Tips

Tips

• A CTO's vetting process for hyper-converged architectures

  Hyper-converged architectures: CTO and SearchCIO columnist Niel Nickolaisen lays out the five critical questions he asked before taking the plunge.  Continue Reading

• Without IT process documentation, companies risk being held 'hostage' by IT

  As cybersecurity breaches surge, it's important that company leadership know what IT is up to. Kevin McDonald explains why IT process documentation is a must-have best practice.  Continue Reading

• Evaluating hyper-converged architectures: Five key CIO considerations

  Simplicity and cost savings are among the benefits of hyper-converged architectures, but the biggest draw for CIOs may be how these systems make IT teams more business-ready.  Continue Reading

• Tenets of value-sensitive design: Batya Friedman

  A lot of technology gets made without ever taking human values into account. That's what got Batya Friedman thinking about value-sensitive design.  Continue Reading

• Enterprise 3D Printing Guide: Great opportunity, tough challenges

  SearchCIO's Enterprise 3D Printing Guide infographic alerts CIOs to 3D printing's chief technical challenges and explains why this emerging technology also offers CIOs an extraordinary career opportunity.  Continue Reading

• Three keys to a good business reorganization

  The typical reorg evokes fear, stress and suspicion -- and kills productivity. Here's how to change that.  Continue Reading

• Can an old-school vertical business operate as a platform?

  SearchCIO columnist and CTO Niel Nickolaisen talks about his journey to take a vertical business horizontal in a quest to transform employee and customer connections.  Continue Reading

• Free IT budget plan templates for CIOs

  A solid IT budget is key to both managing tech spending and facilitating collaboration. Check out these free IT budget plan templates to help craft yours.  Continue Reading

• 3D printing strategy a litmus test for CIO leadership

  Your company may never need a 3D printing strategy, but it does need a CIO who can test, validate and scale emerging tech.  Continue Reading

• Bimodal IT strategy opens up opportunities for innovation

  Mode 2 of a bimodal IT strategy can help organizations act more like a startup and tackle some high-risk, high-reward digital business moonshots.  Continue Reading

• Bloomberg: Six gotchas that will upend your data science team

  CIOs, take a note: The head of data science at Bloomberg lays out six gotchas that could sink your big data project.  Continue Reading

• A disaster recovery/business continuity plan for the data breach age

  As we become 'digital by nature,' a good enterprise disaster recovery/business continuity plan must put data first, says Harvey Koeppel. He lays out 10 tips.  Continue Reading

• Eight-step data breach plan for the IT organization

  A data breach plan that addresses the many variations a hack can take should consider these eight points.  Continue Reading

• How to test your DR/BC plan

  Woe to the IT organization that hasn't taken its DR/BC plan out for a spin. The right kind of testing will close the gaps and save IT and the business a lot of grief.  Continue Reading

• How to handle a data breach: Managing public perception

  When your organization plans out how to handle a data breach, managing public perception should be given special consideration. One piece of advice: Don't play the victim.  Continue Reading

• Writing a statement of work? Here's what you should include

  A project's success can hinge on having clear and specific details about it. Download this free checklist to see critical elements of a statement of work.  Continue Reading

• Data monetization success begins with three key concepts

  Companies are eyeing data assets as the new cash cow, but monetizing data is hard to do, warn data monetization experts Lydia Jones and Karl Urich. Here's what you need to know.  Continue Reading

• Free statement of work template examples for CIOs

  Statements of work are critical in helping CIOs keep projects on track and meet business goals. Check out these free statement of work template examples.  Continue Reading

• Without an ITSM strategy, there is no digital transformation

  If digital transformation is on your CIO agenda, then a top-of-class ITSM strategy had better be also. CTO Niel Nickolaisen speaks from experience.  Continue Reading

• Seven CIO tips for the ITSM roadmap ahead

  Harvey Koeppel understands how hard it is to deliver ITSM support for a digital business world. Here are seven ways to ensure you can follow the new ITSM roadmap.  Continue Reading

