Latest on Enterprise IT: News, Features, Opinions and More  Unified communications still fragmented
The technology may get a big push from mobile adoption, but integration among multiple UC components is still a tough slog. NetSuite rolls out commerce-as-a-service platform
NetSuite is going up against vendors such as Demandware and Venda in the market for cloud-based e-commerce platforms, announcing a new product, SuiteCommerce, during the SuiteWorld conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. SAP lays out cloud strategy post-SuccessFactors deal
SAP announced a broad set of plans to become a player in cloud computing, spanning from a "loosely coupled suite" of business applications to data integration and PaaS (platform as a service) Tuesday during the Sapphire conference in Orlando. SAP certifies Business All-in-One for Amazon Web Services
SAP has certified its Business All-in-One ERP application for cloud-based deployments on Amazon Web Services, the companies announced Friday. Public-sector cloud computing: The good, the bad and the ugly
From California and Utah to Ohio, Massachusetts and Maine, state and local governments are using the cloud to update antiquated systems, but the hurdles are high.
Epicor to move its apps to Microsoft's Azure cloud
Epicor is planning to work with Microsoft to bring Epicor's ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications to the Azure cloud service, the companies announced Tuesday during Epicor's Insights conference in Las Vegas. Today, printers. Tomorrow, 'integrated peripherals'?
Printers are evolving from passive devices as vendors cram more features into them and buyers find ways to better integrate them into the overall environment. No big shift to the cloud for unified communications and collaboration
The 2012 IDG Enterprise Unified Communications and Collaboration survey highlights the uptick in adoption and investments. Insider (registration required) Half of all Macs will lack access to security updates by summer
Unless Apple changes its security update practice, nearly half of all Mac users will be adrift without patches sometime this summer. Open-source cloud frameworks: A work in progress
Here's a look at the growing list of open-source platform-as-a-service providers and how IT managers can decide where the technology fits best in their organizations. Wide-Open Search
With the explosion of unstructured data, companies are looking for more options for enterprise search. Here's a look at the benefits and limitations of open-source search-enabled applications. Turning Long Demands Into a Short List
IT is under pressure to get more agile in its delivery methods and pursue flexible prioritization strategies to work with, not against, the burgeoning needs of the business. Sage moves ERP apps to Microsoft's Azure cloud
Following an ongoing industry trend, Sage Group is moving a number of its ERP software products to Microsoft's Azure cloud service. iPad in the Enterprise: IT Must Stay Ahead of the Curve
In a wide-ranging interview, an Apple expert shares real-world experiences about iPads in the enterprise, mobile device management and BYOD. Key takeaways for IT: Don't improvise when it comes to iPad adoption and don't get bypassed by rogue users. IBM goes after enterprise mobility projects
IBM took steps on Monday to help enterprises go mobile, introducing a set of software and services called Mobile Foundation. Holistic Virtualization
To take full advantage of virtualization's high-level benefits, companies must view the technology's capabilities across the entire IT organization. Here's some expert advice on creating a virtualization strategy that looks at the big picture. Insider (registration required) Google Drive could be a boon -- and a headache -- for IT
With the launch of Google Drive this week, IT managers can look forward to a potential new productivity tool -- and some significant headaches, analysts say SAP sees strong momentum for HANA and SuccessFactors business
Business software vendor SAP expects software and software-related service revenue to increase in the range of 10 to 12 percent at constant currencies during the year, largely in line with preliminary estimates that the company released earlier this month. Most initial Oracle Fusion Applications customers going with cloud deployment
Most of the 250 customers that have licensed Oracle's recently launched Fusion Applications so far have chosen a SaaS deployment model instead of running it on-premises, a senior executive said this week during the Collaborate user group conference in Las Vegas. The Upside of Shadow IT
As employees bypass IT and regularly subscribe to collaboration, analytic and other cloud services with the press of a button, some of the savviest CIOs are embracing and even encouraging shadow IT. Here's why. Help for the Help Desk
Whether it's a 'teaching moment' or a system that provides more efficient ticket tracking, the help desk is getting a much-needed assist in some shops. The Grill: SuperValu's Wayne Shurts on 'intensely business-focused IT'
Wayne Shurts, executive vice president and CIO at SuperValu, talks about how he's working to help the IT department at the grocery retailer better support the company's overall business. Insider (registration required) E-discovery in the Cloud
Companies often assume data in the cloud is inherently discoverable, but is it? Know what questions to ask your cloud vendor so you can get your data back when required. Microsoft touts corporate tools in Windows 8 Enterprise
Microsoft yesterday laid out the exclusive features of Windows 8 Enterprise, one of three editions of the upcoming OS and the only one limited to corporate customers. Amazon Web Services offers one-click purchase of cloud apps from IBM, SAP, others
Amazon Web Services on Thursday announced a new online marketplace that allows customers to buy software and services from a variety of vendors at hourly rates through its cloud infrastructure platform. Workday update pushes it deeper into Oracle, SAP's turf
Workday is rolling out version 16 of its cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) software to customers this week, an update that includes upgrades to the financials component that could help it steal away deals with large enterprises from the likes of Oracle and SAP. Time to de-Flash your site?
Flash is a problem for iDevices, which makes mobile access to a website problematic. Here's what smart shops are doing about it. BYOD: 'The inmates of the asylum have control'
Mobile devices are multiplying and -- sanctioned or unsanctioned -- finding their way onto corporate networks. For IT pros, the influx of personal mobile devices to the corporate network is raising security concerns, creating management challenges, and swamping the help desk with support calls. Should the CIO know how to code?
With IT integral to the business, an increasing number of companies are hiring CIOs who didn't rise through the ranks. Is that a good thing? Insider (registration required) Software AG buys messaging company my-Channels
Software AG said Monday that it has acquired U.K. middleware company my-Channels, which develops low-latency messaging software that will be used to extend Software AG's current offerings. SAP revenue rises 11% in first quarter, but margin shrinks
SAP published preliminary figures for its first-quarter results on Friday, showing revenue up 11% year on year, but margins shrinking with operating profit up only 6%. Chevron's CIO Talks Transformation and Why IT Leaders Should Smile
In the latest installment of the CIO Interview Series, Louie Ehrlich, CIO and president of Chevron Information Technology Company, talks about the most important things he's learned leading a giant, global IT team through massive change. His answers may sound simple, but they're hard-won lessons for Ehrlich, the top tech executive for the nearly $250 billion energy company, whose transformation effort has yielded the better part of a billion dollars in payback for Chevron. Insider (registration required) SAP lays out plans to become big player in databases, mobile
SAP made a series of announcements on Tuesday as part of its bid to become a high-profile player in the database market alongside the likes of Oracle and IBM. Melissa P. Dodd
Melissa P. Dodd, CIO of the Boston Public Schools, shares her ideas on running a large school system's IT department. Insider (registration required) Data analytics driving medical breakthroughs
Big data and other technologies are poised to start saving lives and enhancing quality of life for sick patients. Hitachi releases first enterprise-class 4TB hard drive
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies today announced its first enterprise-class 4TB desktop hard drive, which offers one-third more capacity than its predecessor. 5 annoying help desk calls -- and how to banish them
A few simple changes can eliminate many of the irritating calls that drive users and call-center staffers alike up the wall. Watchdog agency report shows beleaguered state of US military software projects
Public-sector ERP (enterprise resource planning) software projects historically have experienced some of the industry's most dramatic cost overruns and delays, a fact that a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office brings into sharp relief. Life after IT: When CIOs leave at the top of their game
You work, you strive, you reach the top of your profession -- and then you leave? Sure, say these ex-CIOs. Read their take on life after IT. Insider (registration required) California scraps massive courts software project
California's Judicial Council has put the brakes on a long-running, massive software project that was supposed to modernize the state's trial courts case-management systems, saying the software is viable but that there's simply no money to continue installing it. How CIOs Can Help Facilitate Systems of Engagement
