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Issuse CIO Face in a Troubled Economic Times
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Normal logic would cause a CIO to consider hunkering down and
focusing on survival until business conditions improve. However, enterprises
must continue to make strategic investments in Information Technology.
Survival is clearly important, but by making survival your primary focus, you
risk missing opportunities. CIOs and IT organizations that position themselves for the eventual
upturn will look at IT as an enabler of business efficiency and growth. In this
turbulent economy, it becomes more critical to invest differently in IT. The key
is to invest in areas that really improve IT efficiency and discipline. This
focus will enable IT not only to survive this difficult financial period, but
also to quickly shift its profile toward enabling true business
growth.
Over 70% of Lost Laptops are Never Recovered
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Laptops can and do get lost or stolen.
In studies conducted by several security firms, it has been found that over 50%
of all lost or stolen laptops disappear at airport security checkpoints an
departure gates. Unfortunately almost 70% of these laptops are never
recovered.
Terminating an Outsource Relationship
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The
time to set the groundwork for the termination of an outsource contract is when the
original contract is negotiated. If
it is not done then, the outsourcer has no reason to do more than the contract
requires. Key
issues to consider are:
CIO Recovery Planning Tool Kit Released
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Park City, UT – Park
City, UT - With the recovery on the horizon, Janco Associates, Inc. has released
its CIO Infrastructure Planning Tool Kit. The kit contains all of the elements
that are required for CIOs to hit the ground running as the recovery starts to
take hold and demand increases for IT services. The CEO of Janco, Mr. Victor
Janulaitis said, "During a downturn, CIOs often had to make some unpopular
decisions and that cost them the alliances they need to succeed. Based on our
experience the highest attrition rates for CIOs is during a recovery. With a
recovery, many enterprises feel they can afford a change at the top to get a new
direction and improve the enterprise's IT operations. In order to succeed CIOs
need to take proactive steps before it is too late." Janulaitis said, "CIOs need to act well in advance
of the recovery, and the end of a recession is often recognized only months
after the fact. The most progressive CIOs and enterprises will turn to recovery
mode before competitors by implementing a recovery plan right now." Janulaitis added, "...Most IT functions are
operating at very high productivity levels and do not have any extra capacity to
use when the recovery starts. Once the recovery occurs there were be huge demand
for initiatives, projects, and staffing. CIOs who react too late will find they
will not be able to meet the demands placed on them." The CIO Infrastructure Planning Tool Kit directs
CIO how to get there organization in order by helping them meet several key
objectives. Updating the organization infrastructure with IT Service Management
(ITSM) and Metrics in mind; updating the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and
how it will be applied with new initiatives; defining all of the
responsibilities of the IT staff and support staff members; creating current job
descriptions in place; and identifying the resources that will have to be hire
(employees) or retain (contractors) once the recovery starts. The CIO Infrastructure Planning kit comes in three
versions: standard, silver, and gold. The gold version contains the IT
Infrastructure, Strategy, & Charter Template, the latest Janco IT Salary
Survey, the IT Service Management for SOA Template, 220 IT Job Descriptions, the
Internet and IT Job Descriptions HandiGuide , and a Functional Specification
Template. These templates and job descriptions all come in MS WORD and are fully
editable. More information can be found at http://www.e-janco.com/CIOInfrastructurePlanningToolKit.html.
Is your business ready to deal with management of all of its data and business records?
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The increasing flood of
data can lead to a host of problems, like added time and system slowdowns
due to the sheer volume of data; added cost, in new equipment and especially in
management overhead, to provide for all this data accumulation; and the added
business risk that comes with larger data stores. The temptation is to accommodate added data by
increasing the number of servers and disk drives. But simply adding servers is
not the answer – in fact, without planning, the direct attachment of additional
drives or servers can create islands of storage, resulting in greater management
requirements. Such an unplanned and reactive approach to storage is inefficient,
raising costs while limiting flexibility and the capacity to respond to new
business opportunities.
