Stories by: Ephraim Schwartz

In the coming weeks the feds and the surviving financial services institutions will have the daunting task of unraveling all the securitized loans and other instruments that are hiding the toxic investments. But does the technology exist to do that? And if so, could it have been used to prevent the bad debt from hitting the fan in the first place?

While reading outsourcing horror stories may be somewhat entertaining, especially if it hasn't happened to you, it's even better to learn from the mistakes of others.

As companies look to economize in a weak economy worsened by rising energy costs, it may be more tempting than ever to consider outsourcing your IT -- whether to a cloud-based provider, to a shop in your town, or to a provider in some far-off land. Certainly, outsourcing has worked well for many companies, but it can also lead to business-damaging nightmares, says Larry Harding, founder and president of High Street Partners, a global consultancy that advises company on how to expand overseas. After all, if outsourcers fail, you're left holding the bag without the resources to fix the problem.

My, how times have changed: A woman, Hillary Clinton, is a serious contender to be the next US president. But maybe they haven't changed all that much: According to the US National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), there has been an astounding 70 per cent decline in the number of incoming undergraduate women choosing to major in computer science between 2000 and 2005.

As globalization continues to blanket the world and companies continue to look for geographies where they can get IT work done for less, the latest find appears to be the Middle East.

At the Gartner Symposium ITXPO 2007, Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president of global research, gave a keynote address on emerging IT trends and how they will affect IT on a personal and professional level.

If there was any question about whether the ERP market was in turmoil, the recent shakeup in senior management at ERP stalwart SAP that pushed out rising star Shai Agassi should have answered it. The shakeup at usually sedate SAP underscored the frayed nerves in the corporate boardroom of many leading ERP vendors, as technologies such as SOA and Web services enable enterprises to turn to smaller vendors and service providers who can deliver applications that meet their demands for speed, flexibility, and low overhead.

Customers always want their software bug-free and free of charge. Anything less is a disappointment, according to Josh Greenbaum, a principle at Enterprise Applications Consulting.