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Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.

• Creating a Shared Services Organization

  InUnison Technology Services isn't your typical IT services organization. CIO Jeff Connery created it from the IT groups of two separate companies. Continue Reading

• ITIL Works, But I Prefer the Microsoft Operations Framework

  ITIL can give you great results. But the Microsoft Operations Framework is cheaper and less complex, and works just as well. Continue Reading

• Offshore outsourcing: A look at the security risks

  Offshore outsourcing can save money. Are the savings worth the security risks? Columnist Philip Alexander addresses security and data concerns CIOs should be aware of when sending work offshore. Continue Reading

• A Vendor Management Office Can Help Get Your Suppliers in Line

  Vendor management systems are just one way to ensure an organization's effective use of outside resources. CIOs share their best tactics. Continue Reading

• Roadmap to a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan

  Midmarket CIOs are as likely as not to have overlooked drawing up a business continuity plan. Before it's too late, get started with these six steps. Continue Reading

• Operational-level agreement: An IT game plan for CIOs

  Though underused, operational-level agreements can improve working relationships, minimize confusion and increase the successful delivery of critical IT services.Continue Reading

• IT budgeting and spending strategies guide for CIOs

  IT budgeting and spending is a balancing act between needs and wants even in a strong economy. Are you ready to figure out what your IT department will need? Check out this CIO Briefing for IT budgeting and spending strategies.Continue Reading

• Budgeting for IT: Four pitfalls to avoid

  The 2008 budgeting season is here. Get the latest advice on how to avoid common pitfalls during the budget planning process.Continue Reading

• Open source and website design: Caveat emptor

  Using open source software to redesign or create a website can be beneficial to resource-strapped SMBs, but caveat emptor -- there are hidden costs.Continue Reading

• IT cheat sheets for all

  They may seem like no-brainers to you, but some of your IT tricks and workarounds look magical to your peers. We've collected our favorite IT cheat sheets on topics ranging from AS/400 to HTML and Outlook so everyone can look like a whiz.Continue Reading

• Managing Global IT

  Globalization of IT brings challenges -- one expert offers up some tips.Continue Reading

• How Outrigger Bounced Back With New IT Systems, Business Processes

  How an island-based hotelier caught up with the industry, drove out cost and continues to expand globally with IT.Continue Reading

• Five ways to streamline your application development process

  An effective application development process requires project planning and requirements management. Learn more in this podcast.Continue Reading

• ITIL V3: Stakeholder coordination is key to success

  In his latest column, Brian Johnson offers tips and advice on how to coordinate the ITIL stakeholders in your organization to successfully meet business requirements by using an IT service design process.Continue Reading

• How to Provide IT Performance Appraisals That Matter

  Good management requires providing performance reviews that matter.Continue Reading

• Mitigate mobile security threats

  Mobile security threats aren't just a nuisance, they're also expensive. Find out how to reduce your risk with these steps.Continue Reading

• Business continuity and disaster recovery planning guide for CIOs

  Disaster recovery (DR) planning is key to business continuity and data integrity. In other words, if you're not prepared for the worst, that's what you just might get. This guide lays out the foundation for a solid DR plan.Continue Reading

• IT contract negotiation strategies

  Vendor contracts can save SMBs money -- if negotiated properly. Follow these four step to help your contract negotiations go smoothly.Continue Reading

• Laptop security best practices

  Laptops can free employees to work remotely, allowing them to telecommute and travel easily. But that freedom comes with security perils.Continue Reading

• Information security, risk management and compliance staffing guide

  Information security, risk management and compliance are serious issues for CIOs. This Executive Guide offers insights on how to recruit, manage and retain skilled IT staff members who can manage these complicated tasks.Continue Reading

• Product Lifecycle Management in Play

  Product lifecycle management (PLM) systems used to require the sort of commitment that only the largest companies could make. But now the benefits of PLM -- global collaboration and faster time to market -- are making their way into the midmarket.Continue Reading

• Self-service technology helps companies help themselves

  Self-service technology can help organizations reduce costs, but also improve the customer experience and let workers focus on what's important.Continue Reading

• IT leadership skills guide for CIOs

  Leadership skills are often just as important as technological ones for CIOs and your leadership style can mean the difference between connecting with your staff or not. Get some advice on establishing and improving your IT leadership skills in this...Continue Reading

• Business intelligence applications

  Read this excerpt from "Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide" to learn about the various applications of business intelligence and how you can use information strategically to help your business.Continue Reading