• How organizational agility will save and destroy your company

  Aiming for organizational agility? Prepare to change how you scope work, structure teams, develop talent, practice leadership, and deliver and sell your products.  Continue Reading

• Government agency puts cloud computing references to effective use

  Free guides from cloud customer advocacy groups fit nicely into Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s structured approach to cloud.  Continue Reading

• 3D printing technology: Strategic advice for CIOs

  What is 3D printing? And how can CIOs prepare for its introduction to the workplace? Find out in this SearchCIO tip.  Continue Reading

• Shifting IT security budgets to attack detection, response

  A prevention-focused security strategy isn't foolproof. CIOs need to guide a shift in IT security spending toward attack detection and response.  Continue Reading

• Reconciling great user experience with data risks: CIO tips

  Harvey Koeppel recounts his quest to deliver great user experience without inviting undue data risks. The journey was not easy.  Continue Reading

• Mobile apps for business: Four CIO rules for building a mobile future

  Niel Nickolaisen suggests fellow IT leaders ignore the hysteria over 'mobile-first' enterprises and take a balanced approach to mobile app development.  Continue Reading

• Building an IT configuration management system: Hard but crucial

  An effective configuration management system that documents critical IT systems and services is a crucial prerequisite to successful incident response processes.  Continue Reading

• Mistakes CIOs make on IT outsourcing deals -- and how to fix them

  CIOs don't sign on to large IT outsourcing deals expecting them to go bad, so what accounts for the high failure rates? Andy Sealock offers a game plan for de-risking your deal.  Continue Reading

• How to govern your IT outsourcing provider after the ITO deal is done

  The best ITO deals need tweaking as time goes on. Good governance ensures that you and your IT outsourcing provider are on the same page.  Continue Reading

• Future-proof your IT outsourcing contract: A CIO checklist

  Despite reams of advice on how to write a good IT outsourcing contract, ITO expert Andy Sealock 'still sees terrible deals all over the place.' Here's how to do it right.  Continue Reading

• Infographic: Strategic IT plan checklist for CIOs

  A company's IT strategy can determine whether it sinks or floats in today's competitive marketplace. Download our free checklist to find out what components should be in your strategic IT plan.  Continue Reading

• Don't toss data center best practices when managing cloud services

  Cloud computing is different -- but it's not that different. Gartner analyst Mindy Cancila says you already do some of the most critical tasks.  Continue Reading

• Track the cost of cloud-based services with better financial management

  Companies that don't monitor the cost of cloud-based services could be in for a nasty surprise, warns Gartner analyst Mindy Cancila.  Continue Reading

• Cybersecurity experts: 'Brittle' security systems need overhaul

  Cybersecurity experts urge enterprises to embrace new tools, including micro-virtualization and intelligence-led security.  Continue Reading

• Enterprise data architecture strategy and the big data lake

  Today's enterprise data architecture strategy has to address how to align existing data systems with growing information needs, capabilities and data sources.  Continue Reading

• Larry Wall's programmer virtues and 'vices'

  IT pros who are lazy, impatient and hubristic are just what CIOs need. Gartner analyst Danny Brian explains why in this SearchCIO tip.  Continue Reading

• Taming today's cyberthreat landscape: A CIO checklist

  The cyberthreat landscape grows more dangerous by the day. Harvey Koeppel offers a 12-point cybersecurity checklist for CIOs.  Continue Reading

• From tech supplier to IT service provider, a CIO makes the 'big switch'

  To address gaps between business expectations and IT delivery, CIO Gary Watkins came up with a model to make his IT team the company's IT service provider of choice.  Continue Reading

• New CIOs: How to succeed in the first 120 days

  New CIOs have a short window to prove their mettle. Accenture's Diana Bersohn lays out a 120-day-plan for success.  Continue Reading

• Among threats to information security, human behavior a constant risk

  Among the myriad evolving threats to information security, CIOs can count on one constant: Human error. Niel Nickolaisen offers three best practices for dealing with ourselves.  Continue Reading

• AI technology: Is the genie (or genius) out of the bottle?

