Gartner calls it the Nexus of Forces – the synergy of four platforms or movements that are happening all at once and depend on one another – Mobile, Social Media, Cloud, and Information. These forces are the future and the focus on which IT would be wise to devote resources and strategic thought.More...

CIO.com announced its annual 2012 winners  – 100 companies – all of whom are leveraging IT for big wins within their industry. Interestingly, these winners each have in common how they are leveraging technology to improve the customer experience, which is ultimately driving revenue and lowering costs. Here’s a sample: More...

Looking at the as-a-service smorgasbord, can you guess which one tops the list in terms of growth? Number one is Business Intelligence (and Analytics) as-a-Service (BIaaS).

BIaaS can trace its roots to "Big Data." Companies are striving to make sense of the ever-growing amounts of data – be it from sources such as company databases, CRM tools, and social media. Already a $12 billion market, says Gartner, business intelligence (BI) and analytics is big business – whether premises-based or in the cloud. More...

XaaS = Anything as-a-Service (some refer to it as "everything-as-a-Service"). The term is not new; it’s just that it is tangible today. Like a movie trailer that is released far ahead of the movie, XaaS has been talked about for years. I even found reference to XaaS from 2008, long before much of anything was in the cloud. The reality is that just about anything today can be done in the cloud. Just take a look, says Networkworld: More...

The term "shadow IT" refers to the adoption and use of technology without the formal approval or knowledge of the central IT organization. This is becoming ubiquitous throughout organizations. Today, information technology is pervasive, easy to use, simple to access, and inexpensive. For many business units, it is simply faster to purchase and implement solutions directly themselves. More...

The rapidly-growing mobile payments industry is expected to more than double in just two years from $171.5 billion to $617 billion in transactions by 2016, according to Gartner. Simply, mobile payments is an “umbrella term that refers to a wide variety of approaches such as: a smartphone equipped with a special chip; a credit card number stored in a phone app; or a key-fob size device that turns a phone or tablet into a credit card processor,” says USA Today. Though still in the early adopter phase, startups, carriers, and big businesses are investing heavily in this innovative space. More...

By now, most enterprises are dealing with implementing an evolving mobile strategy. Some are further than others in terms of penetration among employees. Much insight can be gleamed from these real-life  enterprise experiences. Here’s a look at some of the lessons: More...

Investing in network security can seem never-ending.  After all, the threats never cease.  How to direct finite security resources will always be top of mind for enterprises. Sometimes part of the answer lies in going back to the basics, and I am not talking about firewalls, IPS, and DDOS protection.

Recent recommendations have been simple, tried, and true. Revisiting some old school approaches can significantly strengthen the security posture of the enterprise.More...

What are the coming billion-dollar industries? In a recent webinar, Gartner said there is a set of forces coming together that are completely changing how we live and do business These forces are: More...

In just the past few months, several survey findings have been released on the corporate use of smartphones, revealing how enterprises can best manage mobile devices while keeping the enterprise secure. 

NetworkWorld surveyed more than 600 respondents, focusing on how employees leverage mobile devices within the enterprise.  More...