint reader for the purpose of user authentication.

For more on Seagate's encrypted hard drive:
- check out this eWeek article

Lenovo makes a case for the X300

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

It's quite clear that Lenovo is trying to market their ultraportable ThinkPad X300 as an enterprise alternative to the much drooled-over MacBook Air. Further driving that point home, the company has published a chart that compares their machine to Apple's in a number of different hardware categories. Unsurprisingly, the X300 trounces the Air in the chart, winning in all of the categories most important to business users and IT folks, including manageability tools, security, wireless connectivity options and durability. Of course, it's important to take this all with a grain of salt, as Lenovo might have just a bit of a vested interest here. And, as we noted last week, the choice between the two machines really boils down to how you do business when you're on the road.

For more on the X300 vs. the MacBook Air:
- see this chart

ALSO NOTED: Is technology ready for the Olympics?; When to use e-learning;

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:59:58 -0400

> One Year until the Olympics in Beijing. Is the technology ready? Article

> When to use e-learning. Article

> Barack Obama gets Web 2.0; connects with business users on LinkedIn. Article

> Microsoft targets booming mobile search ad market. Article

> Why do we still have so much spam? Blog

And Finally… It's back to school time, but should students be able to take cell phones with them? Article

iPhone: A big no-no for the enterprise

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 20:01:39 -0400

This Friday, the long-awaited iPhone will be released into the waiting hands of consumers and enterprise users--but experts are warning CIOs and other tech executives that the iPhone will create quite the headache for enterprises. The device, analysts say, will challenge businesses because of the needed support for email, iTunes songs, and other applications. At ABC in New York, the official policy, for now, is not to support the iPhone at all, but there will be some exceptions for top executives. "At this point, with a few exceptions, the iPhone is not a supported device, but for one or two ABC presidents, we'll make the walls move to allow it because we're in the communications business," said Jeff Plotkin, an engineer for broadcast operations and a technology liaison at ABC. "We'll figure out how to allow them access to e-mail." Meanwhile, Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, said that he doesn't consider the iPhone--as currently envisioned--suitable for business users, unless they limit their use to functions like the phone. "iPhone doesn't have push e-mail," he noted. Early reviews that suggest that the iPhone's voice quality is not good have raised questions as well, he said. "Everybody assumes that because Apple makes it, the iPhone will be great, but it's hard to make a good phone, let alone pass data," Gold said.

For more on the iPhone in the enterprise:
- read the full article at Infoworld

Open-Source Software to reach $5.8 billion in 2011

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Open-source has become serious business. A new IDC study predicts that the market for stand-alone open-source software will reach $5.8 billion in 2011. In 2006, the market was already worth $1.8 billion. IDC found that the open-source market is in a significant stage of growth, as previous barriers to adoption fall away, particularly among business users.

For more on the economic potential of open-source:
- See this article from Linux Lookup

Software partnerships offer great rewards and challenges

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:01:39 -0500

Partnering with software vendors can provide great benefits to companies in terms of price, continuity and integration. After all, who knows the intricacies of the software and how to make it sing better than the vendor itself? By partnering with a vendor, business users can access the innovation of smaller companies while maintaining a single set of technical standards through work with a large vendor. In addition, risk decreases, as do implementation times and costs. But let the buyer beware: in some ways, you might be making a deal with the devil. Once you've forged a partnership, it's much harder to break free if you decide to go in a different direction. Partnerships with large vendors in particular can distract best-of-breed solution providers away from focusing on your company. That can reduce rapid innovation, flexibility, responsiveness and customer satisfaction.

Read more about the pros and cons of software partnerships:
- read the article in Optimize

Skittishness causes CIOs to avoid new technology

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:01:39 -0500

More than half of CIOs are afraid that buying new or state-of-the-art technology will cost too much and disrupt the enterprise, causing them to hesitate moving forward. Factors influencing their skittishness include convincing the board that new technologies are a safe investment, concern that the new technology would be too disruptive to business users and worries about spending too much.

Read more about aversion to new technology:
- read the article at Silicon.com

Get ready to support the iPhone

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:01:36 -0500

The debut of Apple's new iPhone is creating one of the biggest tech buzzes of the new year and tech leaders shouldn't turn a blind eye to the device, since it's likely that a few executives will be grabbing it off the shelves. While there are some big drawbacks, there are also some pretty impressive features that could come in handy for business users, such as phone conferencing features, improved email reading and full-size website views. Experts say tech groups need to be ready to support the iPhone and must figure out how to fit it into the mix, as it may gain a solid user base within the business world.

For more why the iPhone will enter the enterprise:
- read the story at InformationWeek

Standards issue could stall mobility innovation

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:01:38 -0500

As mobility gains traction in the enterprise, choosing the best handheld device for your business users isn't likely to get easier, given the increasing number of choices on the market. And here's some more bad news: yet another issue that could stall mobile deployment during the coming months is the fact that there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on what standard wireless devices will use. From the looks of it, a decision isn't coming soon either.

For more on the mobile standard issue:
- read the in-depth report at BusinessWeek