The rise of cloud and big data is altering business models, and in the process shifting corporate hierarchies, too. The chief marketing officer could be a big beneficiary of all this change. Read more »
Buying information technology is complicated and made more so by companies trying to pick the best solution without ever asking themselves what’s best for their business at this point in time. Read more »
As employees feel increasingly entitled to take tech into their own hands via BYOD, the cloud and SaaS, IT is finding itself sidelined. The answer is for IT to redefine itself. Welcome to IT as a Service. Read more »
Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has earned a lot of Google air milage points recently, touting technology in stops across Asia. Take a look at where he’s gone and what he’s been up to along the way. Read more »
Nuance is continuing to push voice recognition into the security realm with a new biometric ID service for enterprise IT departments looking to automate the task of resetting passwords. Read more »
There’s a common assumption that the Cloud’s destiny is to be a public utility. Mark Thiele, of data center operator Switch, argues that would kill competition and innovation, and that IT can be a better option. Read more »
One job for life hasn’t been true for a while, but in the tech space even expecting to have one skill-set for life may be asking too much. Jobs may last less than a decade before becoming obsolete. So how do we cope? Read more »
While cloud, mobility, social, and analytics have been driving demand for IT products and services in 2012, the worldwide IT spending picture has become dimmer as the year has progressed: We’re looking at 5.1 percent worldwide IT spending growth in 2012. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The role that IT plays is transforming. Thus, the skills, roles, and tools for CIOs have to transform too. Why? If the trend toward cloud-based services continues, then the role of the CIO will shift from being a builder/technologist to becoming an integrator/vendor-manager. Read more »
Managing clouds requires human capital, which will dictate new roles in your organization. Rodrigo Flores, a cloud enterprise architect at Cisco Intelligent Automation, argues that cloud builders who pay particular attention to the people part of the equation will emerge as the true winners. Read more »
Enterprise CIOs may not think that their company is making use of the public cloud. But little do they know, their business colleagues may already be leaning on a “shadow IT” department supplied by outside service providers. Read more »
With more and more business leaders now turning to this topic, the questions — and confusion — are multiplying. With so much to consider, we’ve broken down the cloud discussion to help companies decide which strategy is right for their business. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Ask a VC about big data and she will probably tell you about visualization of the user interface. We’re talking about intuitive UIs that let users visually work with data using charts and tools, not algorithms. It’s hard to do right, but the payoff could be huge. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This quarter saw Amazon Web Services finally relaxing its public-cloud-only stance and launching services to support hybrid-cloud deployments. Meanwhile, Hadoop players moved to make their platforms more accessible to mainstream BI analysts and database administrators. A new quarterly report analyzes these trends and provides a near-term outlook. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cloud computing is at the top of virtually every CIO’s interest list and is expected to grow 126.5 percent over the next two years. A new report on GigaOM Pro details each sector of cloud computing and forecasts a shift toward hybrid models in the enterprise community. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Three fast-moving trends are altering the landscape for business IT: cloud computing, mobile computing and the consumerization of IT. This report presents actionable strategies to respond to the new realities of corporate computing, including a redesign of the IT organization. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cloud computing, mobile computing and the consumerization of IT combine to create another force that overwhelms IT departments: complexity, including complexity of devices and applications, physical and virtual computing environments, and related challenges for IT staff. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cloud computing, mobile computing and the consumerization of IT are changing the game for IT departments. Section one of our three-part report describes and quantifies each of these trends, demonstrating that they are real now, growing rapidly and perilous to ignore. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cloud computing is growing up, and it’s time for IT management to loosen its grip. It won’t be an easy transition, and each environment requires its own solution. Andi Mann of CA Technologies offers some suggestions on how to deal with the change. Read more »
Moving to the cloud and SaaS is simpler than many executives believe and can deliver significant business gains relatively quickly, says Zohar Gilad, executive vice president at Precise. Gilad shares the two key decisions that a company should make when considering its cloud strategy. Read more »