The CEO community is turning to CIOs to help accelerate revenue growth and deepen engagement with customers. The future of the PC
Columnist Kevin Fogarty says when users can buy sophisticated data services to support not only gadgets, but applications, too, that changes the role and goals of IT. How to wrangle your virtual machines
While vendors continue to work toward a single console, or "single pane of glass" tools, customers must choose from products that manage only parts of their environments or focus on specific problems such as the sprawl of unused virtual machines, security or backup. 13 Common ERP Mistakes and How to Avoid Making Them
Implementing an ERP system is among the most expensive, time-consuming and complicated tasks an IT department can take on. The potential for delays and unexpected expenses lurk around every corner. To help you avoid costly mistakes, CIO.com asked IT executives, ERP vendors and technology consultants to provide advice on how to avoid becoming an ERP horror story. Enterprise social tools need to be highly mobile
Executives at AstraZeneca, a global pharmaceutical company, know that it's not enough to provide social collaboration tools for their employees. Those tools need to be highly mobile. IT Must Provide Enterprise Collaboration Tools Employees Will Use
Businesses are under pressure to enable collaboration beyond the corporate firewall as workers increasingly need to connect with remote colleagues as well as business partners, suppliers and consultants. The challenge to IT departments is that many employees are turning to email and consumer-grade file-sharing services to get their work done and exposing the enterprise to risk in the process. Bull seeks to move Cobol and C apps to Java
Bull has unveiled a new transaction processing application platform, Libert TP, which it says will allow businesses to move legacy applications from Cobol or C to a Java environment at their own pace. More companies are OK with employees using Facebook at work
Workers at AT Kearney connect with their friends on Facebook now and then when they're on the job, and that's just fine with executives there. Disaster Recovery on Double Duty
More and more IT shops are using technologies such as virtualization and replication to make disaster recovery just another service, sometimes using the same servers, network and storage that run order entry, email, application development or other services. Who Holds the Keys?
Experts and IT leaders offer strategies for getting the most from the latest encryption and digital rights management technologies. Governance at the speed of change
The right approach to governance -- using real-time metrics -- can enable more reliable applications, more agile IT, more satisfied business owners and, ultimately, happier customers. Insider (registration required) Cloud Computing Calls for Rebuilding Enterprise IT
For all of the buzz about cloud computing, there remains confusion about its real implications for an IT organization. CIO.com's Bernard Golden argues that to take full advantage of the cost savings and efficiency improvements of the cloud, CIOs have to rethink their approach to IT. Oracle net income rises 18%, but hardware sales slump
Oracle on Tuesday said third-quarter net income rose 18 percent to $2.5 billion, while revenues grew 3% to $9 billion. However, hardware systems revenues sagged 16% to $869 million. 7 ways Alcatel-Lucent hopes to change the conversation
A favorite marketing tagline for Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is "Change the Conversation." Egnyte looks to tap enterprise hybrid cloud market
There are two main types of cloud synchronization services available today, according to Terri McClure, a market analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group: consumer-focused ones, such as DropBox, and enterprise-focused ones such as Amazon Web Services and Rackspace. Egnyte, a hybrid cloud provider, is looking to bridge the advantages of each with a new offering it released today. Power your mobile strategy with a cloud
Using a private cloud to handle back-end infrastructure tasks for your mobile workforce is the way to go. To get there, be prepared to make an investment of time and resources. Microsoft plans Q4 debut for Dynamics ERP on the Azure cloud
Microsoft is planning to roll out its first "cloud-enabled" Dynamics ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications by the end of this year, the company announced Monday during the Convergence conference in Houston. How to shop for Enterprise Application Store solutions
When selecting a vendor to help build your EAS there are several questions you should ask. Do they support multiple mobile OSs? How strong is their access control and security and does it integrate into your existing security and control solution. Do they have a way to help verify that an app doesn't pose a threat? How good is their user interface? Piston Cloud has made the tough private cloud decisions for you
