What do IT departments want for Easter?

Well it's that time of the year again. The eggs are out and business is in full swing. Easter is upon us and during the extended long weekend the nation's IT managers have a change to reflect upon their wishes and wins. It is the time for reflection, so here at Computerworld we decided to ask around to find out what IT leaders are thinking of while the rabbit is hopping around.

The following illustrious panel of IT managers participated in Computerworld's Easter wish list.

Sutherland Shire (NSW) Council IT Manager Allan Dawson
Institution of Engineers CIO Barry Goodwin
De Bortoli Wines IT manager Bill Robertson
Nintendo Australia IT manager Peter Stroud
Mazda Australia IT manager Tim Ballingall

Open source

Who can't help think about open source software. Long the darling of bleeding edge computing geeks and the media, open source is finally beginning to gain a noticeable foothold in the enterprise, or is it? Our IT managers speak out.

"Yeah, it's there, but we just go with the software that will do the job for the business." - Allan Dawson
"We always consider open source with new applications and prefer it, but don't discount non-open source software." - Barry Goodwin
"I got my Easter present early. Our MD, executives and board have signed on an open standards policy for the company." - Bill Robertson
"We have deployed SUSE Linux and we are very happy with it, although we don't use it a lot." - Peter Stroud
"It needs better commercial support, although it's not a big consideration because we are limited in our use of it." - Tim Ballingall

Accounting and ERP software

It's the necessary evil. Everyone needs accounting and ERP software, but does it work as expected? Apparently so, according to our bunch. One interesting comment was about future directions. The software may be tied to the desktop today, but will accounting and ERP providers make a smooth transition to the Web tomorrow?

"We're happy with that" - Allan Dawson
"I'm happy with what we have" - Barry Goodwin
"I want the vendor to commit to open standards as I'd like them to build to the future and not to the past with Ajax and not .Net. A zero footprint would make IT managers' lives a bit easier." - Bill Robertson
"I'm very happy with the applications we have." - Peter Stroud
"I'm always after something that will boost productivity, so although we are happy with what we use, we are open for something better." - Tim Ballingall

CRM

Having the right information about customers and partners is essential for any business, but our thought leaders seem to place a subdued emphasis on the topic. Is CRM that important? Yes it is, but can you still make do without a hideously expensive application? The boys didn't hold back - in-house or nothing is the way to go.

"It is a big part of council and is important, but we have developed our own internally because we know what we want." - Allan Dawson
"You wish for a product that meets all your needs which will never happen." - Barry Goodwin
"Nothing exciting there." - Bill Robertson
"We don't use it and have no plans to acquire it." - Peter Stroud
"We have built a class-leading CRM application that delivers everything we need." - Tim Ballingall

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