  Artificial intelligence has come a long way since SearchCIO columnist Harvey Koeppel studied with some of the discipline's pioneers. He offers 10 steps CIOs must take now to prepare for the AI technology era ahead.  Continue Reading

• Sample IT strategy plan templates and examples

  How do organizations gain a competitive edge in today's rapidly evolving tech landscape? With a solid IT strategy plan to guide them, for starters. These IT strategy plan templates and samples will help.  Continue Reading

• Mobile payments come of age: A brief history lesson

  Mobile payments mark the latest iteration in our 19,000-year history of commerce, says Harvey Koeppel. It's up to CIOs to make this evolutionary development work better.  Continue Reading

• Readers debate using the Apple Watch for business

  The Apple Watch offers nuggets of data that could drive employee productivity. We asked our readers to weigh in on the potential usefulness of the Apple Watch for business.  Continue Reading

• Three steps to creating a great senior leadership team

  You're only as good as your direct reports, says leadership coach and author Joseph Flahiff. Here's how to build a senior leadership team that makes breakthrough contributions to the business.  Continue Reading

• Startup guide: Don't be afraid to give your strategic goals a tuneup

  A few months into launching our new business, all signs were pointing to success. So why did we feel we had lost sight of our strategic goals?  Continue Reading

• The CIO's guide to the data center of the future

  When it comes to the enterprise data center of the future, past is probably not prologue, says SearchCIO columnist Harvey Koeppel. He offers five tips to prepare for the great data center unknown.  Continue Reading

• BPM principles in the age of the digitized customer experience

  Learn five BPM principles for delivering products and services to customers who want to conduct business in an individualized, intimate and instantaneous way.  Continue Reading

• Hire for personality, not just skills, to build your startup team

  Finding people with the right experience and skills to build your new business is critical, but it's the personality mix of a startup team that can make or break a small business.  Continue Reading

• Eight steps for keeping pace with data ownership

  Social, mobile, analytics and cloud computing require a fresh look at issues related to data ownership, according to Harvey Koeppel. His eight-point CIO checklist can help.  Continue Reading

• Lessons learned from FedEx's social networking platform project

  What big company doesn’t want a social networking platform that lets employees really connect, communicate and create? Take it from a pro: The benefits are many and, yes, it is hard to do.  Continue Reading

• Preparing your wireless network for the 802.11ac standard and beyond

  Get advice for assessing whether you should upgrade your wireless network to 802.11ac and for talking to network vendors about whether your core equipment can support it.  Continue Reading

• Gartner: DevOps is good; DevSecOps is better

  Make way for DevSecOps. According to Gartner analyst David Cearley, CIOs need to add security professionals to their DevOps teams.  Continue Reading

• Three tips for a better IT service model

  With IT budgets moving out of the IT department, these three best practices will help put your IT organization in a better position to compete with outside IT services companies.  Continue Reading

• Loss of focus chief reason for startup failure

  Too much passion, too little passion, too many cooks -- there are many factors that can lead to loss of focus and, ultimately, to startup failure.  Continue Reading

• Private cloud termination agreement: What CIOs need to know

  Relationships between companies and their cloud providers can be fleeting. Knowing this, it's important for CIOs to think about exit strategies before they sign that cloud contract. David Rutchik, a partner at Pace Harmon LLC, offers advice.  Continue Reading

• The complexities of a diversified cloud strategy

  Experts urge using a diversified cloud strategy to offset cloud vendor instability, but the sophisticated management skills this approach requires may make it unfeasible for some IT organizations.  Continue Reading

• Use a diversified cloud strategy to offset provider instability

  It can be tough for CIOs to get cloud providers to commit to providing long-term services. One way to ensure stability is by using a diversified cloud strategy.  Continue Reading

