Stories by Bart Perkins

Bart Perkins: Avoiding IT audit nightmares

IT's problems can draw unwanted notice now that Sarbanes-Oxley requires them to appear in 10-K reports as 'material weaknesses.'

Bart Perkins: Cloudbursts ahead

Service interruptions seem unavoidable as companies move to the cloud. Here are four areas you should manage well if youre going to be dependent on cloud computing.

Bart Perkins: After Superstorm Sandy, an opportunity to be better prepared

The whole point of an information systems contingency plan is to be prepared before catastrophe strikes. Unfortunately, we're all adept at postponing planning.

Bart Perkins: Don't forget the field

Headquarters staffers often belittle the importance of functions located elsewhere, and they just as often have things backward.

Bart Perkins: Change management is not optional

You can't assume that if you just design a better approach, people will automatically embrace the new system.

Bart Perkins: The value of skeptics (of the right kind)

Their endless questioning can be painful at times, but a loyal skeptic can help keep your project on track.

Who owns your tweets?

Both corporations and their employees who tweet on the company's behalf must clarify the question.

Court Has Compromised Software Rights

On April 11, our judiciary system failed the IT industry by limiting the ability of corporations to protect their internal software. Specifically, the U.S. Second Court of Appeals reversed the 2010 conviction of Sergey Aleynikow under the Economic Espionage Act (EEA). During his last day as a Goldman Sachs programmer, Aleynikov uploaded proprietary software that enhances Goldman's high-speed trading capabilities. Shortly thereafter, he joined a company that develops software tools for financial services firms. What a coincidence.

IT reorgs: Be sure of your reasons

When companies think about an IT reorganization, the first two questions raised are usually "Who?" and "Where?" Wrong on both counts! The first two questions should always be "Why?" and "How?"

Good Service Offers ROI

For many organizations, service centers are necessary evils that eat budget dollars while adding little value. Because they are viewed as overhead, many service centers (a.k.a. call centers, help desks, etc.) are outsourced to reduce costs. But that may not guarantee that you'll save money, and worse, it can alienate customers by presenting as your public face service-center staffers who may have insufficient product knowledge, language capabilities or civility.

Is social connectivity friend or foe to corporations?

In 1929, Frigyes Karinthy conjectured that anyone on Earth was connected to anyone else, on average, through just six people. Social networking may be increasing connectedness. Facebook recently studied connectedness among its 721 million active users, concluding that the average distance between any two Facebook users is now only 4.74 "hops" (down from 5.28 in 2008).

Ensuring project success

Project plans sometimes go off the rails. That's always been the case, and with the perfection of the human race nowhere on the horizon, it will remain true. But we can reduce the number of projects that fail.

Bart Perkins: Wise managers don't block workplace Web access

A few years ago, companies regularly blocked access to Amazon, Facebook, eBay, World of Warcraft and other sites , which they claimed distracted employees and wasted time. Some people indeed overdid Internet usage or abused social media privileges (remember Goldman Sachs' Charlie ?), and many organizations severely restricted Web access.

The Fortune 500's disappearing CIOs

Save the CIO, save the enterprise! It might not be the catchiest slogan, but there's more than a little truth in it.

Project Management: No horsing around

IT organizations are expected to complete projects on time, on budget and with high quality -- but often don't.