• Blade servers: Check IT List

  Blade servers offer many benefits for space-challenged and energy-conscious SMBs. Before you invest in blades, know the basics on blade servers and blade centers.Continue Reading

• CMS proves its ROI mettle

  Once implemented successfully, a content management system not only improves organization and efficiency, but also pays for itself within a year and a half.Continue Reading

• ITIL training essential part of IT and business integration

  As IT functions become more fully integrated into an organization's business objectives, the need for training across IT disciplines has become more important. Investments in ITIL training and certification are helping IT organizations align ...Continue Reading

• Security awareness training for SMBs

  Security awareness training can be costly to SMBs, but there are alternatives to the traditional plans. Learn how to create a cost-effective, yet successful, training plan for your company.Continue Reading

• ITIL process success: Get people on your side

  Executive and employee support can be the biggest barriers to ITIL process adoption. In his latest column, Brian Johnson offers advice on how to secure executive support and appoint ITIL champions to lead your internal campaign.Continue Reading

• Bundled Services Lead to New IT Challenges for Telecoms

  Remember when phone and cable companies offered one service? Telecoms now face a new-age challenge: delivering new technologies through multiple channels.Continue Reading

• The Essential Lawyer: SaaS Contract Negotiation Tips

  Software as a Service is cool. Don't get burned when signing your contract.Continue Reading

• Medical Device Makers Tackle FDA Rules With PLM

  Medical device makers want to improve products' time to market while also complying with FDA rules. Product lifecycle management is helping to balance these sometimes conflicting goals.Continue Reading

• CIOs Recount the First 100 Days on the Job

  How do you make an impact during your first 100 days on the job? Ask critical questions, then focus on listening -- and learn all you can.Continue Reading

• SMB definition: How various vendors compare

  Everyone defines SMB differently. Some do it by employee count, others by revenue. Check out this list of vendor and analyst firm definitions to see where your business falls.Continue Reading

• Taking a Closer Look at the Limitation of Liability Clause

  When it comes to the limitation of liability clause, CIOs shouldn't forget to read the fine print.Continue Reading

• ERP and Inventory and Workforce Management Tools Help Bag Market Share

  Midsized supermarkets are feeling the squeeze from an explosion of channels that now sell food. To combat mounting competition, they're using ERP as well as inventory and workforce management technologies.Continue Reading

• NAC solutions help SMBs control network, costs

  Network access control, or NAC, offers a cost-effective way to protect an SMB network from unwanted visitors.Continue Reading

• Project Expert: Balancing Art and Science in Project Management

  Because project management is an art and a science, project managers need creativity and technical skills to keep projects on track.Continue Reading

• Look Who's Watching: Employee Monitoring Becoming Standard Practice

  Employee monitoring tools aren't just about increasing worker productivity or banning pornography from the office. Midmarket CIOs now use them to secure their networks from malware and bandwidth hogs.Continue Reading

• ROI success begins and ends with accountability

  Assigning accountability for ROI results can sometimes mean the difference between a successful project and a failed one. In this tip, learn why accountability is so important to ROI and how to use it your benefit.Continue Reading

• The CIO Guide to Overhauling Employee Morale

  If morale at your company is falling flat, rejuvenating your employees with a sense of purpose and accomplishment may be your most important priority for 2007.Continue Reading

• Making the Case for Outsourcing Call Centers

  Many firms can make a strong case for outsourcing their call centers, especially when they need to scale up. But farming out the work doesn't ensure that you can nip your problems in the bud.Continue Reading

• Speech Recognition Technology Improves Service at Lillian Vernon's

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• Where's the Beef? Health Clubs Fight Member Churn

  Health club CIOs determined to keep their businesses in shape use CRM and Web-based technology to bulk up membership.Continue Reading

• The Master Asset

  MasterCorp needed to clean up its mess of housekeeper schedules and piles of paperwork. So it built what is now the company's greatest asset: homegrown workforce management technology.Continue Reading

• How to Take Control When Negotiating Vendor Contracts

  When you're signing on the dotted line, vendors often have plenty of clout. But you can get control of the deal.Continue Reading

• Vendor management key to outsourcing success

  Vendor management is key to your outsourcing success. Better in-house contract management could help keep the rope from breaking completely.Continue Reading

• IT governance and legal compliance strategies for CIOs

  Between IT-related laws and governance regulations, IT executives today deal with more legal issues than ever before. These issues include compliance regulations, privacy rules and data protection. This Executive Guide provides resources to help ...Continue Reading

