Business Management
Offshoring Moves Up The IT Food Chain
By Umesh Ramakrishnan
ONLINE ONLY: Christian & Timbers vice chairman Umesh Ramakrishnan worries that U.S. companies are moving not only the familiar "backroom," or support, jobs overseas, but also the "up-front" IT jobs— involving the creative, planning work—that, until now, have been the hallmark of U.S. IT departments. What are the implications for the U.S. economy and society if critical, strategic business functions move offshore?

The Big Business Of Compliance

ONLINE ONLY: When you think about regulatory compliance, what does it touch in your company? Perhaps the better question is: What doesn't it touch? According to a new IDC report, the worldwide market for information-management tools as they relate to compliance will hit $20 billion in 2009, growing at a 22% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from now until then. In this Q&A, Julie Rahal Marobella, senior research analyst at IDC, talks about preparing for compliance.

The Integration Imperative

Companies have had centers of excellence, or competency centers, for years. in key IT areas, such as database management, application development, and business intelligence. In this Q&A, Forrester Research analyst Philip Russom argues that it's time to agglomerate all the data-integration experts in your company into one competency center.

A Bird's-Eye View Of Global Technology

For nearly three decades, Eric Benhamou's career has centered on global technology. For the past two years, as chairman and CEO of Benhamou Global Ventures, he's applied much of his previous experience as an executive and global citizen to investing and playing an active role in innovative high-technology companies around the world. In this Optimize Q&A, he explains why WAN, storage, security, and wireless are key enablers of global operations.

Corporate Culture
Why Is Job Satisfaction Falling?

ONLINE ONLY: The trend is disheartening: Since 1995, according to a new survey by The Conference Board, appreciably fewer Americans are satisfied with their work. And it's not just one or two facets of work that's making them cranky--pick a topic, and there's dissatisfaction. Take vacation policies. In 1995, 56% were satisfied. Ten years later, the figure is 51%. Satisfaction with physical facilities is down to 52% from 56%. Age and income don't matter either; the trend is all downward. Contributing Web editor Howard Baldwin asked Lynn Franco, research director at The Conference Board, about the results and how the IT sector might be affected.

Customer Relationships
Closing The CRM Loop

The horror stories of CRM failures are all too common. What’s the problem? Meta Group analyst David Newman postulates in a new report that it’s not CRM that’s the problem; it’s the infrastructure that CRM runs on. IT has placed a shaky house on a shaky foundation. In this Q&A, Newman talks about the missing piece needed for the success of not only CRM, but also any enterprise application.

Technology Innovation
Better Metrics For Application Development

ONLINE ONLY: Application development has been part of IT since before it was IT. In the days of MIS and the glass house, there was custom coding. But sadly, we're still wrestling with how to get the most out of it. According to Forrester Research analyst Liz Barnett, IT departments have to start measuring both how much coding is done and the value of that coding.

Leveraging Quality Assurance For Compliance

As CIOs deal with the challenge of ensuring that their companies' business processes comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Graham-Leach-Bliley, Sarbanes-Oxley, and whatever other regulatory demands may be thrown at them, they may not be aware that a key contributor to their compliance efforts may already exist within the IT department.

Abolishing A Different Kind Of Silo

ONLINE ONLY: Once upon a time, almost all enterprise applications were custom-built. In a recent report, McKinsey & Co. associate principal James Kaplan postulated that one of the most gargantuan bottlenecks in IT is infrastructures still being developed in a custom-built, one-off manner that's stifling productivity and, in some cases, inhaling as much as 75% of an IT department's budget. In this Q&A with contributing Web editor Howard Baldwin, Kaplan argues for the importance of standardizing architecture and infrastructure.

Putting Open Source To Work
By Philip Meza
IBM's announcement in January 2005 that it would give away access to 500 of its software patents to the open-source community proved to many that the concept's time had come. But is open source important if your enterprise isn't in the same business as IBM or Microsoft?

Financial Management
Less-Taxing IT Systems
By Raffi Markarian and John Norkus
Before a corporate executive or director approves a major IT initiative, he or she insists on a tangible ROI. However, executives too often fail to consider the tax issues and opportunities of their major IT projects: Should you lease or buy? Buy software online or install it on-site? Locate a system domestically or abroad? Can you qualify for incentives or credits? Answering these and many other questions correctly for your business can yield significant benefits.

Global Issues
Giving Global Strategies Local Flavor
By Andrew Rowsell-Jones and Mark McDonald
We're undeniably living in the era of globalization, but too often the strategic motivations for going global aren't matched by operational approaches to meet enterprise needs. Nowhere is this truer than in IT organizations that remain under all of the standard pressures to innovate, deliver value, and contain costs while facing demands to meet various local needs, comply with local regulations and tax codes, and adhere to local financial practices.

Strategic Innovation
The Shifting Industrial Landscape
By John Hagel III and John Seely Brown
Ask typical U.S. executives about the global economy, and they'll think offshore outsourcing because so many companies have used it to shave costs and operating expenses. But in the larger, emerging global economy, efficiency and cost savings alone won't yield a sustainable competitive advantage. In the future that will come from a capacity to work closely with other highly specialized companies around the globe to get better faster.