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  • Analysis: Massive layoffs at HP make for IT outsourcing identity crisis

    It's been more than three years since HP acquired IT services provider EDS, and the long-term direction of its bigger - if not better - outsourcing business is no more clear than it was on the day the deal closed.

    Written by Stephanie Overby • 24 May 12 19:14
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    The social business network

    You’ve gotta feel for the CIO who has to write a business case to convince his or her board to spend money on new technologies with names like Yammer, Mr Tweet, Pluck, Chatter or Jive. After all, whimsy is only so cool to the chequesigners in multi-billion dollar corporations who quickly follow their tacit approval of anything leading edge with that old-school refrain of “show me the money”. Look past the funky names of today’s social networking tools, however, and chances are there will be enough nifty features to justify the investment.

    Written by Darren Horrigan • 29 Feb. 12 11:23

  • Government shared services navigate a rocky road - Part 3

    The path to shared services is rarely smooth sailing.

    Written by Brad Howarth • 06 July 11 10:58
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    Government shared services navigate a rocky road - Part 2

    The role of shared services can often be broken into two layers. The first is the infrastructure layer — the data centres, networks and desktop infrastructure, and some of the more basic generic services. The second is the complex applications that run across the first layer — services such as human resources, payroll, and some financial activities such as fleet management. Different governments have taken different approaches.

    Written by Brad Howarth • 05 July 11 08:00
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    Government shared services navigate a rocky road - Part 1

    The deployment of shared services has something of a mixed history in public sector organisations in Australia. The notion of pooling IT services from multiple government departments and agencies into a single operation appears to hold great benefits, from both a cost and service delivery perspective. But history has shown that such efforts can quickly be derailed by the complexity of the tasks they are trying to consolidate — especially when the motivation for consolidation slides too far towards cost recovery as opposed to providing excellent service to the agencies involved.

    Written by Brad Howarth • 04 July 11 14:23

  • Not-for-profit - Part 4

    One problem that is typical for NFPs is the different nature within an organisation of IT users and the technology they apply.

    Written by Tim Mendham • 21 April 11 09:00

  • Not-for-profit - Part 1

    CIOs talk about the role technology plays in this vibrant sector.

    Written by Tim Mendham • 15 April 11 06:00

  • 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
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    UWS farewells public service veteran

    After 20 years at the helm of information systems at the University of Western Sydney, IT director Mick Houlahan will retire this week. The trials of the past two decades, however, are likely to retain their mark on his for some time.

    Written by James Hutchinson • 15 March 11 17:08

  • Proving the value of IT - Part one

    Value. It’s a powerful word at the best of times. It can mean cheap and simple or large and complex — and everything in between — and all meanings are positive, depending on your point of view. When the word ‘value’ comes up in focus groups, brand managers are wont to smile wryly and consider their job done. Happy days. Add ‘IT’ as its prefix, however, and suddenly, this fabulous term with all its positive connotations becomes fraught with uncertainty, despite enterprise over the years gaining critical business and competitive advantage from information and communications technology.

    Written by Georgina Swan • 01 Feb. 11 15:00

  • Document management – riding the tsunami

    Documents are the lifeblood of many organisations and of most governments. Each transaction or contact culminates in a document, file, or record of some description — an email, tweet, blog, video, fax, form, photograph or report that chronicles an everyday conversation, weekly bulletin, quarterly statement or annual announcement. But no matter what the content is or how you manage it, failure is not an option. CIOs know that in a world that demands records be maintained for seven years, it is possible to live with some information disarray, but not information chaos. And given the high cost of paper storage, electronic solutions are now essential.

    Written by Darren Horrigan • 11 Oct. 10 12:11

  • iPads garner favour in Australian education

    Schools and universities right around Australia had jumped headfirst into trials of Apple's hyped iPad tablet as they rush to discover exactly what the device's use will be in the educational field — sometimes with the support of their overarching education departments, and sometimes without.

    Written by Jenna Pitcher • 22 Sept. 10 15:30

  • Sydney Water IT security manager talks governance strategy

    Information security governance should not be treated like corporate governance, IT security steering committees must have the right stakeholders and the board can remain largely unaware of security issues. Those are key strategies for effective security governance, says IT security and assurance manager at Sydney Water, Stephen Frede.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 03 Sept. 10 09:41

  • Don't mess with Texas: Lessons from IT outsourcing disasters

    Two weeks ago, the CIO of Texas penned a seven-page letter outlining the chronic failures of the state's nearly four-year outsourcing relationship - a deal the Texas governor had briefly suspended in 2008 citing service delivery problems that he said put the state's agencies in danger.

    Written by Stephanie Overby • 05 Aug. 10 05:04

  • Disaster Recovery in the Cloud Yields ROI

    The promise of cost savings derived from cloud computing is attractive, but concrete financial returns are not always quickly achieved. Except, perhaps, when it comes to disaster recovery.

    Written by Kim S. Nash • 17 June 10 05:53

  • Cloud-Computing Services: Fine Print Disappointment Seen

    This is the type of analyst report headline that cloud computing vendors don't want to read: "Empty Promises and Tough Luck: Yankee Group Exposes the Cloud's Fine Print."

    Written by Thomas Wailgum • 22 April 10 01:50

  • How Not to Build a Cloud

    The metaphor of cloud computing may go all the way back to mainframe computing, though some cloud gurus heartily dispute that view. Still, the implementation is new and complex enough that many of the basic rules are still being set, according to analysts and IT departments building heavy-duty cloud infrastructures.

    Written by Kevin Fogarty • 15 April 10 05:57

  • Schmidt: Private Sector Key to Stopping Google-style Attacks

    White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt says the information security community is right to be spooked by massive, coordinated attacks that recently targeted Google. But he rejects the notion that this is cybergeddon, and believes the best defense remains in the hands of the private sector.

    Written by Bill Brenner • 08 April 10 05:19
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    What Does The Cloud Really Look Like?

    The reality of cloud computing has always been a lot more about the nuts and bolts of data-center operations than about the metaphor of on-demand computer power flowing from anonymous sources somewhere on the other end of the network connection.

    Written by Kevin Fogarty • 07 April 10 04:08
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