Tips

Tips

• Building a service catalog management strategy: Where to start?

  The IT service catalog is the foundation of an effective ITSM program, but it's a complicated tool and hard to get right. Here's some expert advice on how to get started.  Continue Reading

• Business transformation project: Dealing with legacy data

  Business transformation requires a solid data foundation. Expert Dan Morris offers a near-term fix for your data-quality problems and the basis for a long-term approach to better data.  Continue Reading

• What steps can CIOs take to optimize their ITSM software?

  James Stanger of CompTIA dives into the reasons for ITSM software proliferation in the enterprise, why that's a problem and how sticking to a unified ITSM framework can help.  Continue Reading

• IT service desk vs. IT help desk: What's the difference?

  One came first and focused on IT fixes. The other got direction from ITIL. Users ask for one over the other. Today, something called ESM might just put both out to pasture.  Continue Reading

• Don't get caught up in the neural processing unit hype

  To differentiate new chip technology from existing GPUs, mobile tech companies (along with software titans) are slapping a 'neural' label on their products. Analysts say to be skeptical.  Continue Reading

• Resist 'garbage in, gospel out' doctrine -- defend data quality

  The 'garbage in, gospel out' approach to business analytics may be a valid approach for doing big data projects, but CIOs should resist it for business transformation.  Continue Reading

• How to start a blockchain project: Questions for IBM's Jerry Cuomo

  A blockchain project starts with a belief that business needs to be done in a different way. Here's what happens next, including the role CIOs play in a blockchain journey.  Continue Reading

• Bad data stops business process transformation in its tracks

  Dan Morris introduces his new eight-part series on exploring how bad data can sabotage business process transformation and what CIOs need to do to fix it.  Continue Reading

• Fostering human-machine collaboration is a CIO's job

  Uncover why human-machine collaboration was singled out in a Forrester Research report that says it's time for enterprises to embrace AI in the workplace -- and IT has a special role to play.  Continue Reading

• How CIOs can support black box testing techniques

  Ben Clark, Wayfair's chief architect, offers advice to CIOs on how to knowledgeably support AI endeavors in the enterprise, including the use of black box testing.  Continue Reading

• Using RPA development to bridge the gap between legacy and cloud apps

  RPA tech has evolved into sophisticated frameworks that automate IT tasks and rules-based processes. Now, RPA benefits are bridging the gap between legacy apps and modern ones.  Continue Reading

• How to measure usability when selecting an RPA tool

  If an RPA tool isn't user-friendly and isn't built for the long term, chances are the dividends won't be immediate. Read this before choosing your RPA tools.  Continue Reading

• Enterprise digitization's secret ingredient: Fusion teams

  Cross-functional or 'fusion' teams are critical to meeting fast-changing digital challenges. Here are the four must-have team attributes for successful enterprise digitization.  Continue Reading

• How to overcome multi-cloud disaster recovery challenges

  As multi-cloud environments proliferate, data backup and recovery tech is essential. Here's how to assess enterprise multi-cloud disaster recovery capabilities -- and limitations.  Continue Reading

• Rapid prototyping process brings technology to life

  Carnegie Mellon University's Chris Harrison and his team are developing the user interfaces of the future. He explains why a rapid prototyping process is critical to building technology that changes lives.  Continue Reading

• Biometric security technology readies for corporate prime time

  Companies are turning to biometric security technology to improve user authentication and experience, but its use presents unique challenges that could slow enterprise adoption.  Continue Reading

• How to create the best RPA architecture

  Enterprises are embracing robotic process automation to automate rules-based, repetitive tasks in a cost-efficient manner. ROI depends on having the right RPA architecture.  Continue Reading

• Digital transformation plan: RPA and BPMS tools, better together

  A sound digital transformation plan gives companies the ability to change quickly. Business process management suites and robotic process automation -- used together -- do that.  Continue Reading

• Cloud ERP systems present 'business-critical' security challenges

  Where does the data live? Who -- the provider or the customer -- is responsible for securing what? They're vital questions to ask when mulling a cloud move, a new report posits.  Continue Reading

