Stories about: Enron

E-discovery is a relatively new concept that describes the process by which information is recovered from corporate networks, usually to answer the demands of regulators or the law. It is a subject close to the hearts of CEOs everywhere, given the stringent penalties and resulting brand damage that have been applied to companies unable to provide information on demand.

By my colleague, Paul Wlodarczyk the VP of Solutions Consulting for JustSystems:

The incessant waves of corporate governance legislation, industry codes and various other rules and regulations that have been passed in recent years might have been bad news for many, but they have been a blessing for companies operating in the field of enterprise content management, or ECM.

Most organizations face a "relatively high" risk of suffering a data loss that would expose them to extremely embarrassing publicity, according to the latest assessments by the IT Policy Compliance Group

Roundtable participants: Tom Atkins (moderator), President, The Tramore Group; Brian Gill, CIO, The Canadian Depository for Securities; Kumud Kalia, CIO, Direct Energy; Jeff Kent, CTO, Cineplex Entertainment; Jeff Williams, VP, IS, Staples Business Depot; Andrew Wood, CIO, Aon Reed Stenhouse

Technology is in the hands of users as never before. As web-based tools from social networking to online applications put powerful easy-to-use technology in the hands of users, technical development is being driven in a direction that may diverge from corporate IT strategy.

Unless you work in the financial services industry, the proposal Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson issued last week to reform U.S. financial institution regulations won't have much, if any impact on how your business runs. But it could benefit your IT strategy to pay attention as the debate over the proposal unfolds.

IT managers rank No. 3 among the people most likely to be driving in so-called enterprise 2.0 strategies, despite the fact few organizations even understand the term, according to a survey report.

"Many CIOs are a little cavalier about making raising customer satisfaction an explicit goal," says Harley Manning, vice president and director of Forrester Research's customer experience group. Rather, he says, objectives such as cost avoidance and innovation are far more likely to receive top billing on a CIO's project roster. That's because not only is bolstering customer loyalty a hard sell among corporate bean counters, its (arguably) intangible benefits and its (allegedly) nebulous returns often make it a thankless job. After all, when it comes to customer feedback, CIOs typically hear one of two things: harsh criticism or the sound of one hand clapping."

An open-source algorithm called Author-Topic is now being investigated for analyzing corporate e-mail to flag employee behaviour and attitudes.

Business leaders cannot afford to overlook the ethical challenges posed by technological advances, as even a single misstep can be enough to undo a reputation.