Ann Bednarz

Author Archives: Ann Bednarz

Microsoft Teams takes on Slack with enterprise bots, Office 365 tie-ins

Microsoft Teams is now live – and on by default – for Office 365 subscribers with Business Essentials, Business Premium and Enterprise plans.Teams is Microsoft’s answer to Slack, with an emphasis on Office 365 integration. Teams is automatically tied to tools such as Outlook, SharePoint, OneNote and Skype for Business. With Skype tie-ins, for example, Teams users can move from text-based chatting to a voice or video call, directly within the Teams app. RELATED: 4 reasons Microsoft Teams will kill Slack… and 4 reasons it won’tTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to manage introverts and extroverts

The tech world can be a haven for people who enjoy solitary, focused work, and it often attracts people who gravitate toward the quiet end of the introvert-extrovert spectrum. For managers, the challenge is how to make the most of introverts’ and extroverts’ strengths. Team diversity can be a tremendous asset if companies are prepared to accommodate divergent work preferences.Another approach is to create speaking roles in meetings, says Shobhna Upadhyaya, senior manager, business operations, at LinkedIn. “Given that introverts may not speak up in meetings on their own, carve out a role for them to participate in meetings, [for example] have them present a certain section if they are up for it.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Fave Raves 2017 call for submissions

Fave Raves is Network World’s annual roundup of the best products, as chosen by IT pros. Do you have a favorite enterprise IT product you can't live without? Tell us about it and we'll share your raves with our readers.Please send your submissions to Ann Bednarz at Network World ([email protected]) by Friday, March 17. Please note: Submissions must be received directly from IT professionals, not through a third party.Items to address:1. Please provide your name, title and employer.2. What's your favorite product? (vendor name and product name)3. Why do you like it?4. How has it helped you and/or your company?5. How many years have you worked in IT?6. What upcoming IT projects are you most excited about and why?7. Please include a picture of yourself.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Fave Raves 2017 call for submissions

Fave Raves is Network World’s annual roundup of the best products, as chosen by IT pros. Do you have a favorite enterprise IT product you can't live without? Tell us about it and we'll share your raves with our readers.Please send your submissions to Ann Bednarz at Network World ([email protected]) by Friday, March 17. Please note: Submissions must be received directly from IT professionals, not through a third party.Items to address:1. Please provide your name, title and employer.2. What's your favorite product? (vendor name and product name)3. Why do you like it?4. How has it helped you and/or your company?5. How many years have you worked in IT?6. What upcoming IT projects are you most excited about and why?7. Please include a picture of yourself.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 happiest cities for CIOs

CIOs appear to be a relatively happy bunch, despite the pressures of the job.Robert Half Technology surveyed 2,500 U.S. CIOs in 25 metropolitan areas. As a group, the tech leaders rated their overall job satisfaction at 8.5 in a 10-point scale. Respondents from 10 cities reported above-average happiness, with Miami hosting the most content IT chiefs.The top 10 cities for CIO job satisfaction, according to the tech staffing firm, are:1. Miami2. Boston3. Des Moines, Iowa4. Indianapolis5. Cincinnati6. Minneapolis7. Raleigh, NC8. Salt Lake City9. Dallas10. San FranciscoTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How San Diego fights off 500,000 cyberattacks a day

Nearly 27 years of network and cybersecurity experience with the Department of Defense didn’t prepare Gary Hayslip for the collection of disparate technologies he encountered when he joined the city of San Diego. “Cities don't get rid of anything. If it works, why get rid of it? So you end up having a lot of diverse technologies connected together. You may have something that's 15 years old connected to stuff that's state of the art,” says Hayslip, whose DoD tenure included 20 years of active-duty military service and seven years working in civil service for the military. “Police cars, ambulances, libraries, water treatment facilities, golf courses … One of the things you learn real quickly: the city of San Diego is $4 billion business. And cities don’t shut down. They run 24/7,” he says. “My almost 27 years in DoD did not prepare me for how interesting city networks are."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

13 tech jobs that pay $200k salaries

Which IT roles earn the biggest salaries? Thirteen tech jobs can pull in salaries of $200,000 or more, according to new data from a tech staffing firm.The jobs that top $200,000 are the highest paying titles included in Mondo’s annual Tech Salary Guide, which lists salary ranges for 95 IT jobs. Most jobs in the $200,000 range are high-level IT leadership or technical positions related to hot areas such as security and big data. Two of the highest-paying jobs are developer roles tied to specific vendor platforms: Demandware and iOS. RELATED: 25 CIO pay packages revealed | Want to boost your CIO pay? Switch jobs | Bonuses, stocks, perks lift CIO compensation | 20 highest paid tech CEOsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Meet me in the parking lot: Walking meetings hit their stride

“Software engineer” might sound like a sedentary role, but it doesn’t have to be. Janice Lan schedules walking meetings to break the sitting habit.“Walking meetings are preferable for one-on-ones because it actually gives you a break from staring at a computer screen,” says Lan, a software engineer at Sift Science, which develops machine learning technology to detect fraud. “I walk with either a manager or a peer, usually when we talk about high-level things.”A walking meeting is just what it sounds like: a meeting that takes place during a walk rather than in a conference room or office. People can hold walking meetings on sidewalks and park trails or inside shopping malls and convention centers if the setting isn’t too noisy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