• Mobile app development process: Saving time, money

  Learn about one approach to mobile app development that cuts the amount of resources that go into expensive software development and testing.  Continue Reading

• Overcome the fear factor in enterprise application consolidation

  Application consolidation is not for the faint of heart. Among other hurdles are the users who threaten mutiny. Niel Nickolaisen offers advice on getting the deed done.  Continue Reading

• Cloud contract checklist: A lawyer's perspective

  It can be difficult to navigate cloud contracts. There are laws to abide by, SLAs, subcontractors and more. Where to start? One lawyer lays out the six basic issues he vets when he reviews cloud contracts with his clients.  Continue Reading

• How to monetize your mobile app

  Monetizing your mobile application isn't easy. In this SearchCIO tip, three experts share the secrets behind monetizing their mobile apps and offer advice on how you, too, can develop a successful app.  Continue Reading

• Free RFP template examples for ERP

  Use these free RFP template examples for ERP to make the best use of your business' technology resources.  Continue Reading

• Seven data science lessons from McGraw-Hill Education analytics guru

  What programming language should every data scientist know? How should data scientists be trained? Why do you need more women on your team? McGraw-Hill Education's Alfred Essa answers those questions and more.  Continue Reading

• Four elements of creating business agility

  Organizational agility expert Joseph Flahiff lays out four practices that lead to business agility.  Continue Reading

• Prescriptive method of analytics boasts broad benefits

  Can the prescriptive method of analytics improve business outcomes in your industry? #CIOChat participants sound off on the potential and the reality.  Continue Reading

• Free templates: IT vendor selection, social sharing and mobile devices

  SearchCIO has rounded up free templates from around the Web providing guidance on IT vendor selection, social sharing and mobile device policies.  Continue Reading

• Free IT templates for CIOs and technology managers

  SearchCIO rounded up free IT templates from around the Web to help technology managers organize their IT departments, projects and service offerings.  Continue Reading

• Free project management template examples for strategic IT planning

  These free project management template examples from around the Web provide project guidelines and strategic IT planning tools to CIOs and IT leaders.  Continue Reading

• A CTO who has 'seen it all' shares top tips for effective disaster recovery

  When it comes to effective disaster recovery, CTO Niel Nickolaisen advises it may be best to look outside your IT department. Read his top tips here.  Continue Reading

• #CIOChat: Your wearable device presents a BIG data challenge

  Ever consider the implications of bringing your wearable device to work? Tweet jam participants discuss data challenges and infrastructure needs.  Continue Reading

• On digital transformation, will CIOs get stuck in the shadows?

  Organizations must play to their digital strengths if they want to survive digital disruption, advises Forrester. Is there a place for the CIO?  Continue Reading

• Move like Jagger to nail down a digital strategy

  The collaborative skills of Quincy Jones, longevity of the Rolling Stones and tenacity of Tina Turner are the makings of a potent digital strategy.  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Three competencies CIOs need to master digital disruption

  CIOs need three competencies to keep pace with digital disruption. Plus, do you play soldier, captain or general in digital disruption?  Continue Reading

• Best project management practices for CIOs and IT managers

  The best project management practices emphasize efficiency over chaos, so we've gathered some top project management tips from our sister sites.  Continue Reading

• CIO tip: Learn how to present a risk-management plan to the board

  CIO tip: Companies are getting serious about risk management plans -- and leaning on CIOs to help them.  Continue Reading

• Rolling out a mission-critical application: We can do better

  Does the glitch-ridden Health Insurance Marketplace bring back bad memories? Niel Nickolaisen offers his Rx for rolling out a mission-critical app.  Continue Reading

• The project pipeline and the role of IT

  HoneyBaked Ham IT executive Bill Bolton outlines role of IT and six steps for prioritizing the project pipeline.  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Achieve business agility by adopting these 10 attributes

