Technology News: IT Management

Steve Jobs Conquers the Decade - Now What?
November 07, 2009

Now that Fortune has named Apple CEO Steve Jobs CEO of the decade, where will he go from here? Throughout his career, Jobs has typically led the market, bringing out products that consumers didn't know they wanted until they saw them -- products like the iPhone and iPod touch, for instance. He will probably continue doing so, but in the future he may delegate more responsibilities.

8 Habits of Successful Customer Feedback Managers
November 05, 2009

Customer relationships are damaged when companies hear too late about customer concerns or issues to do anything to repair them. Even worse, many crucial concerns aren't being heard by the right people at an organization. For example, are managers aware of which customers are unhappy? Did an employee treat a customer unfairly? What are the specific factors that caused a customer to leave?

Secure, Real-Time UC: Safe Connections While on the Move
November 05, 2009

Unified Communications holds enormous promise as a coherent, integrated approach to incorporating the full spectrum of business communications modalities, and as direct path to cut through "communications clutter" resulting in accelerated time-to-action. It also offers a cost-effective way to more directly connect the company to its customers.

PayPal Gets Friendly With Developers
November 04, 2009

New APIs from PayPal will allow developers to integrate its payment capabilities within applications. Typically, online shoppers have to visit PayPal's site to complete purchases. The new functionality will let them complete their transaction without leaving a shopping site or game -- even allowing those who don't already have a PayPal account to set one up on the spot.

Maintaining Integrity and Security in a Data Migration
November 04, 2009

Data migrations these days have become a necessary evil in every IT environment. The rapid rate at which hardware and software becomes outdated, coupled with a need to save costs by taking old assets off the books as soon as possible, means that data migrations are something no one can avoid.

Fortifying Your E-Tail Operation Against 'Friendly Fraud'
November 03, 2009

Fraud prevention, in its many layers and forms, is one of the most important services that can be provided to e-merchants. With each passing year, fraudsters become more experienced and new forms of fraud are developed. What is different in recent years is that we have been dealing with an economic recession.

Making Micro-Payment Models Work Online
November 02, 2009

Forecasts for the magnitude of online micro-payments can whet the appetite of any profit-minded businessperson. However, cracking that code is more complicated than one thinks. There is little question as to whether sub-US$5 products can be sold in mass volume, but the lynchpin to opening the floodgates of micro-payments may very well be payment method.

Where SOA Meets the Cloud
November 01, 2009

Dave Linthicum's new book, Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step-by-Step Guide, has just arrived and digs into the conflation of SOA and cloud computing. We're here with Dave, and just Dave this time, to dig into the conflation of SOA and cloud computing. "SOA is the way to do cloud," he said.

Keeping Your Secrets Safe in a World Gone Social
October 28, 2009

Social networking platforms allow both anonymous and open communications with the world, giving us a voice and a forum to share our thoughts publicly and privately. However, with the growing threat of identity theft and other cybercrimes, social networks also present a new set of risks.

The Google Voice Choice: Keep Your Number or Get More Features
October 27, 2009

Google announced on Monday that Google Voice users can retain their existing mobile phone numbers when setting up an account instead of having to receive a new phone number for the service. "Google Voice is all about enabling choice," product manager Pierre Lebeau said in a post on the Google Voice blog.

What's on the Wire? Choosing the Best Approach to Network Monitoring
October 27, 2009

There's no debate about the need for centralized network monitoring. The potential benefits are numerous, including improved end-use productivity, network performance, application performance and security and compliance. There are three main approaches to network monitoring: Simple Network Management Protocol, flow records and packet-based.

Building ERP at the Speed of Web
October 25, 2009

I had the pleasure to recently sit down with Workday's cofounder and coCEO, Aneel Bhusri, who is responsible for the company's overall strategy and day-to-day operations. Bhusri, who also helped bring PeopleSoft to huge success, explains how Workday is raising the bar on employee life-cycle productivity by lowering IT costs through the SaaS model for full enterprise resource planning.

The Young and the Twitterless
October 24, 2009

They think it's pointless, narcissistic. Some don't even know what it is. Even so, more young adults and teens -- normally at the cutting edge of technology -- are finally coming around to Twitter, using it for class or work, monitoring the minutiae of celebrities' lives.

Mozilla's Raindrop to Provide a Tidy In-Box for Everything
October 23, 2009

Mozilla on Thursday introduced Raindrop, a project that seeks to consolidate online communications. The Raindrop team consists of the same people who worked on Mozilla's Thunderbird, an open source, cross-platform email client. Raindrop will complement Google Wave, the new data communication and collaboration tool from Google.

Google Wave Beta: Some Undertow, but Lots of Potential
October 22, 2009

Five months of hype have roiled the waters for Google Wave. Is it an Outlook killer? The search giant's idea of a social network? One unified communications tool to rule us all? The buzz began at May's Google I/O Developer conference. Now, after much talk in the tech blogosphere and among analysts, Wave is finally in preview mode.

The Asian E-Commerce Opportunity
October 22, 2009

For many in the West, Asia is viewed as a large monolithic geographic area with some slight differences among regions. However, a more-informed understanding is that there are several market segments, and an understanding of some of the key differences between segments is valuable to developing effective market strategies.