Stories by Sandra Gittlen

Analytics boost social marketing efforts

Big-name companies including General Electric and Best Western are maturing their social marketing programs and integrating social metrics with back-end systems.

8 classic IT hiring mistakes and how to avoid them

From writing dated, irrelevant job descriptions to accepting a less-than-ideal candidate because the work is piling up, classic hiring mistakes are just waiting to trip up managers.

Game on: Enterprise apps gain gaming features to boost usage

Adding a competitive component to enterprise software improves adoption and real-time decision-making, gamification advocates say.

Simulations in play: Real-world scenarios unfold in virtual environments

While gamification - the use of game mechanics within applications - is catching hold, simulations, which mimic real-world scenarios, are still a hot market for organizations.

The cloud as data-center extension

A year after Oregon's Multnomah County deployed an on-premises portfolio management application, the two IT staffers dedicated to it resigned. Other staff struggled to maintain the specialized server environment. Left with no other option to guarantee support of the mission-critical tool, the county leapt into the cloud.

How to get your IT team ready for the cloud

So you received word that cloud is now a priority for your organization. The challenge is how do you get your team cloud-ready? "The cloud is changing so rapidly there's no book you can buy to get up to speed," says Ross Lambert, software architect and development lead for electricity storage provider Demand Energy Networks.

Want to telework? Not so fast, IT

IT pro spend their days figuring out how to support a mobile workforce that can operate wholly off-site, yet the telework perk remains elusive for them.

How to become a BYOD guru

Becoming a BYOD guru isn't an overnight proposition -- it's something that takes initiative, persistence and time. We've identified five key resource areas that can help you master the technical, legal and security ramifications of BYOD and maintain a pipeline of information once you've rolled out your own program.

Putting the 'where' into your analytics

At EDENS, a developer, owner and operator of community shopping centers on the East Coast, blending geographic information systems (GIS) and business analytics has enabled a competitive advantage in a fast-paced, crowded market.

A sampling of BYOD user policies

Just say the words "bring your own device" and IT staffers start to rub their foreheads. Allowing users to attach their consumer devices, including smartphones and tablets, to the network might seem like a bad idea, but with a clear user policy that is re-signed annually, you can reduce a lot of organizational risk.

The industrial robot revolution

One small step for man, a giant leap for robot-kind.

Bandwidth bottlenecks loom large in the cloud

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) CIO Tom Conophy has no reservations when it comes to the cloud.

Extending the life of your data center

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 1,200-square-foot data center at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering -- that means the facility has been operating three years longer than CIO and vice president of operations Joanne Kossuth had originally planned. Now, even though the school needs a facility with more capacity and better connectivity, Kossuth has been forced to back-burner the issue because of the iffy economic times.

Cloud computing: SaaS ERP revs up auto parts supplier

When auto parts supplier Inteva Products LLC spun out from its parent company Delphi in 2008, CIO Dennis Hodges was left standing in a heap of legacy ERP equipment.

Start-ups offer cool tools to ease IT's pain

If you want to know what IT tools and technologies you'll be using in a few years, it pays to keep an eye on enterprise technology start-ups.