  Is your company struggling to keep up with the lightning-quick pace of change? Forrester explains the 10 attributes of business agility.  Continue Reading

• Free technology roadmap template examples for CIOs

  These free technology roadmap templates and examples will clear up your organization's strategic vision, combining detail with overarching goals.  Continue Reading

• Forrester CXi shows CIOs key to improving customer experience

  Companies that excel at customer experience work hand in glove with CIOs and IT, according to the Forrester 2013 Customer Experience Index.  Continue Reading

• Free supply chain model examples, strategy resources for the CIO

  Is your organization's supply chain strategy on sure footing? We've rounded up some free supply chain model resources from around the Web.  Continue Reading

• Nate Silver on Bayes' Theorem and the power of big data done right

  Nate Silver outlines three principles taken from Bayes' Theorem that influence his prediction process.  Continue Reading

• How CIOs can use game mechanics to build better engagement

  Game mechanics are more than just rewarding badges. This primer on game design theory offers insight on building customer and user engagement.  Continue Reading

• Information management and the role of IT in a big data era: Three tips

  Some 80% of employees rely on corporate data to do their jobs, yet under half believe the data is usable. What's the role of IT and information management?  Continue Reading

• Four steps to defining and articulating the role of risk management

  Risk management programs are under pressure from all quarters. Here are four steps to defining and articulating the role of risk management.  Continue Reading

• Correlation vs. causation: Readers talk about baby boomer innovations

  In this CIO Chatter, readers argue correlation vs. causation in explaining baby boomer innovations vs. those of Millennials.  Continue Reading

• Green information technology initiatives: How do you demonstrate ROI?

  Our Twitter followers, editors and writers weigh in on green information technology in data center planning and different ways of demonstrating ROI.  Continue Reading

• Free cost-benefit analysis template examples for CIOs

  Check out this collection of free cost-benefit analysis examples to determine, in a systematic way, which decision or project is the most beneficial to your organization.  Continue Reading

• Apply lean principles to ITSM for continuous service improvement

  Applying lean principles to IT services management not only helps CIOs cut the fat, but find a balance for continuous service improvement.  Continue Reading

• Data storage strategy: Pre- and post-cloud computing

  CIO Niel Nickolaisen lays out how the cloud has simplified his data storage strategy … and satisfied his company's data dumping resistance.  Continue Reading

• Need for speed driving one CIO to DR/BC in the cloud

  Why the demand for faster deployments and the elimination of IT bottlenecks is steering one CIO to DR/BC in the cloud.  Continue Reading

• Free mobile device policy template examples for CIOs

  Is the influx of mobile devices out of control at your organization? These free mobile device policy template examples can help you create guidelines.  Continue Reading

• Free IT organizational structure chart templates for the CIO

  Use these free IT organizational structure chart templates to illustrate the relationships and hierarchy between various IT roles in your enterprise.  Continue Reading

• Steps CIOs can take to harness digital disruption

  How does a CIO get involved in digital disruption? Analyst Nigel Fenwick offers a framework.  Continue Reading

• Incentive-based pricing models for your next IT outsourcing contract

  Looking to add oomph to your standard IT outsourcing contract? Here are three incentive-based pricing models that might help.  Continue Reading

• Privacy and data protection governance in five steps

  From data privacy scope to mapping laws to business requirements, Forrester Research outlines five steps to privacy and data protection governance.  Continue Reading

• Free IT department budget template examples for strategic investments

  Making strategic tech investments could help your business stay afloat. Take a look at these free IT department budget templates from around the Web.  Continue Reading

• Free elevator pitch examples and templates for IT and the business

  An elevator pitch is a great tool for tailored speeches and pitches. To craft your own, check out these free elevator pitch examples and templates.  Continue Reading

• Making a business case for data storage and backup

  CIO Niel Nickolaisen lays out how he gets the business to invest in storage and backup technologies starting with a business case for the value of data.  Continue Reading