Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Cloud Computing » Features »

  • Managing relationships with vendors - Part 2

    According to Dr Tim O’Neill, co-founder and director of business intelligence specialists Avolution, probably the biggest mistake an organisation can make when dealing with suppliers is to outsource the systems architecture. “This is why there’s so many untold billions of dollars-worth of failed IT projects out there,” he says. “Outsourcing the architecture function is fraught with danger.” In order for projects to be successful organisations need to maintain a healthy degree of cynicism and effectively force vendors to earn trust.

    Written by David Binning • 05 May 11 13:07

  • Managing relationships with vendors

    The IT choices a company makes can mean the difference between business success and failure. Whether it’s access to information, communications between staff, partners and customers, HR, inventory management, operation and monitoring of equipment and other and assets as well as business security, IT has managed to make itself indispensible at virtually every organisational level. Yet it would seem that for many organisations, this awareness often fails to translate into properly thought out and well-executed strategies for managing the vendors that supply the technology.

    Written by David Binning • 04 May 11 16:03

  • Is the future of CRM in the Cloud? - Part 1

    It is just on 10 years since Salesforce.com unveiled the first preview of its customisable online customer relationship management (CRM) software at the annual DEMO conference in California. DEMO had previously been the launch platform for ground-breaking technology such as Netscape Navigator, Sun’s Java and Adobe Acrobat, but attendees in February 2001 would have had little idea that they were witnessing something that would turn the world of customer management software — and enterprise software generally — on its head.

    Written by Brad Howarth • 18 April 11 11:22

  • NAB private Cloud builds new paradigm: Part 3

    The development of a greenfield private Cloud is facilitating NAB’s IT revolution, but compared with more traditional banking platforms the new technologies is not without challenges.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 15 April 11 17:33

  • NAB private Cloud builds new paradigm: Part 2

    A three-year journey in fundamental technology and business architecture design has resulted in a private Cloud at National Australia Bank that may eventually be used to host all its applications and services.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 15 April 11 16:04
  • 1

    NAB private Cloud builds new paradigm: Part I

    A three-year journey in fundamental technology and business architecture design has resulted in a private Cloud at National Australia Bank that may eventually be used to host all its applications and services.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 15 April 11 15:56

  • Legal issues in the Cloud - Part 4

    One of the remaining key issues Cloud users need to consider relates to the notion of being locked-in to certain applications or systems — and if a user wants to transfer data or applications from the Cloud, whether the data is portable between service providers. In these circumstances, a user will need to consider its requirements to access data some years into the future for a plethora of regulatory reasons.

    Written by Mark Vincent and Nick Hart • 11 April 11 06:00

  • Legal issues in the Cloud - Part 3

    Proper due diligence focuses on identifying the players in the Cloud relationship. That is, who is actually involved in providing the services and are they the same entity (or entities) that are processing or storing data? In the case of aggregators, for example, a Cloud user could be dealing with a single entity which itself is provided services by various third parties.

    Written by Mark Vincent and Nick Hart • 10 April 11 06:00

  • Legal issues in the Cloud - Part 1

    The Cloud can be cheaper, more flexible, easier to manage and efficient. But users and providers of Cloud services have to weigh these advantages against the risks or perceived risks — such as regulatory compliance, security, performance, availability of service, and liabilities and remedies under the governing contracts.

    Written by Mark Vincent and Nick Hart • 08 April 11 10:01

  • NSW kicks off data centre reform - Part 2

    Communities NSW CIO, David Kennedy, said he supports the data centre reform project and can see the value of data centre consolidation and rationalisation leading to improved capability and value for money.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 04 April 11 13:04

  • NSW kicks off data centre reform - Part 1

    After years of planning, and months of supplier selection, the NSW government Department of Services, Technology and Administration (DSTA) has called for proposals for its data centre reform program, which will consolidate some 100 disparate facilities into two. The five shortlisted suppliers had until the end of January to put forward their ideas and capabilities for the shared data centres — either existing or purpose-built facilities — for government agencies across the state.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 04 April 11 12:57

  • Google Apps vs Microsoft BPOS, Office 365 - Part 3

    The shortfalls of Google Apps will likely resonate with the inordinate amount of Microsoft shops in the industry. Years of investment in SharePoint developers, Exchange support teams and business processes built around the fickle aspects of Microsoft Office and its ribbon interface cannot be discarded easily. That’s ultimately where Microsoft’s strength is likely to reside. No matter when its Office 365 bundle is released, and despite numerous attempts to forge links between legacy applications and Google Apps, the complexity of a migration for a large organisation would likely be a headache most CIOs are eager to avoid. At least, that can be said for Coca Cola Amatil CIO, Barry Simpson.

    Written by James Hutchinson • 30 March 11 07:00

  • Google Apps vs Microsoft BPOS, Office 365 - Part 2

    Ultimately, some of the problems facing Microsoft’s Cloud strategy are those affecting many of its long-standing product suites. “Clearly Microsoft is trying to back-solve that problem to the legacy product set and clearly that’s problematic,” AAPT’s chief operating officer and effective CIO, David Yuile, says.

    Written by James Hutchinson • 29 March 11 07:00
  • 1

    Google Apps vs Microsoft BPOS, Office 365 - Part 1

    IT behemoths, Microsoft and Google, have for years been embroiled in battles over who would control the move by different industries to the Cloud. Since at least 2007, Australian universities and education authorities eager to outsource their email have turned to either provider in lieu of limited competition from the market. For the next battle, however, the stakes are higher. Both Google and Microsoft are betting all of their chips on a sector that is likely to prove much more lucrative than any before it: Enterprise.

    Written by James Hutchinson • 28 March 11 07:00

  • Rackspace, Dell push OpenStack cloud OS

    Rackspace will help enterprises build private clouds using the OpenStack cloud operating system, the company announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, Dell is seeking enterprises and service providers for proof-of-concept OpenStack trials with its Dell PowerEdge C family of servers.

    Written by Julie Bort • 09 March 11 03:31

  • Cloud tools organize your messy digital life

    When people moved from paper to digital files on a computer, it didn't take long to realize that you can get just as burdened by digital stuff as by hard copies. Before long, companies sprang up to sell utility programs to help you find and organize the stuff on your computer. We're going through a similar cycle right now, with many of us moving our digital assets to servers in the cloud, and finding that managing stuff scattered across a myriad of sites belonging to a myriad of companies can be terribly frustrating.

    Written by Bill Snyder • 08 March 11 07:36

  • What cloud computing means for the real world

    There are more than a few critics of cloud computing, even at PCWorld; I'm probably one of them. But I've been turning over in my mind different perspectives on the cloud. I've tried to set aside the views of the IT executive, who seems to dominate the debate.

    Written by Keir Thomas • 05 Feb. 11 11:53

  • How DRM could ensure cloud security

    Yet another survey is indicating that security is a big issue for those intending to take up cloud computing.

    Written by Keir Thomas • 04 Feb. 11 05:53

  • ClamAV promises free antivirus app for businesses

    Most of us don't like paying for antivirus (AV) software, but at least home users can rely on one of the free options, such as Microsoft Security Essentials, avast!, or AVG Free.

    Written by Keir Thomas • 19 Jan. 11 05:34

  • Cloud drives speech recognition forward for Microsoft

    For years, using voice recognition technology on phones or other devices has been a novelty -- something people try once but never again, usually because it works so poorly. But recent developments, including harnessing the computational power of the cloud, have made it more usable and will make it even better in the near future, according to Microsoft.

    Written by Nancy Gohring • 14 Dec. 10 06:43
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments