From Police to Partner: The Changing Role of IT
As an IT professional, it’s your job to equip employees with the tools they need to get their jobs done while policing to make sure all solutions meet security or compliance requirements for the business. Managing employees is especially important with the emergence of BYOIT and as new web-based services gain traction in consumer and business markets — you don’t want them to circumvent your policies when they use their favorite tools, after all. But how do you get employees on board when you can’t lock them down anymore? You must adopt a new role that strikes a balance between employee needs and preferences and security. You have to become a “partner.”
Three IT Roles at Threat from Self-Service Business Intelligence
Something has to change when decisions are reliant on a team of many because it’s simply not sustainable. It’s too costly when non-technical employees (95% of an organization’s staff) have no way of creating views or information dashboards that integrate all of their relevant data in a unified business intelligence platform. So, going back to my question about how many decision-makers are required to produce a dashboard, the answer really comes down to every organization and its comfort level in empowering employees with the right tools to integrate, cleanse and enrich data themselves.
Cloud Compliance Remains a Challenge
A technical interpretation of the data protection law would solve the problem. Analogously, a meaningful technical solution does not have to stand in the way of unfashionable, non-IT oriented law. That sounds compelling. A revision of the data protection law would thus not be necessary at all. Caution is called for once again: As opposed to the copyright law, data protection law is not a commercial law. Data protection is a personal right. Hence, the interests of the citizens in data protection principally ranks behind a technical and thus economy-friendly interpretation of the law. As a result, the issue of control and data sovereignty on the cloud therefore remains unresolved to date.
A Terabyte on a Postage Stamp: RRAM Heads into Commercialization
Because of its greater density, RRAM will be able to use silicon wafers that are half the size used by current NAND flash fabricators. In a single chip, it has nearly 10 times the capacity of NAND flash and uses 20 times less power to store a bit of data. It also sports 100 times lower latency than NAND flash, meaning performance is massively improved, according to Crossbar. And because RRAM is fully compatible with the standard manufacturing processes already used in NAND fabrication, no changes will be needed in manufacturing facilities. But before it could send its technology to the factory, Crossbar had to overcome a major technological hurdle -- error-causing electron leaks between memory cells.
Government IT In 2014: GAO's Critique
The General Accountability Office has always been a reliable resource for seeing what IT dilemmas the federal government is grappling with. Through its reports and testimony, the GAO seeks to help the feds keep IT projects on schedule, maintain high levels of security, meet statutory requirements, and make the most of their investments. The GAO produced 31 reports and testimony on IT in 2014. While some reports focused on mundane IT matters, others addressed emerging technologies or uncovered government-wide IT deficiencies that merit inclusion in this roundup.
10 cybersecurity predictions for 2015
Year end is a time for reflection. Based on my history in this space, plus the fact that my day job of running CSC's Global Cybersecurity Consulting business lets me talk to and help hundreds of executives around the world, I wanted to offer my perspective on how 2014 turned out and my thoughts on what to watch for in 2015. ... 2014 had both high- and low-profile attacks against industrial control and SCADA systems, and it continues to be a head-to-head battle where the atom meets the bit.
Does the world need 5G? Driverless cars, IoT, future devices will demand it
5G probably won't diverge from the age-old pattern, but it does come with one added hassle: we just don't have enough spectrum to go around any longer, according to wireless analysts. Roaming in particular could be problematic. "Spectrum is and will remain a major challenge for the success and early rollout of 5G. We don't have enough spectrum in general and 5G is a lot about optimising the use of spectrum. But clearly, allocating more spectrum to 4G and later 5G would help and this is a global challenge... An additional challenge will be to find a globally harmonised band for 5G roaming since all suitable spectrum is already in use in one or another part of the world," said Thibaut Kleiner, head of the European Commission's CONNECT Directorate-General.
Top 10 Big Data Predictions For 2015
Big data has seen a massive growth in interest in recent times, as more and more companies are investing in various facets of this technology. While this year, businesses’ understanding and willingness to explore big data opportunities have matured from the previous years, the coming year is expected to be even more critical, believe analysts. IT market research agency IDC has shared top 10 predictions for Big Data and analytics segment. These predictions will help IT leaders and CIOs to come up with better strategies in 2015, states the research firm.
6 IT Workforce Predictions for 2015
2015 promises to be a banner year for IT workers as the unemployment rate continues to plummet, salaries increase and organizations double down on retention and engagement strategies. CIO.com asked experts to predict the biggest trends, technology and strategies that will make an impact on hiring and recruiting in 2015. Every new year brings a unique set of challenges and opportunities for IT workers as existing technologies evolve and new technologies emerge. The first half of 2015 looks promising based on these six predictions from career experts.
Secret CIO: Stop Making Stupid Software Decisions
Most LOB experts focus on the here and now. That's what lines of business are all about. But we make major software investments for the future, for requirements we don't necessarily have yet, for the business we want to create. It's difficult for most LOB managers to step into a software assessment project and shift their perspective. They're not being replaced during the evaluation, so they're distracted by present-day work. The three major players in this type of software project have three different objectives. The company wants to power current and future business capabilities -- to increase customer value and create competitive advantage.