Joshua McKenty, co-founder and chief executive officer of Piston Cloud, was in on the ground floor of OpenStack's creation, working as he was on the Anso Labs team at NASA to build a compute cloud on top of open source platform Eucalyptus. Insider (registration required Corporations pick iPad 10-to-1 over nearest rival
Corporations planning tablet purchases next quarter overwhelmingly voted for Apple's iPad, says ChangeWave Research. Cobol brain drain: Survey results
Computerworld's survey shows that the move away from Cobol is happening very slowly -- if at all. Brain drain: Where Cobol systems go from here
As baby boomers retire, the business processes they used to create their Cobol programs may walk out the door with them. Here's what IT organizations are doing about it. Glitchy state software system leads to botched payments for foster care providers
A Tennessee official is blaming inadequate training, ignored warnings and unwise technology choices for ongoing problems with an installed software system used by the state Department of Children's Services. Infor releases first in string of tie-in applications for Salesforce.com
Infor on Monday launched Inforce Everywhere, the first in a series of planned software products that will tie its ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications to Salesforce.com. What You Need to Know About ECM
ECM matters because information's 'findability' will be a big part of CIO success in the years ahead. Insider (registration required) SaaS seeds ready to bloom
One expected benefit from the shift to the cloud is the emergence of a refreshing new crop of innovative software suppliers. Standardizing the Desktop
More companies are using desktop virtualization tools to create a 'gold standard' -- one desktop version that gets pushed out to all end users. Integration in the Cloud
Mohawk Fine Papers says it has saved millions by leveraging a cloud service broker's service-oriented architecture and using it as a central integration point for all of its B2B transactions. Mojgan Lefebvre
Mojgan Lefebvre, senior vice president and CIO at Liberty Mutual Commercial Markets, shares her insights into what it takes to manage a successful IT shop as well as one's own career. Insider (registration required) Is Your Outsourcer Agile Enough?
Companies that want to create user-friendly, transparent, quickly evolving enterprise apps are often hindered in their ability to do so by their outsourcers. Here's how to figure out when outsourcing agile development is the right move. Expiring support driving Oracle app upgrades
Two new Oracle user group surveys show that customers have a mixed bag of plans for ERP application upgrades. Microsoft Dynamics partners mull their role in an Azure ERP world
Microsoft will deliver what's expected to be a comprehensive update on its plans to bring the Dynamics line of ERP (enterprise resource planning) software to its Azure cloud service during its Convergence conference, which starts March 18 in Houston. Legacy Systems Get a Tuneup
Given economic realities these days, not every company can justify getting rid of systems that are still working, however shakily. Here are some ways to make legacy hardware more responsive to today's business needs. Insider (registration required) Gorilla Logic releases cloud-based mobile app testing tool
Gorilla Logic is trying to help app developers make sure that no one throws a monkey wrench into their projects. Extreme Networks takes on BYOD challenge
Extreme Networks this week is rolling out Ethernet switches and a network management application designed to address the BYOD phenomenon at enterprise campuses. SAP rolling out cloud-savvy version of Business One
SAP has created a multitenant version of its Business One ERP (enterprise resource planning) suite, which will be sold exclusively through partners as Business One OnDemand, the company is expected to announce Tuesday during the Cebit conference in Hannover, Germany. E-discovery in the cloud? Not so easy
Companies often assume data in the cloud is inherently discoverable, but is it? Know what questions to ask your cloud vendor so you can get your data back when required. Enterprises opening up to social networking
The number of large companies that block employees from accessing social media sites from the workplace is dropping, according to a report from industry analyst firm Gartner. How Passpoint could make Wi-Fi hotspots more like cellular data services
Imagine if Wi-Fi worked more like our mobile data services that gave us wireless connectivity without the constant interruptions that come from switching hotspots and that gave us a deeper level of security than anything we get when we connect to public hotspots. CITE Conference to tackle BYOD issues
Bring-your-own-device policies are forcing companies to confront a myriad of IT challenges related to support architecture, security policies and mobile platforms. Dealing with those challenges is topic No. 1 at this week's CITE Conference. Spinnaker expands Oracle support services, aims at Rimini Street