Areas Impacted by Security Policies and Procedures
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Security policies and procedures need to consider areas where your
systems can be breached and include:
Legacy Infrastructure Hinders Productivity
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When
technologist's design and implement a "new way" to do things they often forget
about how to transaction from the "legacy" system to the new one. The Washington
Post reported that the Copyright Office's "new $52 million electronic process"
was responsible for creating an overwhelming logjam of copyright applications.
Turnaround
time for copyright applications has slowed from six to 18 months and the
Copyright Office is behind some 500,000 applications. The staff
is spending so much time handling the paper applications it does not have enough
time to process electronic applications, which has created delays for online
claims now. It now takes six months to process electronic claims when it should
take one month. Since the
problem appears to be the volume of paper applications, the office plans to
raise the fees for paper applications from $45 to $65 in August while keeping
the fee for electronic filing at $35.
Vista Dead
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The Microsoft urged some companies week to dump Vista deployment plans and shift
to Windows 7, the operating system the company has promised to ship in the
fourth quarter. "If you're just starting your testing of Vista, with the [Windows 7]
Release Candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do
your testing on the [Windows 7] Release Candidate, and use that going forward,"
said Bill Veghte, Microsoft's senior vice president for Windows
business. That same day, other Microsoft managers said work
on Windows 7 should wrap up in August, which would indicate availability on new
PCs and at retail stores as early as mid-October if the company uses the same
pace as Windows XP eight years ago. Microsoft delivered Windows 7 Release Candidate
(RC) to the public on May 4, but made it available to developers and IT
professionals several days earlier.
Metric for Troubled Economic Times
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Metrics are an issue that
continues to be focus as CIOs try to address the stresses placed on IT.
Successful CIOs know that "business-centric" metrics (which effectively
communicate the value of IT's operating activities and capital projects in terms
that relate to business executives) should be the focus rather than "technology-centric" metrics (such as the
number of transactions processed or the mean time between system failures). The right metrics for IT spending and
its business value can help reinforce IT's position as an informed and trusted
business partner. In the
current economic conditions the focus of the CIO's Metrics should be:
Metrics CIOs Need to Implement
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Few
business professionals need to be convinced that information is valuable to their
organizations - or that data must be carefully protected. However, as
corporations accumulate increasingly greater volumes of information, protecting
it efficiently and effectively becomes more complex, expensve, and difficult. At
the same time as the consequences and cost of a protection failure increase as
data becomes more integrated into the day-to-day operations of the
enterprise. No one understands this better than the CIO, who is charged with a
seemingly impossible task: hold down storage and protection costs, keep
production data instantly accessible 24x7, and make sure than any information
asset, no matter how obscure or seldom used, can be quickly recovered on demand.
These competing agendas signal a gradual shift in emphasis from the process and
technologies of information protection to the strategies and tactics necessary
to quickly, easily, and comprehensively respond to and recover from any data
event.
Security Threats Abound in Wireless Locations
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To protect networks and information
against increasingly sophisticated threats, many organizations are deploying
security in layers. Some are finding that an efficient way to do this is by
using unified threat management (UTM) appliances. What happens when you have Wireless town
like the new 725-acre planned community in eastern Missouri that is being built
entirely with wireless systems, helping businesses avoid the costs of laying
fiber and other traditional infrastructure. The
community, called New Town at St. Charles, already has 800 homes built with
architectural styles of a traditional American small town. There are 2,000 residents with five businesses serviced by a combination
of microwave, WiMax backhaul, Wi-Fi and related technology. The wireless
technologies are used to provide Internet services to homes and businesses. It
also provides video surveillance to the town's businesses.