Large data centers are increasingly moving to converged infrastructure, and most of the chatter has been about this slick, new hardware. But it also has deep implications for enterprise employees and the CIOS and managers that must retrain them — or do away with them altogether. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This report outlines the myriad issues at play in Facebook’s move, from examining how CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to rewire the world to understanding the company’s infrastructure dependency. But from every angle, it’s clear the effects will ripple throughout the startup and tech communities. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Traditionally, the Mac has made up an extremely small sliver of corporate PC purchases, but over the last few quarters, more and more of them have been incorporated into the workplace. And on the heels of this trend was an announcement from the analysts over at ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Demand for cloud computing continues to increase exponentially as consumers, businesses and government agencies seek to defer the expense of acquiring, operating and maintaining infrastructure and applications to third-party service providers. Likewise, software publishers are finding the cloud computing model an efficient and effective mechanism for delivering their products as a service and as an operational expense to their customers. For independent software vendors, cloud computing is opening up new markets and making their applications more accessible and affordable to scores of new customers. For a multitude of reasons, many ISVs are choosing to forego data center development and are partnering with hosting providers that have the infrastructure, resources and expertise in managing and delivering cloud services. This report provides ISVs with guidance on partnering with hosting companies, establishing criteria for selecting a hosting service, metrics for measuring hosting performance as it relates to cloud services delivered and an understanding of the responsibilities they retain even when outsourcing a large part of their services functions to a third party. Companies mentioned in this report include Microsoft, Google and Salesforce.com. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When data centers can be built anywhere and accessed from anywhere, how much does location matter? CentriLogic’s Jim Latimer identifies four key characteristics needed for a cost-effective data center location and suggests five places to build. Read more »
If your company has a cloud application with a predictable audience size or one that is costing you more than $25,000 a month to host, you may want to consider maintaining a private cloud. This paper provides an overview of the factors that decision makers who are developing a public-to-private cloud-migration strategy should consider, recognizing that public versus private cloud strategy is not an all-or-nothing proposition. It also details pitfalls that must be avoided along the way and provides a case study of Zynga, a company that has found a way to use both the private and public clouds to create a hybrid solution. Companies mentioned in this report include Akamai, Foursquare, Nimbula and ARM. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Forrester made some waves in the IT world Thursday morning when it released a report strongly urging large enterprise companies to let their employees use Macs at work. It’s also something mobile IT folks already figured out: employees are more productive using devices they choose. Read more »
Building at scale doesn’t just require new tools, it requires a new mindset, said Google’s CIO Ben Fried, who spoke at the Surge conference in Baltimore today. That mindset is more general than specialized, and requires a developer to admit that some things aren’t solvable. Read more »
A new Y Combinator–style incubator that will focus solely on the intersection of energy and information technology is launching in Houston, the founder of the group, Kirk Brand Coburn, told me in an exclusive interview. Read more »
Enterprise employees have shifted from the gray and controlled world of corporate IT to the colorful Oz of consumer technologies, but according to data from an IDC/Unisys survey, everyone is in need of some kind of wizard to sort things out. Read more »
Like oil and vinegar, marketing and IT just don’t mix well. But as social media flourishes and marketers try to use it to their advantage, its time to bridge the gap. Big data, cheap processing and social media are changing the advertising and marketing landscape. Read more »
Deploying information technology is supposed to be able to reduce 15 percent of global carbon emissions by 2020 through things like creating smarter grids, buildings and transportation. But some governments are doing better than others at supporting the use of IT to build low-carbon infrastructure. Read more »
GreenRoad’s greener, safer driving technology has gotten another round of investment. The startup, which is backed by Al Gore and Richard Branson’s funds, as well as Benchmark Capital and others, has raised another $13 million and brought on new CEO Jim Heeger. Read more »
The enterprise is all over the iPad. RIM can’t put the genie back in the bottle, no matter how hard it tries. But what is it about the iPad that appeals to IT departments and employees alike? Why the sudden shocking proliferation? Read more »
The just released the annual 2010 Open Source Management Survey found that open source is seen to be easier to deploy than previously, IT professionals are articulating a preference for open source., and no longer focusing on whether it’s open source or proprietary Read more »
Advances in computing and communications are changing the world — enabling huge changes in the way we can develop new materials and derive energy, but as they bring innovation to other areas of the economy those providing the computation and bandwidth must become more efficient. Read more »
Fortune has a nice article on discussions with IT professionals with regards to the iPhone. I especially like this quote from a former CIO: “What’s interesting about the iPhone is [that] the capability of the device is tremendous,” he added. “We’re looking closely at it. There […] Read more »
Much has been made of the iPhone’s potential as an enterprise device, with many still holding out against its usefulness in a corporate environment. A new report from Forrester Research, however, finds that enterprise iPhone users get more than just a communication tool with Apple’s handset; […] Read more »
Fake reality shows are becoming almost as common as real reality shows online. But new comedy series Engaged, in which a self-obsessed couple plan the ceremony that will only make them forever miserable, raises the bar by focusing on, in Karina Longworth’s words, “the conflict between […] Read more »