• Exit Signs: When to Bring an End to Your CIO Tenure

  How do you know when it's time to move on from your current job? Hear from five CIOs who've left the building.Continue Reading

• Five ways to improve your budgeting process

  The budgeting process is often a very stressful time for IT executives, especially as they face continuing cost pressures and a need to show business value for their technology investments. Columnist James Champy offers advice on how to make ...Continue Reading

• Justifying the costs of identity and access management to executives

  Identity and access management is easy to explain in qualitative terms, but difficult to quantify. Expert Joel Dubin offers tips on how to get buy-in from execs in this podcast.Continue Reading

• Linux or Unix: Pros and cons

  If you're in need of a reliable, scalable environment, Linux or Unix may be the answer. Discover the pros and cons of each and figure out which is the best fit for your needs.Continue Reading

• Project Expert: Taking the Measure of Project Complexity

  Good measurement can help navigate project complexity.Continue Reading

• Calling All Customer-Centric CIOs: Tips for Engaging Customers

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• Virtual Vault

  Happy State Bank in Texas built its business on old-fashioned customer service. Now it's tackling secure Web banking to keep its customers safe online.Continue Reading

• Vendor management key to maximizing ROI

  Vendor management is key to maximizing the ROI benefits throughout your project's lifecycle. Learn more in this month's ROI column.Continue Reading

• ASP model vs. SaaS: Whats the difference?

  ASPs and SaaS providers both offer customers application hosting options. But how are they different? This article explains the difference between these two models and how to effectively choose the best one for your hosting needs.Continue Reading

• Coming Down to Size: SAP Users Include Many in Midmarket

  Midmarket CIOs are opening their doors to SAP, the ERP software known for its complexity and cost. Here's how the software giant is remaking itself to meet the needs of smaller customers.Continue Reading

• Four Key Talking Points for Good Communication, Project Management

  Good communication: The four key talking points.Continue Reading

• Pros and cons of third-party patch management tools

  Struggling with patch deployment every month? Considering a third-party product? Contributor Serdar Yegulalp offers 10 things to think about before making the jump from Microsoft utilities to a third-party product.Continue Reading

• The Essential Lawyer: Force Majeure Meets Disaster Recovery

  Don't let a contract's force majeure clause excuse your vendors from disaster recovery responsibilities.Continue Reading

• Business Mentor: The Long and Short of IT Strategy Planning

  Use your long-term strategic goals to initiate short-term action.Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery plans for your data warehouse

  Data warehouses have become mission-critical systems that help executives make daily business decisions. In his monthly column, BI expert Wayne Eckerson offers advice on how to effectively protect your data warehouse from any type of disaster.Continue Reading

• In Real Estate, Online Tools Extend Consumers' Reach

  Web-savvy consumers are forcing real estate firms to change their technology approach. Offering online tools makes the difference.Continue Reading

• Besieged by Vendor Communications: How to Handle Those Cold Calls

  Learning how to winnow the worthwhile vendor pitches from useless cold calls is an executive art. These five strategies can help.Continue Reading

• A look at approaches to virtualization

  In this article, Anil Desai distinguishes among virtualization at the hardware, server and application levels and provides guidelines for evaluating which works best.Continue Reading

• Master data management: Six steps to succeed

  Master Data Management allows IT organizations to share vital business information across multiple systems. Follow along with six steps to ensure data management success.Continue Reading

• Security solutions: Cost-justification guidelines

  CIOs often have trouble justifying the value of security solutions to the business side. ROI expert Tom Pisello offers four tips for cost justifying IT investments.Continue Reading

• A Business Relationship Manager by Any Other Name

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• A Corporate Email Policy Can Rein in Bad Behavior

  Email policies, as well as those for blogs and IM, show your users what they can do on their office laptop -- and in the process can reduce your company's risk.Continue Reading

• Options for recovering data with Data Protection Manager

  Having backups of your data won't do you any good unless you know how to restore them. Here are some options for restoring data through Microsoft's Data Protection Manager.Continue Reading

• Cinema Sector Turns to Business Intelligence Systems, Mobile Devices

  Movie theaters are hurting from the pressures created by declining admissions and at-home entertainment. Now they're using the latest mobile and self-serve technologies to reel the crowds back in.Continue Reading

• USB wireless security lets you lock your PC by walking away

  A USB wireless security device employs proximity-based security to lock a PC or server when the user or admin steps away. The device has been turned into a plug-in.Continue Reading

• Hospital CIO, CEO Turn to COO to Help Tackle IT Projects

  After a two-year freeze on IT projects, Antelope Valley Hospital had to update its technology. The CIO and CEO discuss how they prioritize projects with their new COO.Continue Reading

