News

Janco

CIO Areas of Interest

Disaster Recovery Planning, Job Descriptions, Salary Survey, Business Continuity, ITSM, SOA, Compliance, SOX, and HIPAA

The Janco News feed is an XML news feed that you can subscribe to and re-publish on your web site or blog. The only requirement that you need to meet is that the feed is included with no modifications and that the links within the feed are retained as is.

If you wish to subscribe to this news feed the options that you have are:

• IT Standard News Feed - 30 items
• IT Standard News Feed- 25 items
• IT Standard News Feed- 10 items
• IT Standard News Feed- 5 items
• IT Historic News Feed- 40 items

  
  
  

  ---

  Social networking policy is a must

  Social networks are about radically transforming the traditional battlefield of marketing and PR. Your social networking policy, in turn, is the rule book that defines the guidelines used to wage and win this war of the new media. While beginners new to the scene might mistake the presence of a policy for social networking as nothing more than a protective mechanism, the truth is that it exists not to limit but really to liberate participants.

  Applied properly, the strategic use of social networks will allow a David to outmaneuver and outrun Goliaths, or for heavyweights to propel their reputation and brand awareness to greater heights. As social media gurus have said,  “The unique characteristics of disembodied identities in the virtual world can radically transform rules that traditionally govern social groups.”

  This is evidenced in the way large corporations are hiring digital or social media managers, or incorporating such roles into the primary job responsibilities of existing PR or marketing executives. As companies strive to cash in the rewards of successfully engaging social media, guidelines are required to formalize a company's strategy in this new, uncharted terrain. In addition, there is a need to recognize and protect social media practitioners within the company.

  Taken together, it is clear that there is a need to craft a proper social networking policy so as to maintain a degree of consistency in your organization's engagement of social media. So what does a social networking policy consist of? The quick answer might be to point you toward a sample of a simple social networking policy  on www.e-janco.com.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Focus of CIOs shifting

  As the economy moves towards recovery, CIOs need to develop new strategies to be successful in the every changing business environment.  This new strategy need to be structured around the following business imperatives.

  • Technology solutions need to be flexible and focused on IT Service Management and Service Oriented Architecture. Businesses must be able to respond to opportunities and challenges faster than ever before. Businesses are battling other well-resourced organizations that may be based where the opportunity originated, lower cost market, or another company that is reaching out for new opportunities. In order to compete, businesses have to be able to rapidly deliver products or service as good, or better, than that of any other company.
  • Complexity should be avoided - infrastructure is key. Simplicity has always been rewarded, as the scope of technology increased this has led to increased complexity and risk. While per unit costs of technology typically are decreasing, in aggregate IT and technology cost are increasing. With the pressure on IT to act less as a cost center and more as a way to increase the profitability of business units, just adding more storage, more bandwidth, or additional technologies throughout the organization is no longer viable. Instead, successful CIOs are investing in technologies like continuous data protection, virtualization, and wireless connectivity to help IT slim down its footprint while increasing their business’s competitive advantages.
  • Mandated requirements have moved security to be a top priority. With the growing importance of digital applications and data, the sources of threats to enterprise data have multiplied dramatically. Everything from natural disasters to criminals to corrupt sources within the company might try to steal or corrupt data. While businesses do everything that they can to stop these threats in the first place, they still must be prepared to recover from these threats as quickly as possible.
  • Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans are no longer optional. As businesses have expanded the need for anytime, anywhere application access has become a requirement. At the same time, global 24/7 operations have shrinking maintenance windows and a need for applications to be running at all times. Delay or loss of data for any reason – system failure, natural disasters – has a domino-like effect across the entire organization, at any time of the day or night.
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Steps to Take Before Disaster Strikes

  Business continuity and disaster preparedness tips that businesses need to implement immediately.