A company that has been providing third-party support for Oracle's JD Edwards ERP software is undergoing a significant expansion of its efforts, despite the ongoing cloud of litigation over the market. Life with a large cloud: Lessons learned
IT leaders who already manage large clouds have advice for those just getting started. Here's one of the most important tips: Don't forget the training and personnel issues. Oracle's Exalytics now available, set for showdown with SAP's HANA
Oracle on Monday announced the general availability of Exalytics, the latest in its family of specialized appliances and a direct competitor to SAP's HANA product. Premier 100 IT Leader profile:
Dan Traynor
This IT leader won over IT staffers, business personnel and executives with an aggressive IT transformation plan that fixed problems and added new functionality. Air Force's Huge Oracle Project Still Struggling
A massive Oracle ERP project being conducted by the U.S. Air Force is still experiencing difficulties, with the Air Force deciding to toss out some completed work as part of a restructuring plan that will be announced soon. Premier 100 IT Leader profile:
David Webb
This IT leader decided that rather than investing $7.5 million in additional hardware to tackle a massive big data project, he'd bet on Equifax's engineers to build a new indexing technology. Premier 100 IT Leader profile:
Kristin D. Russell
This IT leader left a successful career in the private sector to follow an opportunity to do meaningful work in the Colorado governor's office as state CIO and secretary of technology. Premier 100 IT Leader profile:
Christopher L. Smith
This IT leader has moved the USDA from older systems to private and public clouds. Among other things, he shifted 120,000 employees and contractors to Microsoft's email and Office cloud platform. Premier 100 IT Leader profile:
Dennis L. Strong
This IT leader and his team developed a real-time online product catalog that gives customers up-to-date views of product availability at any given store. Premier 100 IT Leader Profile: Jimmy Z. Wang
To mitigate risk, this IT leader gets feedback from his team on project challenges and works with the business to come up with a technology and deliver a solution. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Sanjay Mirchandani
This EMC IT leader decided to have his team use his company's technologies while they were still in development, making it possible to provide customers with early-use cases. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: James Robertson
This IT leader recognized the bring-your-own-device trend early and started incorporating personal devices into the IT infrastructure back in 2008. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Daphne E. Jones
This IT leader was thrust into developing an infrastructure that will support employees using their own mobile devices. She's collaborating with vendors, academics and fellow CIOs to find ways to solve the problem. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Mario Leone
This IT leader made a strategic decision to undertake several important projects at the same time. The initiatives ranged from application and infrastructure transformation to networking upgrades, all on a global scale. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Ralph Loura
This IT leader put his political capital on the line when he backed funding for an IT integration project over two initiatives that were more business-oriented. He says it's important for IT leaders to fight for fundamental technology projects, because they're just as important to a company's long-term growth as initiatives that might deliver more obvious short-term business benefits. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: James McCoy
This IT leader put the brakes on an ERP migration to call for more testing, but he addressed the business side's concerns by effectively explaining his decision. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Maryann Goebel
This IT leader is leading a multiyear initiative to consolidate her company's data centers, while transforming the IT organization into a highly leveraged, functionally designed group. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Joshua Jewett
This IT leader reorganized IT around multidisciplinary customer-service teams and collaborated with the CEO and the executive team to throw traditional budgeting out the window. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Carol J. Dow
This IT leader is helping Vanguard expand its international strategy and identify unique ways to implement existing technologies to improve client services. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Michael Del Priore
This IT leader delivered a global ERP system and data warehouse project by synchronizing and coordinating project plans and getting team members to work jointly when the systems went live.
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