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At the Coalface » Opinions »

  • Don’t wait for Windows 8

    Windows XP is 10 years old, yet a substantial number of businesses are still using it. They’re not really at fault. Upgrading to Windows Vista was considered too much work for too little payoff, and for many businesses upgrading to Windows 7 has for a long time seemed unnecessary.

    Written by Rhys Evans • 07 Feb. 12 12:40

  • IT risk: More rhetoric than action

    Several recent spectacular IT system failures causing millions of dollars impact on pre-tax profit indicate the framework to identify and treat risks in organisations is more rhetoric than action, according to industry specialists Dean Slight, Chief Audit Executive and Devan Naidoo, Head of Audit for Technology at Tabcorp.

    Written by CIO Staff • 28 Sept. 11 16:41

  • 5 things I've learned - Ben Wrigley

    As the director of information technology for InterContinental Sydney, Ben Wrigley understands the importance of people in the technology equation

    Written by Ben Wrigley • 04 Feb. 11 11:54

  • What to consider when you make a data centre investment

    Australia’s data centre explosion continues at a pace not seen since the internet bubble, with new facilities coming on line each week. Australia is currently readying about 25 MW of data centre capacity, ranging from office block conversions to mega facilities. But is a data centre a commodity purchase, or something strategic?

    Written by Simon Wise • 10 Dec. 10 15:19
  • 4

    Android vs iPhone

    I picked up my first Android phone at the beginning of this year — the Google Nexus One. Prior to that I had been a BlackBerry user and the IT organisations I managed all ran BES servers and only supported BlackBerry devices so the transition to the Nexus One was quite a significant one.

    Written by Steve Berg • 25 Nov. 10 17:53

  • Looking gift iPads in the mouth

    My company had excellent news last week, announcing stellar earnings. It was especially welcome after a difficult year of budget cuts, layoffs and a general decline in morale. To address that last issue, the company decided to give every employee a gift, and I'm not talking about a $25 Starbucks gift card. No, the plan was to hand out brand-new iPads to everybody. What could be cooler, right?

    Written by Mathias Thurman • 28 Sept. 10 00:35
  • 6

    Five reasons Australian email belongs in the cloud

    If your company or organisation is not currently considering migrating its email systems onto a cloud computing platform, you're in danger of being left behind. That's the conclusion I have reached after six months of closely following the Australian technology sector's growing fascination with cloud computing, in all its variants and according to all the different definitions.

    Written by Renai LeMay • 30 Aug. 10 09:24

  • Marriage on the Rocks

    Ian Angus, NCR Australia's MD in the mid 1980s, was the first person to advise me that the relationship between a CIO and their IT supplier was akin to a marriage

    Written by Peter Hind • 06 May 08 16:09
  • 1

    Wanted: ITIL 3.0 champions

    The Internet was defined in 1974, but, in 1995, Bill Gates wrote a book called 'The Road Ahead' and failed to mention how it would transform our lives. Similarly, Informational Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) first saw light of day in the UK in the mid 1980s. Today there is hardly a serious CIO who has not embraced this set of concepts and techniques for managing IT infrastructure, development and operations. However, it has taken a long time to gain traction and is only now gaining significant support in the US.

    Written by Peter Hind • 13 Feb. 08 09:23

  • The Digital Divide

    In all the post mortems I have read about John Howard's downfall I've seen no mention of the part IT played. Yet I believe that it was the then federal government's ignorance of IT that was the first thing Kevin Rudd exploited to paint himself as a man of the future. His ambitious proposal to roll out a high-speed broadband service was really his first big policy announcement

    Written by Peter Hind • 04 Feb. 08 13:15

  • Antisocial Tendencies

    I can be a real Neanderthal when it comes to technology. I don't rush to embrace the latest and greatest. Nor am I interested in gadgets and the digital lifestyle. Instead I get enthused by the business practicality of technology in overcoming problems and transforming processes. If 25 years in IT has taught me one thing it is that the best products are the robust ones, which usually means they have been around for some time

    Written by Peter Hind • 10 Dec. 07 14:22
  • 1

    Wiki Wacky

    I strongly believe that IT practitioners should take a conservative approach when it comes to the adoption of technology

    Written by Peter Hind • 02 Oct. 07 09:55

  • Heavenly Sent

    It must seem like heaven to a CIO: A software product that only costs you something when you use it. A product that eliminates software upgrade angst and support requests. The neon sign over the pearly gates reads "Software as a service", better known as SaaS

    Written by Peter Hind • 03 Sept. 07 14:14

  • Hole in My SOX

    Please allow me to eat some humble pie. Last year I used one of these columns to call for IT vendors to put a sock in all their pronouncements about Sarbanes-Oxley

    Written by Peter Hind • 06 Aug. 07 12:15

  • A Price to Pay

    I thought the project was going to be a doddle. A certain vendor wanted the prices of its rivals' products so it could gauge the price-competitiveness of its own offerings

    Written by Peter Hind • 05 July 07 10:07

  • The Lucky Country?

    You would think that someone living close to the CBD of Australia's largest city would have a reasonable chance of getting satisfactory Internet service. Think again

    Written by Peter Hind • 07 May 07 14:10

  • Work Experience

    For as long as I can remember experts have pointed to inexperience and poor judgement as the reasons so many young people are involved in road accidents. Certainly experience does count in all walks of life, but perhaps most measurably in business. The longer you do a task the better you become at it.

    Written by Peter Hind • 03 April 07 13:25

  • A Shore Thing

    It is inevitable that there will be more IT offshoring in this country. That was my conclusion after a recent series of roundtables on the topic with local IT executives.

    Written by Peter Hind • 06 March 07 12:18

  • Offshore and Offside

    "I believe that when you select a software supplier what you are really doing is choosing your poison." These were the words a senior IS executive used when we met for lunch the other day.

    Written by Peter Hind • 07 Feb. 07 15:48

  • For the Birds

    The First World War claimed around 14 million people from many nationalities by the time it was over. Yet nearly twice as many people died in the Spanish Influenza epidemic that followed the war.

    Written by Peter Hind • 11 Dec. 06 12:56
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