• How to prep for the GDPR breach notification rule

  As companies prep for GDPR compliance, its breach notification rule is making waves. Csaba Krasznay, security evangelist at Balabit, discusses how to prep for Article 33 of GDPR.  Continue Reading

• Blockchain implementation: Connecting the missing DLT links

  Blockchain implementation is helping streamline governance processes, but a few questions must be answered first to take full advantage of distributed ledger technology.  Continue Reading

• Prepare now for an AI-assisted ITSM strategy

  What does it mean to have an AI-assisted ITSM strategy? Pink Elephant's Jennifer Wels outlines seven areas where AI can be applied to ITSM.  Continue Reading

• IT areas of focus in 2018 include outcome-based security services, data lakes

  Rahul Singh, managing director at IT outsourcing advisory Pace Harmon, dissects the 2018 trends in three important IT areas for CIOs.  Continue Reading

• CIOs, the age of the algorithm takes hold -- for better and worse

  Tom Davenport and Bill Franks from the International Institute for Analytics give their expert opinions on where analytics is headed in 2018.  Continue Reading

• IT goals for 2018: Five CIO must-dos

  Niel Nickolaisen closes the books on 2017 and lays out IT objectives for 2018. Flexible architecture and bleeding-edge tech, along with building your business cred, loom large.  Continue Reading

• Your digital transformation initiative is probably not future-proof

  A digital transformation initiative will fail if you simply dump new tech into an old tech black box, says expert Dan Morris. His readiness checklist points the way forward.  Continue Reading

• Security practices don't have to hinder IT speed

  Speed-to-market strategies shouldn't be bogged down by IT security. Here are two steps that will help CISOs adapt governance practices to support IT speed.  Continue Reading

• Setting up a service automation framework

  In this third tip in a series on service automation, the global CIO searches for and finds a service automation framework.  Continue Reading

• What is IT service automation? Exceeding user expectations

  In this second tip in a series on IT service automation, the global CIO calls an urgent meeting of his executive team then gives the summer intern the floor.  Continue Reading

• IT service automation: A global CIO learns from a millennial

  In this expert column on IT service automation, a global CIO's encounter with an IT intern makes him realize it's time to ready the enterprise for the self-service generation.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing economics: Juggling availability, performance and cost

  Companies must answer complicated questions about cloud computing economics as emerging platforms offer attractive IT capabilities that come with unexpected costs.  Continue Reading

• How to build a team that works: Focus on these three factors

  Collaboration doesn't just happen. CIOs need to understand how to build a team that performs at a high level. Three ingredients are key, explains Agile expert Joseph Flahiff.  Continue Reading

• Assemble your toolbox for distributed decision-making

  If your organization has a distributed workforce, it needs to figure out how to optimize distributed decision-making. Joseph Flahiff lays out the fundamentals.  Continue Reading

• Quest for the best security for containers: Seven steps

  Despite their name, containers are by no means impervious to threats. With their use expected to grow, the time is ripe for determining the best security for containers.  Continue Reading

• A CTO offers advice on managing acquisition risks

  An ambitious project to modernize legacy software has added IT prowess and is driving innovation. One unforeseen consequence? Acquisitions are up, and so are acquisition risks.  Continue Reading

• Compliance battle over digital ownership has begun

  Rules defining digital ownership will dictate how the data-based economy evolves. CIOs should get ahead of data asset management before competitors write rules to their advantage.  Continue Reading

• Why EA should take the lead on improving customer experience

  The business shift to digital goods and services gives IT a critical role in improving the customer experience. Here's why CIOs are assigning enterprise architecture the job.  Continue Reading

• Reshape the role of the PMO for the digital era

  The project management office needs a new mandate to be a player in digital transformation. Matt McWha offers advice on how to rethink the role of the PMO.  Continue Reading

• Loose coupling, tight data access minimize security risks of new tech

  A recent article on biological malware got Niel Nickolaisen thinking about how to minimize security risks in emerging tech. Here are two approaches that will help.  Continue Reading

