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How to Get Real About Strategic Planning 04/02/2008 12:50:59
Everyone agrees that having a strategic plan for IT is a good thing but most CIOs approach the process with fear and loathing. In fact, the majority of CIOs (and the enterprises they work for) are faking it when it comes to strategic planning. Isn't it time we all got real?Oh, it must be nice to be the CIO of a FedEx or a GE or a Credit Suisse. Places where IT and the business are so tightly aligned you can barely tell the two apart. Where corporate leaders understand that IT is a strategic asset and support it as such
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.Newsletter Subscription
Commander Communications has axed 600 jobs in a last ditch effort to repay $335 million in accrued debt.
The cuts were felt mostly in the company's IT hardware and support areas including Commander's computer hardware reselling business which will be dissolved as part of a company restructure.
Most staff were only informed yesterday of the sackings, which will eliminate one third of the company's workforce.
Staff numbers have officially dropped from 2000 to 1400.
Commander Communications CEO Amanda Lacaze said the cuts will boost shareholder value.
"The core value drivers in Commander's business are sound, however, some areas of the business are underperforming or are simply unprofitable," Lacaze said.
"By taking decisive action today, I am confident we can maximize value for both customers and shareholders.
"I am saddened that it has been necessary that so many staff leave the business but in taking this action I believe we are setting a robust platform for the remaining staff and further growth."
The Workplace Ombudsman has launched an investigation into the sackings and called for fired employees to forward concerns to the office.
Commander will cough up about $17 million in redundancies and stands to save more than $65 million in reduced annual costs.
The cuts ride on the back of Commander's fourth profit fall in nine months, in which its beleaguered hardware reselling arm contributed to half of a $1 billion revenue with zero profit.
Debts were further exacerbated by failed acquisition attempts last November in which Commander hoped to lure the likes of Optus and AAPT-PowerTel into a buy out.
The company's banking syndicates have delayed the multi-million dollar debt payments by up to 12 months.
A spate of IT job cuts and shake-ups have swept the industry this year with Yahoo eliminating up to 1000 jobs in light of tight industry competition and IBM cutting the base pay-rate of 7600 technical support staff.
Commander Communications is headquartered in Sydney and sells telephony hardware and software, Internet and network access, maintenance services and software licensing.
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Beyond Virtualisation - The Roadmap to 2012
CIO Breakfast Briefing
8:30am - 10:30am
Brisbane | 22 July | Sofitel Brisbane
Sydney | 23 July | Four Seasons Hotel
Canberra | 24 July | The Hyatt
Attend and discover:
- What happens after virtualisation
- The benefits automation drives
- When automated infrastructures will emerge
- What the roadmap to 2012 looks like
- How to deliver an automated architecture
- How to maximise your investment in virtualisation
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Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future. - +
Data Management Edition #9: Data centre makeover 24/04/2008 07:43:06
This week CW Live looks at the death of the old style data centre which is undergoing its first makeover in more than 30 years.
Satyam’s Q1 revenue up by 43% and Net Profit by 45% YoY; revises revenue and EPS guidance upwards for FY09 2008-07-18 16:58:00+10
Informatica Reports Record Second Quarter Results 2008-07-18 13:01:00+10
Tumbleweed Releases MailGate 3.6 2008-07-18 10:01:00+10
Convergys to Acquire Intervoice, Enhancing Leadership in Relationship Management 2008-07-17 14:41:00+10
Borland Management Solutions Put the "M" in Application Lifecycle Management 2008-07-17 13:43:00+10
Unified Communications: Justifications and Predictions
Building a business case for Unified Communications is currently more of an art than a science. However, the difficulty of building a business case for UC does not mean that there is none - just that we need to view (and measure) UC's benefits in accordance with the stage of maturity of the technology's adoption. Read on to find out more.
