News

Microsoft SharePoint for BlackBerry App Finally Available

RIM has finally released its Microsoft SharePoint BlackBerry app, which allows businesspeople to securely access SharePoint documents, calendars and other materials from wherever they have BlackBerry connectivity.

ERP Apps Gaining Useful New Social Media Tools

Social media meets ERP, here's what it means to your business and why you should embrace these new ways of connecting with your customers.

How Long Can Bing and Windows Phone 7 Be Beautiful Losers?

Microsoft's Bing and Windows Phone 7 products may be failures on paper, but Microsoft has a master plan to keep these non-starters going for the foreseeable future. But can they afford it?

RIM Patches “Severe” Flaw in BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BES Express

RIM has released a new security patch to fix a serious flaw within its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and BES Express for Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise.

Enterprise BI Made Simple

Will a simplified version of enterprise business intelligence software spur user adoption? Gartner analyst James Richardson thinks so.

When 1984 Wasn’t Like 1984

There’s No Going Back to the Old Technology

What Is Your IT Strategy To Win In The Age Of The Customer?

To compete in the age of the customer, your business must become customer-obsessed. Forrester advocates investment in four areas in order to become successfully customer-obsessed.

Threat to Year in IPOs Analyzed By PwC

IPO Watch sees danger that hot first-half rate — with $24.3b of proceeds — could ice over because of market volatility.

IT Hiring Remains Strong Despite Economic Fears

IT hiring has been on the rise since the start of 2011, and IT staffing executives expect that growth to continue through the rest of the year, despite recent bad economic news.

Back to School: 6 Tips for Not Overspending on Tech

You don't have to break the bank to give your kids heading back to school the tech tools they need. From free Office alternatives to PCs at half the price of Macs, here are six tips for parents looking to spend wisely.

How To Improve Collaboration with Development and Operations

IT managers struggle with getting development and operations (DevOps) teams working together more efficiently. Here are six ways infrastructure and operations (I&O) can improve collaboration.

RIM Developer Guru on Why You Should Believe in BlackBerry

CIO.com's Al Sacco sat down with BlackBerry-maker RIM's Director of Developer Relations, Mike Kirkup, to discuss the Canadian company's latest products, the much anticipated Android App Player for PlayBook–and when it will be released

If Corporations Were People…

Former Massachusetts Gov. and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney infamously said last week, "Corporations are people, my friend." We're assuming he meant tech companies, too. So what actors would play them? What would the movies be calle

Infosys Whistleblower Presents Evidence of Alleged B-1 Visa Abuse

Infosys whistleblower Jack Palmer has gone public with details of his assertion that the Indian outsourcer willfully violated U.S. immigration and tax laws to increase profit, by soliciting B-1 visas instead of H-1B visas for Indian employees. Meanwh

Pay Isn’t Everything

Creative workplace strategies can help you keep the best employees, in finance and beyond.

The Groans of August: CFOs Acclimate

The impact of S&P's downgrade and the market's wild ride force Corporate America to balance their views

Cloud CIO: What “Consumerization of IT” Really Means to CIOs

The consumerization of IT isn't just about employees using consumer devices and apps at work. It's about consumers becoming the primary users of internal IT applications, and it has serious ramifications for how CIOs operate and scale their

Overall CFO Optimism Fell in July…

…But in the U.S., the outlook for their own companies was quite strong, the FEI/Baruch survey shows.

Business Apps on the iPhone: Dos and Don’ts

Techies love features and functions; business users are more focused on simplicity and speed. CIOs must seek to balance both worlds when developing a business app for the iPhone.

Stress Test: Bloomberg CIO Deals with Stock Market Data Surge

During the stock market's most volatile week in years, the data throughput of Bloomberg LP's trading and financial news network has been put to the test. Here's how the company prepared for the sudden data explosion.

Follow-up: How to Fight Back When Your Boss Is Out to Get You

If you're having serious problems with your boss, get them on record with HR before they pose a direct threat to your job. If you wait until you get a bad performance review—or worse, a written warning—you risk looking like you

The Road from CIO to COO

Many of my CIO friends long to replace the "I" in their title an "O". With its promise of better compensation, higher status and an unquestioned place at the table, the “O” is a letterrnworth fighting for.

RIM’s Top 5 Enterprise Features in BlackBerry 7 OS Underwhelm

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) this week released a list of its "favorite" business-oriented features in the brand new BlackBerry 7 OS. Unfortunately, CIO.com's Al Sacco says the list is a bit underwhelming.

Dealing with crazies

Many companies have a few crazies … the movers and shakers who combine a willingness to do the outrageous with a complete lack of fear … and they need them, right up until the moment they do more harm than good.

Survey of Finance Execs Shows Uptick, but Still Worries

A survey of U.S. finance executives by CFO services provider Tatum was suggesting a slight upturn in corporate-finance conditions in the days before the nation's debt ceiling was raised, and before the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the

RightNow CEO on Improving the Customer Experience

RightNow Technologies CEO Greg Gianforte sat down with IDG Enterprise Chief Content Officer John Gallant to discuss how his company is dramatically improving the customer experience in all the places consumers touch organizations.

