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IT under pressure: McKinsey Global Survey results

More and more executives are acknowledging the strategic value of IT to their businesses beyond merely cutting costs. But as they focus on and invest in the function’s ability to enable productivity, business efficiency, and product and service innovation, respondents are also homing in on the shortcomings many IT organizations suffer. Among the most substantial challenges are demonstrating effective leadership and finding, developing, and retaining IT talent. These are among the key findings from […]

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40 Psychological Facts You Should Know About Yourself

40 Psychological Facts You Should Know About Yourself

See Also The ‘Shark Tank’ Investors Share Their New Year’s Resolutions Here’s What People Eat On Christmas In 25 Countries Around The Globe NBA MVP POWER RANKINGS: Where The Top Players Stand After 8 Weeks I’ve decided to start a series called “100 Things You Should Know about People.” As in: 100 things you should know if you are going to design an effective and persuasive website, web application or software application. Or maybe […]

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IT spending to reach $330.4 bn by 2017; purchases shifting to CMO, CFO

International Data Corporation (IDC) announced a new report, “United States Technology Buyer Forecast by Vertical: 2012 to 2017,” which examines technology spending by 12 buying segments and how this new technology purchasing behavior differs by 15 vertical industries. According to the new report, the business technology spending market will grow at 6.9% 5 year CAGR from $236.6 billion in 2012 to $330.7 billion by 2017, while enterprise IT grows slowly at a 1.9% 5 […]

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Communication skills: Speech therapy

Frustrated by constantly having your infrastructure projects shelved? Then you probably need to learn to justify the project properly and improve the way you communicate this to the board. Karl Cushing reports All too often IT professionals fail to give the presentation of a new project proposal to the board the attention it deserves, resulting in projects being stalled, not receiving the necessary funding or even not getting done at all. This is particularly […]

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Selling to the LOB manager: Reseller, beware

At many businesses, line-of-business managers and staff are making decisions to move mission-critical and often sensitive data to the cloud, and they’re performing local installs without the knowledge of the IT department. Let’s set aside the fact that IT departments even tolerate this — and make it possible by providing users with administrative rights and other IT privileges that should be closely guarded. The lack of application controls and data loss prevention systems , […]

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State of the economy and technology sales: VAR perspective

The state of the economy ranked as the main challenge solution providers are facing, according to a recent SearchITChannel survey among 279 U.S. and Canadian IT solution providers, but channel companies that are reinventing their businesses are finding they are able to differentiate themselves and experience growth. And while the 2013 Channel Directions survey respondents identified the state of the economy as their biggest concern, the issue is likely more complex than a simple […]

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Line of business drives 61 percent of enterprise IT projects, says IDC

Line of business drives 61 percent of enterprise IT projects, says IDC

What does the Roadrunner and CMOs have in common? Both are chased incessantly. One by Wile E Coyote. The other by tech vendors. Credit: Warner Bros., Boomerang. What does the Roadrunner and CMOs have in common? Both are chased incessantly. One by Wile E Coyote. The other by tech vendors. Credit: Warner Bros., Boomerang. Sixty-one percent of enterprise technology projects are now funded by business instead of the information technology department, according to a […]

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Sales Still Matters More than Social Media

Sales Still Matters More than Social Media

Sales Still Matters More than Social Media It’s become commonplace for observers to tout the transformative potential of digital technologies and bemoan the allegedly slow pace at which companies support these initiatives. Two recent blogs published by HBR.org are representative and, I believe, wrong. Walter Frick, an HBR editor, contrasts the enthusiasm of executives for spending money on digital initiatives versus their relatively unsupportive boards. “Digital growth is appropriately a priority for a diverse […]