  • Validate that police and other first responders can contact the right people in your business - Research the Reverse 911 program for your area and register your business cell phones, voice over IP numbers or pagers. In an emergency situation, Reverse 911 enables emergency officials to send out an automated call to everyone registered in a specific area with important information.
  • Program emergency numbers into business cell phones - Save emergency phone numbers for local police and fire departments into your cell phones.
  • Create a business phone tree - Each office should have a plan for contacting employees during emergencies through a designated phone tree. Designated staff should have copies of the phone tree and be trained on who they should call.  Management should review and update the phone tree quarterly and conduct regular training sessions. Management should also have back-up copies of employee phone numbers and their emergency contacts. This information should be regularly updated.
  • Register your employee's business cell phone number - Individual employees should make sure family; friends and co-workers have their business mobile or BlackBerry numbers. Each person should register their business cell phone on http://www.WhitePages.com/. This will give colleagues and family members the ability to quickly find the information should they not have it on hand.
  • Enable texting  - Sometimes cell phone signals can become congested during emergencies, and it can be difficult to make or receive calls. Short text messages might be easier to get through. Plus, texting helps to conserve battery power.
  • Have emergency kits accessible - Companies should organize and maintain emergency kits in several places. There should be designated staff responsible for grabbing these in the event of an emergency. Make sure it contains a minimum of provisions for at least three days. Include fresh water, non-perishable food, a manual can opener, blankets, extra clothing, a first-aid kit, matches, a flashlight, a battery-operated radio and extra batteries. Test or replace the batteries at least once a year, especially for smoke alarms.
  • Create back-up copies of documents, data files, and software - At work, keep back-up copies of your important personal and financial statements, and health and property records. Be sure to store important original paperwork  in a safe and secure location. This way, you can grab it all quickly in the event of an emergency.
  • Have cash available - Set aside an emergency fund of cash or traveler's checks or both. Keep them in a safe, accessible spot in case of the need for evacuation. Banks and ATMs are often inaccessible during catastrophes.
  • After the disaster have employees register with the American Red Cross - Register with the Red Cross's Safe and Well Web site. If you have been affected by a disaster, this Web site provides a way for you to register yourself as "safe and well."

  
   

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Fed IT Spending is on an uptick

  Even if the national economy remains sluggish, federal spending for information technology will continue to accelerate at least through 2015, according to a new report from federal marketing analysis firm Input.

  Federal IT spending will grow from $86 billion in 2010 to $112 billion in 2015, for a compound annual growth rate of 5.4 percent, according to Input’s new report "Federal Information Technology Market, 2010–2015."

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  The IT job market is looking up

  Some IT job market trends from recent surveys include:

  

  • Expect more churn in IT staff as CIOs accelerate their move to more flexibile staffing models. CIOs are outsourcing more technical work, including managed IP services such as VoIP and VPNs. They're hiring more contractors for desktop and security services, and they're putting more applications such as remote backup in the cloud. At the same time, they're looking to hire IT people with business and analytical skills, such as risk management and project management. Indeed, CIOs report that they're having trouble hiring IT people because either they can't find IT professionals with the right business skills or they can't afford them. All of this means more turnover in IT departments.
  • IT hiring will grow in the second half of 2010. A Web site, which lists tech job openings, conducted a survey of IT hiring managers and recruiters, and nearly half of them said they plan to add 10% more employees in the next six months than they did in the first half of the year. Another 28% of respondents plan to increase hiring by 11% to 20%. Survey respondents are getting more optimistic about salaries, too. A quarter of survey respondents predicted that IT salaries will rise in 2010, compared to 10% of survey respondents making this prediction six months ago. Another good sign: 69% of survey respondents said layoffs are not likely at their companies during the next six months.
  • Banks are starting to hire IT staff, but they are in no hurry to fill open jobs. Banks are looking for IT professionals who can manage new technology or integration projects, but that they are taking from six to eight months to fill open jobs. This compares to three or four months to fill jobs prior to the recession. Banks are being "really selective" and are looking for "exact matches" for their detailed job descriptions.
  • IT pros are getting paid slightly more than last year, says Janco Associates' mid-year IT salary survey. Total mean compensation for IT pros has increased to $78,210 from $77,690 a year ago - a rise of less than 1%. However, most of the additional money is going to CIOs, and not their staffs. Compensation of CIOs in large enterprises rose 7.5% to $181,533, and in midsized enterprises it rose 3.7% to $169,303, Janco found. Lower-level IT pros, on the other hand, are experiencing reduced bonuses, frozen salaries and in some cases they are being asked to pay a greater portion of their healthcare costs, Janco said. One positive sign: companies are more willing to consider flexible hours and work schedules as a low-cost benefit for IT workers.
  • CIO confidence is up. 10% of CIOs plan to expand their IT departments in the third quarter of 2010, while 4% plan to reduce staffing. The states with the most active IT hiring are expected to include New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Overall, 81% of CIOs said they are confident in their companies' growth prospects in the third quarter, while 40% said their firms are likely to invest in new IT projects in the next three months.
  • Job hopping is on the rise, prompting CIOs to worry more about IT staff retention. A recent report found that more Americans quit their jobs in the last three months than were fired. The rise in voluntary departures is prompting CIOs to worry about retaining their best IT staff. 34% of technology executives are concerned about losing top IT performers in the next year, up three percentage points from last month. Similarly, 43% of CIOs say it is challenging to find skilled IT professionals today.
  • CIOs say networking and security top their list of hot IT skills. CIOs say they had the hardest time filling jobs in networking, applications development and security. Other hot skills include software development, database management and help desk/technical support. Similarly, a recent survey of 400 U.K. recruitment consultants found that IT security skills were most in demand for permanent hires. Another survey found that full-time staff with enterprise software and developer skills were in short supply.
  • Government, usually the safest sector of the economy in a downturn, has announced more job cuts this year than any other employer. Government agencies and nonprofits announced more job cuts than any other industry segment in May. The sector shed 16,697 jobs in May, 12% more than the job cuts announced in April. All total, the sector has shed 93,470 jobs in 2010.
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Disasters That All Businesses Face

