Stories by: Bart Perkins

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Infrastructure: IT's stepchild 23 September, 2008 09:13

Every enterprise needs a robust IT infrastructure in order to function effectively. Infrastructure is the foundation of corporate productivity and success. Many IT groups, however, don't have enough skilled infrastructure staffers to provide the solid foundation required.
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Make a statement with your mission statement 12 August, 2008 11:20

Mission statements help define an organization's direction and inspire employees to achieve corporate goals. Unfortunately, countless mission statements are meaningless, forgettable and totally ineffective. Many are merely an uninspiring collection of buzzwords that could have been written by Dilbert's boss. If that describes yours, you have work to do!
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IT full of 'ducks'? Declare open season 22 April, 2008 09:25

Every organization has some "ducks." Ducks are employees who have a detrimental effect on productivity. Their work is consistently substandard, they rarely meet deadlines, and their skills are out of date. They hate change, resist taking responsibility, and blame their failures on co-workers. They constantly complain about their projects, their teammates, their workloads and their managers. They stifle innovation by shooting down new proposals, claiming that changes "just can't be done."
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Pulling the plug on a project 11 March, 2008 09:42

Few organisations want to admit that a large project is failing. But some projects will never meet their deadlines or deliver the expected benefits. When the possibility of success is gone, these projects often must be terminated for the health of the corporation.
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The broken process dilemma 26 July, 2007 14:48

Fixing a broken process is often difficult, expensive and thankless. IT executives are divided on whether to outsource a broken process (e.g., payroll, help desk, accounting) or fix it in-house first. Some feel that outsourcers specialize in specific processes and therefore prefer to let the outsourcer fix what's broken. Others claim that after a broken process is outsourced, it often remains broken.
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Assessments Are Opportunities 27 December, 2006 07:15

Many corporations periodically commission external assessments of their IT organizations. IT staffers usually look forward to these assessments (also known as baselines, reviews and the dreaded "audit") with the same enthusiasm they exhibit for root canals. Assessments are often perceived as witch hunts with hidden agendas whose primary purpose is finding fault and punishing (or firing) the guilty.
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Budget busters are looming 14 September, 2006 16:22

Over the past few years, Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, as well as privacy and security regulations, have wreaked havoc on IT budgets. Despite the difficulties, many companies have made good progress in these areas, and their CIOs are looking forward to more budget flexibility in the next few years. Unfortunately, new budget busters looming on the horizon will continue to affect IT spending.
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Bad news gets worse when inaction rules 23 August, 2006 13:17

Bad news comes in many forms: when $17 million goes missing, a failed Sarbanes-Oxley audit, project delays, records compromised, bugs in new technology products and more.
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Stifling IT innovation 19 July, 2006 12:35

When the board says, "Be more innovative", many CEOs turn to their CIOs. Requests for innovation also come from other departments after they hear about new technologies from vendors or trade magazines. As a result, many IT organizations are being told to be more creative, and articles stating that the CIO should become the "chief innovation officer" abound.
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The long fuse to Fusion 21 June, 2006 09:31

Over the past few years Oracle has purchased several application software manufacturers, including Siebel, Retek, ProfitLogic and PeopleSoft (plus JD Edwards). Following its acquisition binge, Oracle has announced that all its current application software will be migrated to a new platform, Fusion, that will be introduced in late 2007.
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Outsourcing: Out of sight, out of mind? 22 March, 2006 09:22

Is your outsourcer out of control? Mine is, and the failure is my fault. Guilty, guilty, guilty!