Fight continues on H-1B Visa Program
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Two U.S.
senators plan to reintroduce legislation that would require U.S. employers to
make a "good faith" effort to hire U.S. citizens over H-1B visa holders, after failing to
win approval for a similar bill two years ago. The earlier
measure died after being folded into a comprehensive immigration reform bill
that was killed without coming up for a vote. Lawmakers are aiming to introduce
a new bill. The
widespread layoffs being caused
by the economic recession may help lawmakers this time around. Earlier this
year, for instance, lawmakers succeeded at getting H-1B hiring restrictions on
financial services firms that receive federal bailout money into the massive
economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Barack Obama. U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting visa applications for
the federal fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. The weak economy is expected to reduce
the number of applications, the prevailing view among immigration attorneys and
supporters of efforts to raise the annual visa cap is that more than enough to
meet the limit of 65,000 regular visas will again be filed quickly. High demand
is expected as well for the 20,000 visas set aside for foreign workers with
advanced degrees from U.S. universities. Among those
driving the demand will be foreign graduates who did not win visas in last
year's lottery distribution of visas but were able to continue working in the
U.S. on extension of their student visas. Foreigners who graduated last spring
and are still working on their student visas will also be eligible to apply for
H-1B visas.
PCI Compliance Becomes More Complex
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Two payment
processors that recently disclosed data breaches have been dropped from Visa
Inc.'s list of companies that comply with the PCI data security rules. That means that merchants cannot
use those payment processors if they themselves want to remain compliant with
the Payment Card Industry
Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) rules. Visa
said that it was dropping Heartland Payment Systems Inc. and RBS WorldPay Inc.
from its PCI-compliant list. The company added that it would "consider"
restoring Heartland and RBS WorldPay if they are recertified as compliant by
third-party assessors.
Reasons why CIOs and CTOs get Fired
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Top ten
list of things that fired CIOs do 1.
Do not have a disaster recovery and business continuity
plan integrated with a backup/archiving program. 2.
Ignore warning signs 3.
Do not document changes 4.
Do not use logging processes 5.
Do not install updates 6.
Save money by not purchasing upgrades 7.
Do not manage passwords well 8.
Never say no to anyone 9.
Never say yes to anyone 10. Do not
train a replacement
PCI-DSS Standards are Best Practices for Security Policies and Procedures
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The six areas of data protection prescribed by the PCI-DSS
standard drive enterprises to implement a comprehensive approach to overall
security. They address security
concerns from network protection to
security governance policies. Build and maintain a secure
network Protect cardholder data Maintain a vulnerability management
program Implement strong access control
measures Regularly monitor and test
networks Maintain an information security
policy
Top Reasons Why Outsourcing Relationships Fail
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In a survey of 50 CIO's Janco found the primary reasons that
outsourcing fails are:
The Practical Guide for IT Outsourcing is delivered electronically in WORD and/or PDF format. Included is a 3 page Job Description for the Manager Outsourcing. Sarbanes-Oxley issues addressed directly. Included is an ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 audit program. more info
Challenges CIOs face
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CIOs are now challenged more than any
time in the past with the economic earthquake around the globe CIOs have to be
smarter, creative and innovative. The only way for CIOs to survive the world
economic reset in a knowledge age is to capitalize on our human capital, put
their staffÂ’s creativity to work, stoke our innovative furnace. There are many
ways to fuel the creative fires - from management techniques, to team building,
and effectively leveraging existing and emerging technological investments. However, the key is infrastructure. CIOs that have a one that address
metrics, change management, version control, system development methodology,
service management, and human resources have a better chance to make it through
these tough times.
CIO management of IT project portfolio
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CIOs
have two targets when they manage the IT project portfolio, money and time. CIOs estimate how much time each IT
employee has to work on projects (as opposed to support). The combination of that time is use to
determine the total project time for the year. In this
troubled times, there is a huge demand for IT projects, it is critical that
staff time is utilized efficiently.
Historically CIOs approved projects, and then they waited for those
championing the projects to bring them forward. The issue with that approach is that
many managers are busy they tend to wait until the last possible moment to get
things going. In the mean time,
that time set aside for projects is going unused. CIOs
should encourage business manager and other champions to getting things moving
sooner and telling them the resources are available now.
What is keeping CIOs and CTOs up at night?