4 reasons Microsoft Teams will kill Slack… and 4 reasons it won’t

Microsoft Teams is nearing its official debut. Designed as a hub for teamwork, the cloud-based Teams gives employees access to content, tools, people and conversations within the Office 365 environment. Groups and subgroups can communicate and collaborate using text-based chat, file sharing, and video and voice chats.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

IBM scores most patents in 2016, Apple just misses top 10

The five companies that earned the most U.S. patents last year are the same five companies that dominated the 2015 ranking of top patent recipients: IBM, Samsung, Canon, Qualcomm and Google. IBM earned the No. 1 slot for the 24th consecutive year with 8,088 patents granted to its inventors in 2016. Samsung, again ranked second, earned 5,518 patents, and Canon came away with 3,665. Rounding out the Top 5 just as they did in 2015 are Qualcomm with 2,897 patents and Google with 2,835 patents. Overall, 2016 saw 304,126 utility patent grants, which is the most on record in a single year, according to data compiled by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services.  IFI, which specializes in patent analysis, tracks utility patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and each year it releases its annual ranking of the top 50 recipients.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM scores most patents in 2016, Apple just misses top 10

The five companies that earned the most U.S. patents last year are the same five companies that dominated the 2015 ranking of top patent recipients: IBM, Samsung, Canon, Qualcomm and Google. IBM earned the No. 1 slot for the 24th consecutive year with 8,088 patents granted to its inventors in 2016. Samsung, again ranked second, earned 5,518 patents, and Canon came away with 3,665. Rounding out the Top 5 just as they did in 2015 are Qualcomm with 2,897 patents and Google with 2,835 patents. Overall, 2016 saw 304,126 utility patent grants, which is the most on record in a single year, according to data compiled by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services.  IFI, which specializes in patent analysis, tracks utility patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and each year it releases its annual ranking of the top 50 recipients.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

8 big data predictions for 2017

Market research and advisory firm Ovum estimates the big data market will grow from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.4 billion by 2020. As the market grows, enterprise challenges are shifting, skills requirements are changing, and the vendor landscape is morphing. The coming year promises to be a busy one for big data pros. Here are some predictions from industry watchers and technology players.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

8 big data predictions for 2017

Market research and advisory firm Ovum estimates the big data market will grow from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.4 billion by 2020. As the market grows, enterprise challenges are shifting, skills requirements are changing, and the vendor landscape is morphing. The coming year promises to be a busy one for big data pros. Here are some predictions from industry watchers and technology players.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

7 hiring trends for 2017

Hiring is a challenge for CIOs, and it won’t get much easier in the coming year, particularly for IT departments that are trying to fill key security and networking roles.Two staffing and recruiting firms that specialize in IT – Robert Half Technology and TEKsystems – each released research this week that offers a glimpse of what’s expected on the hiring front in 2017. Here are some highlights from their respective reports.1. Don’t expect widespread salary gains A majority of IT leaders – 63% – expect overall 2017 IT salaries to stay the same compared to 2016 rates, and 1% expect salaries to decrease in the coming year. Just 36% of IT leaders say they plan to increase overall IT salaries in 2017, according to TEKsystems’ annual IT Forecast.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Now that’s a perk: Seattle tech startup offers new parents the miracle of sleep

Ping-pong tables and happy hours are one way to lure new hires, but Outreach is taking a different approach. The sales analytics startup is boosting the parental perks it offers employees as it strives to build a diverse workforce in the competitive Seattle market.The tech startup’s most noteworthy new perks are designed to help parents make the transition back to work after a baby’s arrival. Most precious is the gift of sleep: Outreach will pay for a night nurse, Monday through Friday, for eight weeks following a parent’s return to work. It also will pick up the tab for dinner delivery, two nights per week for eight weeks. And during the eight-week, back-to-work transition time, new parents can split their time between working in the office and working at home.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What’s in store for tech in 2017

Top tech predictions for 2017It's the time of year for tech predictions. We've rounded up a slew of ideas from industry watchers who track IT budgets, cybersecurity, hiring, infrastructure management, IoT, virtual reality and more. Here are their predictions, projections and prognostications.IT spending set to rise 2.9%Growth in software and IT services revenue will drive an increase in worldwide IT spending, which Gartner forecasts will climb 2.9% to $3.5 trillion in 2017. Software spending is projected to grow 6% in 2016, and it will grow another 7.2% in 2017 to total $357 billion, according to Gartner. IT services spending, which is on pace to grow 3.9% in 2016, will increase 4.8% in 2017 to reach $943 billion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What’s in store for tech in 2017

Top tech predictions for 2017It's the time of year for tech predictions. We've rounded up a slew of ideas from industry watchers who track IT budgets, cybersecurity, hiring, infrastructure management, IoT, virtual reality and more. Here are their predictions, projections and prognostications.IT spending set to rise 2.9%Growth in software and IT services revenue will drive an increase in worldwide IT spending, which Gartner forecasts will climb 2.9% to $3.5 trillion in 2017. Software spending is projected to grow 6% in 2016, and it will grow another 7.2% in 2017 to total $357 billion, according to Gartner. IT services spending, which is on pace to grow 3.9% in 2016, will increase 4.8% in 2017 to reach $943 billion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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