• Get a grip on evaluating cloud management platforms

  Software for managing multicloud computing environments can help companies tame the tumult. An industry expert gives tips on how to assess products.  Continue Reading

• Robust DevOps trend fueled by IT's need for speed, survey says

  A survey from IT service management provider Pink Elephant pinpoints the motives and success factors driving the burgeoning DevOps trend.  Continue Reading

• Why CIOs need to control the iteration process

  The iteration process promises to save IT and the business precious time. Done wrong, however, it actually adds time, risk, disruption and confusion to projects.  Continue Reading

• Time to replace 'corral and control' with a digital data strategy

  As data volumes explode and business uses for data increase, the old "data-first" mindset no longer applies. CIOs must develop a digital data strategy. Here is what's required.  Continue Reading

• Data asset curation: The guidelines to determine information usability

  Keeping track of existing data assets is increasingly difficult, but detailed curation of this vital company information can help streamline evolving digital governance processes.  Continue Reading

• CIO strives to tie cloud metrics to business value

  As CIOs gain experience in cloud computing, the cloud metrics they use are changing. Read how one CIO makes business value a priority in deciding which cloud services make sense.  Continue Reading

• App development teams need to adapt to business-led IT

  App development teams are at an inflection point: They can act as sole producers -- and fail to meet digital demands -- or enable business-led IT with application building blocks.  Continue Reading

• A cloud implementation methodology for legacy apps

  Maximizing the benefits of cloud while minimizing risk requires a fine-tuned migration strategy. Here, Scott Lowe lays out a cloud implementation methodology for legacy apps.  Continue Reading

• Turn tech laggards into learners -- adopt the flipped classroom model

  What if you could improve tech training and save money at the same time? The flipped classroom model can do that, and more, for tech education, Joseph Flahiff says.  Continue Reading

• Executing strategies: Close the gap between vision and implementation

  That vision thing won't do CIOs much good if they fail to execute on strategy, management experts say. Here's how to overcome the hurdles that can get in the way of success.  Continue Reading

• BPMS tools as hub of software development architecture

  A business process management suite can deliver speed, flexibility and cost savings to a software development environment. For the greatest return, make the BPMS the focal point.  Continue Reading

• Engineering compliance, legal rules into mobile technology development

  Legal concerns can hinder the mobility strategy of companies, but designing compliance into the front end of mobile technology development will keep both regulators and CIOs satisfied.  Continue Reading

• Running Agile at scale: Three challenges

  CEB: To implement Agile at scale, CIOs will need to educate product managers, seek nontraditional sources of funding and become Agile ambassadors.  Continue Reading

• In a post-Agile world, it's time for a new manifesto

  Joseph Flahiff laments the current state of Agile, explains how to make improvements and challenges his fellow Agilists to search for the next new way to work.  Continue Reading

• How to create an enterprise transformation roadmap

  The rapidly evolving techno-society is increasing competition for all kinds of businesses and forcing them to create a plan for enterprise transformation. Here's advice to help.  Continue Reading

• Two IT leadership strategies that made me a successful CIO

  A new way to prioritize IT activities and an epiphany about leadership made all the difference in Niel Nickolaisen's career as an IT leader. Read about these two IT leadership strategies.  Continue Reading

• Agile contracting: How to ensure speedy development and accountability

  Looking for legal advice on how to best craft Agile contracts to ensure both project flexibility and outsourced-developer accountability? Look no further.  Continue Reading

• OpenStack platform deployments: Not every app is a candidate

  In deployments of OpenStack in the enterprise, CIOs need to choose which applications will make the cut. Experts offer advice.  Continue Reading

• Break the bottleneck with this new IT/business engagement model

  CIO teams need to interact more directly with business stakeholders -- from the digital sophisticates to the digital naïfs. Here are five elements of a new business engagement model.  Continue Reading

• The power of positive four-letter words to unlock employee potential

  Four-letter words like can't and don't crush an employee's potential and quash creativity. Have the courage to use positive four-letter words and watch what happens.  Continue Reading

• Modern information asset management present new rules for CIOs, others

  Information asset management has fallen lower on CIOs' list of priorities, but other departments and roles are stepping in as high-quality data drives business decisions.  Continue Reading

• Function as a service, or serverless computing: Cloud's next big act?

  Function as a service, or serverless computing, aims to unshackle developers from the work of provisioning and managing servers. What role will it play in IT's quest for agility?  Continue Reading

• IT career advancement: The move to management

  As businesses increasingly embrace technology as a strategic advantage, IT career advancement will rely on tech professionals' untapped skills as they strive for management roles.  Continue Reading

• Product line management is fundamental to the new IT operating model

  Digital transformation requires CIOs to rethink the way IT operates. At the center of the new IT operating model is product line management, explains CEB's Matt McWha.  Continue Reading

• How to monetize data

  CIOs are increasingly being tasked with capitalizing on company information. Learn how to monetize data in this report from Outsell's DataMoney Conference.  Continue Reading

• CTO: Our quest for agility led us to the OpenStack framework

  Niel Nickolaisen's abiding mission is to make IT a nimble partner to the business. The OpenStack framework has helped.  Continue Reading

• Clear goals, patience required for successful IT automation strategy

  More companies are investing in automation to streamline processes. But for an IT automation strategy to be successful, it's important to start with clear, well defined goals.  Continue Reading

• How to use artificial intelligence for business benefit

  AI expert Josh Sutton lays out the three main ways that companies can use artificial intelligence systems for business advantage.  Continue Reading

• Selling the value of cloud computing to the C-suite

  Selling the value of cloud computing to business leaders requires more than the usual bromides about cost savings and speed-to-market.  Continue Reading

• Principles to guide your DevOps adoption

  Adopting DevOps doesn't simply mean taking up a few practices. It also requires embracing the attitude, culture and philosophy. Learn seven pointers for your journey.  Continue Reading

• Three cloud roles CIOs can't ignore

  Gartner: To fully realize cloud benefits, CIOs need to fill three cloud roles -- one for forming strategy, one for implementing strategy and one for budgeting.  Continue Reading

• Social movements offer CIOs a model for sustaining innovation

  How to sustain innovation is a challenge for startups and large companies alike. Studying the ties that bind social and political movements could help.  Continue Reading

• Transitioning to a DevOps environment? Don't make these four mistakes

  Weak project management skills, missed timelines, thin-skinned staff -- any one of these could torpedo your fledgling DevOps environment.  Continue Reading

• Digital labor: What forward-looking CIOs should know

  In this Q&A, ISG Insights analyst Stanton Jones describes the various types of digital labor and offers pointers for CIOs on how to start deploying it.  Continue Reading

• 2017 CIO priorities: If you do anything next year, do this

  Analytics, security, data privacy and IT specialization loom large for 2017. Here is my CIO guide for surviving another whirlwind year.  Continue Reading

• CIO outlook 2017: Five elements of the new IT operating model

  CIO outlook 2017: Jettison the plan-build-run model, form fusion teams, hire agile learners, double down on IT risk and spearhead a plan to maximize the value of data. Here's how.  Continue Reading

• Crushed by the pace of technology change? Do these two things

  Is complexity killing your ability to keep up with the pace of technology change? Niel Nickolaisen offers a path forward.  Continue Reading

• Achieve digital success: Takeaways from CEB's Summit for IT Leaders

  Faster IT operating models, companywide change, new hires: The CEB Summit for IT Leaders maps out the steps to digital success.  Continue Reading

• Radical changes in IT are masked by sluggish information technology budgets

  Far from stagnant, corporate IT budgets are actually highly dynamic. Growth is tied to digitization efforts which, in turn, are driving big changes in IT.  Continue Reading

• Become a change agent: Stop procrastinating

  Don't be like the white-haired bride and groom who put off the big event until they could afford it. Now is the time for action, says organizational agility expert Joseph Flahiff.  Continue Reading