CRM and Sales: If it’s Broke, Fix it.

CRM systems are a reflection of the sales and marketing team. So when both are broken, should you fix the CRM first, or fix the organization first? The answer: Yes.

Google Apps Catapult BI-LO Supermarkets to the Cloud

The BI-LO supermarket chain is ringing up significant cost savings and productivity increases, following a move to Google Apps from a legacy IBM Lotus Notes system. Find out why BI-LO chose Google Apps over a Notes upgrade and over Microsoft's c

Workplace Conflict: How to Deal with Difficult People

We've all run into at least one of these four types of troublesome co-workers. Teambuilding expert Kaley Klemp explains how to handle them.

Group Hacks Official BlackBerry Blog, Threatens RIM Over London-Riot BBM Data

Hacker-group TeaMp0isoN has broken into RIM's official BlackBerry blog and posted threats to the company and its staffers.

10 Cloud Management Companies to Watch

Managing the cloud is a tricky endeavor. Here are 10 tools and services that can help.

Windows 7 Migrations: Don’t Get Distracted by XP, Windows 8

The world of Windows is becoming a crowded place. But between Windows XP's death and Windows 8's birth stands Windows 7, and it's the only version enterprise IT should care about, according to analysts and consultants.

From Microsoft to Google Apps: Why We Migrated

Journal Communications had always been a Microsoft-based company. But when IT systems needed to be consolidated, they reexamined their portfolio and became a Google Apps-based business. Here's how they did it and why.

Using Renewable Energy in the Data Center

You know eco-friendly IT efforts can save budget dollars, but unless you've investigated solar, wind and other renewable energy options you may be leaving money on the table.

VMware Licensing Change Opens Doors for Competing Virtualization, Cloud Providers

Some VMware customers are seeking alternate virtualization and cloud computing providers because of the price and licensing changes the company announced in June, IT analysts say. Here's a look at the competitive landscape for virtualization an

Evaluating Cloud Vendors: The Ecosystem Matters

The number of tools, plug-ins, and developers can really matter when evaluating cloud vendors, it's all about the ecosystem.

The iPocolypse, the Downfall of Society

Your love life or your iPhone? Free coffee or your iPad? Seems people are willing to give up just about anything except their iPhones and iPads.

The Consumerization of IT in the Eyes of a Young College Student

Welcome to the new Succeeding in Consumerization of IT blog. I will use this space to observe current consumerization of IT trends as well as how history continues to shape the future.

BlackBerry Messenger Reportedly Used to Organize, Incite London Riots (UPDATED)

Rioters in London last weekend used BlackBerry smartphones and RIM's BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) IM app to privately converse with other looters and plan further chaos, according to recent reports.

The New Pressures on Executive Comp

While the value of CEOs' pay packages jumped in 2010 — the median value among S&P 500 companies surged 20%, to $10.6 million, according to ISS Corporate Services — the increase may not be the most significant change in executive compensati

Hyper-V & Virtual PCs: How to Handle Virtual Disks

Choosing the right format for the right scenario is critical when it comes to performance and management of virtual hard disks (VHDs). We'll look at the pros and cons of the three methods — fixed, pass-through and dynamic disks — and highlight

Cloud Computing: 4 Tips for Regulatory Compliance

Cloud computing makes it harder for enterprises to be sure they're complying with industry and government regulations. IT and legal experts offer CIOs advice on how to stay in compliance even when their applications reside in the cloud.

Desktop Search: Free and Paid Apps for Finding Your Data

Finding "stuff" on our PC can be a drag. If you do basic searches, there are plenty of free search apps, but if you're a digital pack rat like Bill Snyder of CIO.com, you may need a more advanced paid desktop search app.

Is The Internet Addictive?

Are we all turning into hopeless media addicts and Webaholics? CIO writer Bill Snyder recently suffered withdrawal symptoms during a camping trip.

IT pros need people skills

The Real Apple iPad Killer App? Reading

Steve Jobs was wrong. People love to read on the iPad. Let’s hope newspaper publishers don’t ruin it for everyone.

Google+: I’m Just Not That Into You

CIO.com's Kristin Burnham has had enough with Google+. It's not that the new social network doesn't have potential…it's just not living up to her admittedly high expectations.

BlackBerry Curve 9370 to be First 4G LTE BlackBerry?

RIM's upcoming Curve 9370 smartphone could be the BlackBerry-maker's first 4G, LTE smartphone. And CrackBerry addicts eager to get their hands on the 4G-BlackBerry-goodness may only have to wait until next month.

Fear of Change Impedes Cloud Adoption for Many Companies

A new study concludes that internal attitudes have to change for cloud projects to succeed. Here are some tips for how to encourage that inside your company.

Building Applications in the Cloud: a Tour of the Tools

There's cloud development, and then there's cloud development.