• The FBI's Case Management Files: Virtual Case File vs. Sentinel

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• Disparate Systems, Lack of Interoperability Pose Problems for Builders

  Collaboration is king in the architecture, engineering and construction industry.Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery planning: A business impact analysis for IT

  Before you develop a disaster recovery plan, you must understand, analyze and plan for the business impact -- from an IT perspective.Continue Reading

• Offshore outsourcing contracts should focus on value, not price

  Price is no longer the most critical issue to address in an offshore outsourcing relationship. Offshore outsourcing contracts should focus on value, not price.Continue Reading

• Data center crossroads: Is outsourcing the next step?

  Every midmarket organization reaches the point when it must consider outsourcing as part of its data center strategy. Options abound.Continue Reading

• How to Change Your Company's Business Model

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• The problem with 'quickie' performance dashboards

  Performance dashboards can prove tremendously useful, but they aren't a quick fix warns columnist Wayne Eckerson.Continue Reading

• Setting up identity and access management for SMBs

  Part one of this two-part series outlines the first three steps for setting up an identity and access management system: evaluation, planning and implementation.Continue Reading

• How Activity Triggers, Workflow Tools and Dashboards Factor Into ERP

  How well-crafted activity triggers optimize workflow and satisfy customers.Continue Reading

• Pay Up for IT Services: How to Create an IT Chargeback Model

  The practice of charging lines of business for their share of IT has a checkered past -- with good reason. Here's why, and how, to try it.Continue Reading

• Key performance indicators can help your business grow

  Key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used to move your company in new and different directions. This tip discusses the art of creating and implementing effective metrics.Continue Reading

• Top 10 best practices for email archiving

  Regulatory compliance, litigation support and storage management all begin with an efficient e-mail archiving process. Storage consultant Bill Tolson offers 10 detailed best practices for effective e-mail archiving.Continue Reading

• IT inventory and compliance: Check IT List

  Here are five steps to ensuring your IT inventory goes beyond tallying hardware and software to ensure compliance with licensing and other documentation regulations.Continue Reading

• Custom Enterprise Application Helps Legal Firm Tackle Workflow Process

  Two project failures led legal services firm Hobart West Group to develop a custom application -- in seven months. Meet the CIO and business EVP who led the way.Continue Reading

• Resurging Business Challenges Hotel IT Systems

  The hotel business has resurged after years of sliding revenue, but IT is still grappling with antiquated technology.Continue Reading

• The Long Road Back

  When Hurricane Katrina struck, Oreck Corp. put its disaster recovery plan into action only to discover that it fell short. Here's how this midmarket vacuum maker kept business going in the face of enormous -- and ongoing -- obstacles.Continue Reading

• Executive Champion: The Benefits of Supplier Partnerships

  Partnering with vendors takes work, but it can be worth the effort.Continue Reading

• Top 10 considerations for selecting a platform

  With hardware costs for Windows, Solaris and Linux running neck and neck these days, here's a rundown of the top 10 things beyond initial cost to consider when choosing a platform.Continue Reading

• Physical security for laptops

  Make sure your portable computers aren't too portable. Consider physical security for your organization's laptops.Continue Reading

• Five principles of program management

  Program management takes project management to a new level -- by taking into consideration how the project will affect the rest of the organization and other operational processes. In this month's column, James Champy offers five essential program ...Continue Reading

• Best Practices Checklist: Exchange Server disaster recovery planning

  Learn about some tried and true best practices that you need to consider when creating a Microsoft Exchange disaster recovery plan.Continue Reading

• Portfolio Management: The Future Temple of IT Value?

  Done right, portfolio management gives IT leaders a powerful tool to reduce complexity and improve decision making. How do you measure up?Continue Reading

• Exchange Admin 101: Exchange Server communication ports

  Learn about the various ports that Exchange Server uses, so you know which ports you can close for better security, and which must remain open.Continue Reading

• Quick VBA script: Attachment reminder for Outlook email

  We've all composed emails in which we've said "I've attached the file you wanted," hit Send -- and then realized we never attached the file. This script prevents this.Continue Reading

• Web portals: Big challenges, better ROI

  Information architects need time, patience and good business sense to reap the many benefits of Web portals.Continue Reading

• Learn VoIP: A beginner's quiz

  How much do you know about VoIP? Are you ready to implement it, or have you already done so? Here's a quiz to see how much you know about VoIP.Continue Reading