  Every business faces the risk of natural disaster and no plan to protect property can be complete without insurance coverage against potential damage and loss.  It is important to know exactly what coverage you may need and what coverage is available to protect your property against all of the natural hazards it may be exposed to so that you are not underinsured or not insured at all.

  Janco strongly encourages business owners, CIOs, CSOs, and line managers to fully explore their insurance needs and obtain adequate coverage before a disaster strikes.

  • Buy flood insurance
  • Find out if your busienss or prospective new location is in a flood zone
  • Get informed on the full range of insurance coverage available to businesses
  • Prepare financially for disasters
  • Create a Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Plan
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Disaster Recovery and Business Contunity Back-up Requirements Defined by Janco

  Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity require data consistency with the synchronous replication of data over long-distances and / or journal replication to protect against local and wide-area disasters. This technology provides other benefits, including:

  Maintaining more efficient data currency. Using synchronous replication over a short distance in a campus or metropolitan area cluster provides the highest level of data currency without undue impact to application performance.

  Permitting swift recovery. A campus/metropolitan cluster implementation allows for fast automated failovers after a local area disaster with minimal to no transaction loss.

  Permitting recovery even when a disaster exceeds traditional regional boundaries. A wide-area disaster could disable both data centers 1 and 2, but with some manual interaction, operations can be shifted to data center 3 and continue after the disaster.

  Shifting to staffing outside the disaster area. A wide-area disaster also affects people located within the disaster area, both professionally and personally. By moving operations out of the region to a remotely located recovery data center, operational responsibilities shift to people not directly affected by the disaster.

  Janco has defined a Template with a Backup and Backup Retention policy that is a complete policy which can be implemented immediately. 

  The document is provided in both Word 2003 and Word 2007 format and is easily modified.  This policy is included in the Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Template.

  Below is a table from the policy.

  Type of Data	Minimal Backup Policy	Backup Retention Policy
  System software	Latest Version plus patches  At Least Weekly	Annual (verified) Backup Monthly Generations Weekly Generations
  Application software	Latest Version plus patches At Least Weekly	Annual (verified) Backup Monthly Generations Weekly Generations
  System data	Daily	Annual (verified) Backup Monthly Generations Weekly Generations Daily Generations
  Application Data	Daily with real time transaction files	Annual (verified) Backup Monthly Generations Weekly Generations Daily Generations
  Software licenses, encryption keys, & Protocol Data	Weekly	Annual (verified) Backup Monthly Generations Weekly Generations

  

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  87% of all enterprises now have disaster recovery plans

  Businesses across the US are responding more to the need for business continuity planning according to a AT&T’s latest annual Business Continuity Study, in which 83 percent of respondents stated that they have a business continuity plan in place. This was up 14 percent in the past five years.

  For its ninth annual study, AT&T surveyed IT executives throughout the United States that have at least $10 million in annual revenue to get their views on disaster planning and business continuity trends; 87 percent of respondents have revenue in excess of $25 million. Sixty-one percent of the companies surveyed this year have locations outside of the US.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  CIO Success is Based on Business Alignment

  What success CIOs and companies have in common is that IT doesn't just support the business; it enables and continually transforms the business, often creating new revenue and profit streams.

  CIOs and everyone else in IT at these companies know precisely how their businesses make money and lose money. Infrastructure is the key. In fact, it's not at all unusual for employees to rotate through several jobs, moving in and out of IT and business roles.

  Customers of these successful companies are king, and customer service, both internal and external, is supreme. For example, dedicated client service teams from a shared services group (which encompasses IT) meet with business unit presidents to discuss the terms of their IT supplier-customer relationship.
  

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  IT Policy Templates - Ready to download and customize

  Documenting a clear set of IT policies is a resource-intensive process for IT managers, due to the research and writing time involved. And once policies are created, the next step is to communicate and gain acceptance for those policies throughout the organization. Wouldn't it be nice to start with boiler- plate templates that require only minor customization?