Quote for the day:
"The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such." -- Andre Mauroisv
As an IT professional, it’s your job to equip employees with the tools they need to get their jobs done while policing to make sure all solutions meet security or compliance requirements for the business. Managing employees is especially important with the emergence of BYOIT and as new web-based services gain traction in consumer and business markets — you don’t want them to circumvent your policies when they use their favorite tools, after all. But how do you get employees on board when you can’t lock them down anymore? You must adopt a new role that strikes a balance between employee needs and preferences and security. You have to become a “partner.”
Something has to change when decisions are reliant on a team of many because it’s simply not sustainable. It’s too costly when non-technical employees (95% of an organization’s staff) have no way of creating views or information dashboards that integrate all of their relevant data in a unified business intelligence platform. So, going back to my question about how many decision-makers are required to produce a dashboard, the answer really comes down to every organization and its comfort level in empowering employees with the right tools to integrate, cleanse and enrich data themselves.
A technical interpretation of the data protection law would solve the problem. Analogously, a meaningful technical solution does not have to stand in the way of unfashionable, non-IT oriented law. That sounds compelling. A revision of the data protection law would thus not be necessary at all. Caution is called for once again: As opposed to the copyright law, data protection law is not a commercial law. Data protection is a personal right. Hence, the interests of the citizens in data protection principally ranks behind a technical and thus economy-friendly interpretation of the law. As a result, the issue of control and data sovereignty on the cloud therefore remains unresolved to date.
Because of its greater density, RRAM will be able to use silicon wafers that are half the size used by current NAND flash fabricators. In a single chip, it has nearly 10 times the capacity of NAND flash and uses 20 times less power to store a bit of data. It also sports 100 times lower latency than NAND flash, meaning performance is massively improved, according to Crossbar. And because RRAM is fully compatible with the standard manufacturing processes already used in NAND fabrication, no changes will be needed in manufacturing facilities. But before it could send its technology to the factory, Crossbar had to overcome a major technological hurdle -- error-causing electron leaks between memory cells.
Government IT In 2014: GAO's Critique
The General Accountability Office has always been a reliable resource for seeing what IT dilemmas the federal government is grappling with. Through its reports and testimony, the GAO seeks to help the feds keep IT projects on schedule, maintain high levels of security, meet statutory requirements, and make the most of their investments. The GAO produced 31 reports and testimony on IT in 2014. While some reports focused on mundane IT matters, others addressed emerging technologies or uncovered government-wide IT deficiencies that merit inclusion in this roundup.
Year end is a time for reflection. Based on my history in this space, plus the fact that my day job of running CSC's Global Cybersecurity Consulting business lets me talk to and help hundreds of executives around the world, I wanted to offer my perspective on how 2014 turned out and my thoughts on what to watch for in 2015. ... 2014 had both high- and low-profile attacks against industrial control and SCADA systems, and it continues to be a head-to-head battle where the atom meets the bit.
Does the world need 5G? Driverless cars, IoT, future devices will demand it
5G probably won't diverge from the age-old pattern, but it does come with one added hassle: we just don't have enough spectrum to go around any longer, according to wireless analysts. Roaming in particular could be problematic. "Spectrum is and will remain a major challenge for the success and early rollout of 5G. We don't have enough spectrum in general and 5G is a lot about optimising the use of spectrum. But clearly, allocating more spectrum to 4G and later 5G would help and this is a global challenge... An additional challenge will be to find a globally harmonised band for 5G roaming since all suitable spectrum is already in use in one or another part of the world," said Thibaut Kleiner, head of the European Commission's CONNECT Directorate-General.
Big data has seen a massive growth in interest in recent times, as more and more companies are investing in various facets of this technology. While this year, businesses’ understanding and willingness to explore big data opportunities have matured from the previous years, the coming year is expected to be even more critical, believe analysts. IT market research agency IDC has shared top 10 predictions for Big Data and analytics segment. These predictions will help IT leaders and CIOs to come up with better strategies in 2015, states the research firm.
2015 promises to be a banner year for IT workers as the unemployment rate continues to plummet, salaries increase and organizations double down on retention and engagement strategies. CIO.com asked experts to predict the biggest trends, technology and strategies that will make an impact on hiring and recruiting in 2015. Every new year brings a unique set of challenges and opportunities for IT workers as existing technologies evolve and new technologies emerge. The first half of 2015 looks promising based on these six predictions from career experts.
Secret CIO: Stop Making Stupid Software Decisions
Most LOB experts focus on the here and now. That's what lines of business are all about. But we make major software investments for the future, for requirements we don't necessarily have yet, for the business we want to create. It's difficult for most LOB managers to step into a software assessment project and shift their perspective. They're not being replaced during the evaluation, so they're distracted by present-day work. The three major players in this type of software project have three different objectives. The company wants to power current and future business capabilities -- to increase customer value and create competitive advantage.
Quote for the day:
