Beth Stackpole

Author Archives: Beth Stackpole

The IT-business gap remains

In light of its increasingly prominent and strategic role, IT continues to remain in control of technology budgets. One-third of the CIOs responding to CIO.com's 2017 State of the CIO survey said IT controls 71 percent or more of their organizations' technology budgets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

State of the CIO 2017: The new reality

As technology grabs the lead role in modern business, all eyes are on the CIO's ability to lead initiatives that radically transform how companies sell products, reach customers and drive opportunities for new revenue streams. At the same time, the digital era's wholesale dependence on technology means there's little room for the slightest hiccup in operations -- resulting in another mandate on the CIO's agenda.One functional responsibility that CIOs don't expect to spend less time on in the future is security management: 26 percent of the respondents to this year's survey said they expect to devote more time to that task in the next three to five years, up from 21 percent in last year's survey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Tech Forecast 2017: 5 key technologies to double down on now

With digital transformation dominating the business agenda, IT pros are under pressure to create a modern-day tech foundation sturdy enough to drive that change as they head into 2017. What milestones are they aiming for in the year ahead? Where should they direct their limited resources?According to Computerworld's Forecast 2017 survey, IT professionals will prioritize security, analytics, XaaS or "as a service" technology, virtualization and mobile apps in the coming year. If you're thinking of adding those technologies to your own 2017 to-do list, read on for findings from our survey, along with real-world advice from other IT leaders.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tech Forecast 2017: 5 key technologies to double down on now

With digital transformation dominating the business agenda, IT pros are under pressure to create a modern-day tech foundation sturdy enough to drive that change as they head into 2017. What milestones are they aiming for in the year ahead? Where should they direct their limited resources?According to Computerworld's Forecast 2017 survey, IT professionals will prioritize security, analytics, XaaS or "as a service" technology, virtualization and mobile apps in the coming year. If you're thinking of adding those technologies to your own 2017 to-do list, read on for findings from our survey, along with real-world advice from other IT leaders.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 disruptive technologies to track in 2017

Digital transformation is sparking change on many fronts, which means IT professionals have a lot to tackle as they head into 2017. As part of this march toward IT-driven reinvention, tech leaders are keeping watch on several emerging technologies that they believe will be catalysts for long-term innovation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How flexible should your infosec model be?

Security is a top priority at the Bank of Labor, but the financial institution updates its formal information security policy only once a year, maybe twice, regardless of what's happening in the ever-changing threat landscape.That's not to say that the union bank ignores emerging threats such as new malware variants or phishing schemes, says Shaun Miller, the bank's information security officer. On the contrary, the organization, which has seven branches in the Kansas City, Kan., area plus an office in Washington, routinely tweaks its firewalls and intrusion-protection systems in response to new and active threats. To avoid fatiguing its 120 users, however, it refrains from formalizing new policies more frequently.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why (and when) outsourcing security makes sense

Phenix Energy Group, an oil pipeline operator and construction company, is preparing to take its IT infrastructure from zero to 60 in a matter of months. To get a years-in-the-making pipeline project off the ground, the company is preparing to grow from a relatively small office environment to a data center setting of 75 servers and 250TB of storage. As a result, security, which hasn’t been a top priority, is suddenly a big deal, according to CIO and COO Bruce Perrin.Given the high stakes — a downed system could cost about $1 million an hour — Perrin has spent the past five years researching options. While he’d prefer to run security in-house as part of an on-premises data center, Perrin is leaning toward outsourcing the function, at least initially, because he doesn’t have time to staff up a dedicated information security department in the few scant months before the pipeline goes online.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How gender differences can make your company stronger

Remember that popular relationship book, “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” which aimed to help couples communicate better by helping them understand the innate differences between the sexes?As it turns out, the neuroscience explored in that book can help businesses create more gender balance in their ranks — not simply by upping the numbers of female hires or treating everyone the same in the hopes of eliminating bias. Rather, the practice, known as gender intelligence, applies gender science to highlight and create an appreciation for the natural differences between male and female attitudes and behaviors, according to Barbara Annis, founding partner of Gender Intelligence Group (GIG) and a pioneer behind this leadership style.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Forecast 2016: 5 fast-track trends to tackle now (and one to ignore)

Of all the burning questions that keep tech execs awake at night, perhaps none is more urgent than, "Are we keeping up?" The breakneck pace of change in IT and in business at large means that CIOs and other senior technologists can't afford to lose focus as they head into 2016.Where should you center your efforts as you build your to-do list for the year ahead? Computerworld's Forecast 2016 survey of IT professionals points to five key areas -- cloud computing, security, the Internet of Things, analytics, and the emergence of IT as a change agent -- as well as one area where you don't need to devote resources (or not yet, anyway).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)