• Changes in CISO responsibilities call for new reporting structure

  CISO responsibilities are both expanding and shifting to other departments. CEB's Jeremy Bergsman sorts out the future state of IS, privacy and the risk ecosystem.  Continue Reading

• The new vendor governance model: Challenges, best practices

  How do leading IT vendor governance offices successfully adapt to a rapidly changing business environment?  Continue Reading

• IT vendor governance expands to business functions

  In the first of this two-part tip on IT vendor governance, Pace Harmon Director Dan McMahon lays out how vendor governance responsibilities are changing at leading companies.  Continue Reading

• Mobile security issues and solutions

  Mobile technology usage is growing just as the number of threats facing mobile data is growing. CIOs must combat mobile security issues to stay ahead in the mobile-dominated world.  Continue Reading

• Agile organizations still need project status reports

  A worrisome trend is emerging as more organizations adopt agile practices -- disavowal of project status reports.  Continue Reading

• Mulling cloud email services? Ask two questions first

  Before moving productivity software to the cloud, think about what you might lose -- and what you might gain, says Gartner's Guy Creese.  Continue Reading

• Mobile app development skills: How to meet enterprise demand

  How should CIOs gain access to mobile app development skills? That will depend on the scope, complexity, duration and urgency of the work.  Continue Reading

• Advice for IT leaders: How to tell the cloud story

  The case for cloud computing is less about the technical fine points and more about telling a compelling story to your IT team and business peers. Here are four essential elements.  Continue Reading

• Be smart, prepared on cloud service agreements

  Cloud service agreements can be difficult to understand; therefore negotiations with cloud providers can be thorny. A customer advocacy group has several tips.  Continue Reading

• Concerned about mobile vulnerabilities, CIOs add security layers

  IT leaders are adding more security layers in an effort to protect against mobility threats. What tools are in their portfolios?  Continue Reading

• Scaling a business doesn't mean just getting bigger

  Don't blow a fuse when scaling your business. Culture, leadership and organizational structure need to change as your startup grows.  Continue Reading

• The best mobile security plans examine risks first, then prescribe

  How do CIOs deliver the best mobile security? Take a cue from the great psychologist Abraham Maslow, says CTO Niel Nickolaisen.  Continue Reading

• The pivotal role of CIOs in digital readiness: Three principles

  Putting one person in charge of digital readiness won't work, says CEB's Andrew Horne, but that doesn't mean CIOs don't play a pivotal role in digital transformation.  Continue Reading

• Delegator vs. micromanager: What kind of boss are you?

  Being a delegator is one of the hardest jobs for a leader. Joseph Flahiff explains.  Continue Reading

• Board presentations on IT risk: Don't make these five mistakes

  CIO and CISO board presentations on cybersecurity are on the rise. Jeremy Bergsman of consultancy CEB explains what not to do.  Continue Reading

• Three questions for IBM blockchain expert Arvind Krishna

  How many nodes is enough for consensus? Who owns blockchain data? IBM blockchain expert Arvind Krishna addresses these and other burning blockchain issues in this SearchCIO tip.  Continue Reading

• Remote and collocated teams: How to make them better

  Joseph Flahiff pinpoints problems associated with two more types of remote teams and explains why collocated teams may not be all they're cracked up to be.  Continue Reading

• How to optimize the performance of remote teams: Three variations

  Remote teams may not be the ideal, but they are a fact of the modern workplace. Here are three types of remote teams and tips on how to help them work better.  Continue Reading

• Eight best practices for optimizing a distributed team

  Having all your team members under one roof is the exception today rather than the rule. How can you ensure your distributed teams are successful?  Continue Reading

• Six shifts that define enterprise digitization in 2020

  Before business leaders get dragged into conversations about how their company can be the "Uber of their industry," they need to agree on the IT and business trends driving enterprise digitization.  Continue Reading

• Mobile backend as a service: Features and deployment options

  Mobile apps are constantly connected, which makes mobile backend as a service ideal for running business logic and data analysis. Here's what you need to know about cloud back-end services.  Continue Reading