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In a recent survey of 127 CIOs Janco
Associates has defined a set of questions that CIOs are trying to answer about
during this downturn. CIO are
concerned that IT is viewed as relevant to the enterprise's success. The primary questions they are trying
to answer for their management are: CIOs and CTOs feel that if they
can answer these questions they have a chance to be drivers in survival of their
enterprises.
E-Verify Could be the Next Priority for CIOs
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E-Verify in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
passed last week by the House of Representatives. However, that provision has been culled
from the Senate version -- prompting frantic lobbying on both sides of the issue
to either put it back into the legislation or leave it out permanently.
According to a DHS description of the program, the SSA
database against which the matching is done contains more than 425 million
records, while the DHS's immigration databases hold more than 60 million
records. In most cases, employers get search results in
seconds. Only about 100,000 employers out of more than 7
million in the U.S. are currently signed up for the
program. Recent enhancements to the system include a
photo-screening tool for biometric verification and the availability of
naturalization data that can confirm the citizenship status of recently
naturalized U.S. citizens. In May 2009, all federal contractors and
subcontractors will have to start using the program when hiring new
employees.
PCI-DSS Drives Evaluation of Network Devices
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Credit Card Companies aim to secure cardholder data wherever it resides,
requiring that members, merchants, and service providers maintain the highest
information security standards. While the threshold for PCI compliance is only a
minimum standard, businesses recognize that failure to meet PCI requirements can
lead to both financial penalties and long-term damage to customer trust and
brand equity. PCI requirements maintain that companies shall encrypt data at rest,
which is a challenging and expensive endeavor for most retailers to
undertake.
Are your enterprise's computers attractive targets for criminals?
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Computers
today are an integral part of day-to-day business, commerce, and personal life.
E-mail and instant messages are heavily used for communications. Enterprise
administrative business processes depend upon computer automation, record
keeping, and dependable, confidential, and quick access to reliable information.
The enterprise operational processes make use of computers for communication
with employees, vendors, supplies, and customers. Everyone
has a stake in ensuring that the computing infrastructure continues to operate
reliably and that it preserves the confidentiality and integrity of the
information it handles - both our own and that of those we serve. Between PDAs,
SmartPhones, laptop computers, and desktop computer many of our users have up
five devices each that they use. Each device contributes to our network's
security. Each operator of those devices has a necessary and important part in
preserving the integrity of the network, just as every citizen has a necessary
and important part in preserving a society. Every
day, people on the Internet are reaching out and touching our computers in
attempts to violate our privacy, use our resources, dupe us into helping them
perform a crime, or steal information. Every one of the devices on the
enterprise network is an attractive target for criminals. Serious crimes have
been committed on, by, and through five-year-old laptops. High-profile security breaches have made network access control one
of the most important concerns for corporate and government network managers. It
is your job to reduce the chance of security breaches. Do you know what attacks
intruders use and how to counter them? As hackers become more sophisticated, so
must you. The Janco Security Manual Template gives you the foundation security
policies and procedures to protect your network from
attack.
Over 1,500 CIOs See the Exit Door
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Nearly 1,500 CEOs left their
jobs last year, including 221 in the technology and telecommunications sector,
according to Challenger, Gray &
Christmas Inc. The overall exit rate was up 9.4% over the 2007
level, and the total number of CEO departures was the most that the
Chicago-based executive recruitment and outplacement firm has recorded in any
year since it began tracking such changes in 1999. As part of its analysis of the numbers, the firm
included a laundry list of reasons why CEOs left their jobs. For instance, it
said that 466 resigned and 362 retired. Another 41 were said by their companies
to have been fired outright, and Challenger thinks that pressure from boards of
directors and/or stockholders was responsible for some of the resignations as
well. In addition, the credit crisis in financial markets was cited in the
departures of 27 CEOs.
Metrics Key to Communication in a Bad Economy
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IT
Professions need to communicate their strategies and value to enterprise
management and enterprise customers. Consider metrics:
Misuse of Web by Employees Puts Enterprises at Rick.
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