Stories by Thomas Wailgum

Top 10 ways CIOs can prepare for another recession

As Gartner warns IT leaders in the US to be ready in case a second recession hits, CIO.com's Thomas Wailgum shares his thoughts on how CIOs can actually slash pesky budgets. Hint: Unpaid interns, meet Russian hackers!

Why People Love to Hate Their Office Printers

Who hasn't wanted to take a bat to their office printer? From confusing error messages to unfixable paper jams, today's office printer is a source of frustration and angst. This is why we hate you, office printer. And yet we can't quit you, either.

Larry Ellison in Pictures: It's Good to Be The King

The charmed life of Larry Ellison wasn't always caviar and megayachts.

A brief history of geeks

No so long ago, the computer geek was confined to the back rooms and basements of companies everywhere.

Blog: Why CFOs and CEOs Hate IT: ERP

We're always trying to figure out why IT is vilified and demeaned by the "cost center" label uttered by CEOs, CFOs and other senior leaders. ("But, but...we're not really true business partners?!")

Blog: 10 Things I Just Don't Get About Tech

I've been immersed in the world of technology, IT vendors and business software for nearly 13 years, and there are lots of things to love and lots of things to hate. But there also many bewildering things about the tech world that still make me scratch my head in amazement.

How does the CIA keep its IT staff honest?

Be prepared to go through a lot of scrutiny if you want to work in the Central Intelligence Agency's IT department, says chief information officer Al Tarasiuk.

The Top 10 Celebrity Spammers

No one will deny the global celebrity of Angelina Jolie. She's on the cover of magazines, stars in blockbuster movies and is a ratings bonanza each time she appears on TV. Now that she's had twins, she's got triple the appeal for some fans.

How Do Business Analysts Become Business Leaders?

Not many people-including business analysts themselves-are able to agree upon a standard job description, typical skill sets, proper training methods or a well-defined career path for the business analyst position.

Five Best Practices for Implementing SaaS CRM

CRM software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications have made the big leap, claims Forrester Research in a recent report. SaaS CRM offerings "have moved beyond their previous status as a specialized deployment option and into the mainstream," write Forrester analysts William Band and Peter Marston in the May 2008 "Best Practices: The Smart Way To Implement CRM" report. Band and Marston identify five critical strategies that have enabled companies to capitalize on SaaS.

Five things about SAP's strategy you need to know

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are a career-defining decision for many IT executives. And yet, says an expert who follows SAP and its base of corporate customers, many of those executives don't pay enough attention to the German software giant's strategy for updating these bet-your-business applications.

Study shows software piracy declining in many countries

The results from the Business Software Alliance's fifth-annual study on global software piracy revealed some statistics that would put a smile on any software company executive's face: Of the 108 countries that are covered in the recently released report, the use of pirated software dropped in 67 countries. In just eight countries did the piracy rate increase.

SAP pushes up software maintenance fees

Analyst estimates say recurring maintenance fees can account for nearly 50 per cent of most application vendors' total revenues.