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Disaster Recovery Business Continuity backup options

  Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity planners need to include online backup and recovery service providers in the mix of resources that they will apply. These providers can be grouped into three categories:

  • Service providers leveraging existing core business resources to expand into adjacent markets to look for new revenue opportunities
  • Service providers concentrating on server backup in niche markets: backup and recovery only, single verticals, regional boundaries
  • Service providers whose backup and recovery service forms an integral part of a broader spectrum of information management and data protection services
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Recent Backup Critical For Disaster Recovery

  It has been proven over time that most data recovery requests are for relatively recent data, and that there is a direct correlation between the age of data and the possibility that it would be required for restore purposes. Most restore requests are driven by issues such as an inadvertently deleted file or data corruption that is introduced by a virus or a hacker.

  

  Typically these problems are discovered within several hours or at most a few days from when they first occur, resulting in restore requests for more recent data. In general, the only time you may need to restore data that has already been archived would be in the event of a disaster that physically destroys computer equipment and facilities, such as an earthquake or a tornado. While it pays to be prepared against these occurrences, they are very rare.

  The Backup and Backup Retention Policy Template has been used to create customized policies for well over 2,000 enterprises world wide. This policy in concert with the Record Mangement Policy Template are must have Best Practices Tools for CIOs and IT professionals.

  For example, factors that CIOs and IT professionals need to consider for backup retention include:

  • Business and regulatory requirements – regulatory compliance and data preservation
  • Economic and budgetary concerns – doing more with less
  • Data loss prevention and information protection – protect, preserve and serve
  • Environmental and business sustainment – green and economically efficient
  • Maximize IT resource effectiveness and return on investment (ROI)
  • Reduce total cost ownership (TCO) of IT resources and service delivery

  

  With the ever changing economic climate and security threats, downtime and data loss pose intolerable risks to every business today. From CIOs to the Executive Suite, managers have seen the importance of business uptime and data protection to continued success, productivity and profitability. The Disaster Planning Template provides a road map to the most effective strategies and technologies to protect data and provide fast recovery should data be lost or corrupted due to accident or malicious action.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Mobile workforce needs rules - security is an issue

  Mobile work is no longer just about the sales force. More than ever, employees in a variety of roles are expected to be - always on, and always connected, even when they travel and  are away from the office. To enable the fast response they want to provide, they need the ability to access information from more places and on more devices. Taking action on the go can be difficult, especially if workers cannot connect to the business network or access the right information for their jobs. And while telecommuting and working on the go can reduce costs and increase productivity, it potentially opens up access and security concerns. - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Metrics are key to CIO cost control

  

  IT management needs are being driven by a number of major economic and organizational factors. Chief among these factors is the ongoing cost squeeze on IT budgets. Operating costs have grown to the point where they now consume the lion's share of IT budgets, leaving little room for funding innovative new projects. As a consequence, IT management is continually looking for ways to recover and redirect operational spending by increasing staff productivity and efficiency. Productivity enhancing measures include the use of metrics (see Metrics HandiGuide) as well as the introduction of technologies to enable server consolidation and boost server utilization.

  At the heart of an effective Service Level Agreement (SLA) are performance metrics and they

  • Measure the right performance characteristics to ensure that the client is receiving its required level of service and the service provider is achieving an acceptable level of profitability
  • Can be easily collected with an appropriate level of detail but without costly overhead, and
  • Tie all commitments to reasonable, attainable performance levels so that "good" service can be easily differentiated from "bad" service, and giving the service provider a fair opportunity to satisfy its client.
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Sensitive Infromation Management Is a Major Issue for CIOs

  Many CIOs and IT organizations are overwhelmed when it comes to managing    requests for access to sensitive data.  Two of the primary reasons are that sensitive information management depends on manual systems to manage the process and many CIOs do not really know who in the organization should have access to what type of information. When it comes to security breaches, everyone likes to bemoan the state of IT security. But most breaches occur because some employee either accidentally or on purpose divulged some information that he or she shouldn't have. And in most cases, the employee should never have had access to that information in the first place.

  You can download the Table of Contents and some sample pages by clicking on the link below.

  

  General Policy Statement

  The Chief Security Officer or delegate must approve all processing activities at ENTERPRISE associated with sensitive information.  This information includes but is not limited to social security numbers, credit card numbers, credit card expiration dates, security codes, passwords, customer names, customer numbers, ENTERPRISE proprietary data, and any other data (i.e. California Personal ID number) that is deemed to be confidential by ENTERPRISE, its external auditors, any governmental agency, or other body that has jurisdiction over ENTERPRISE or its industry.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Backup verus Archive definition

  Backup systems should be used only for disaster recovery and business continuity. That means backups should be kept only long enough to enable specific recovery point objectives - that is, how many hours’ or days'worth of data a company wants to be able to restore. Some companies may require as little as 14 days of retention, while others may need six months or longer.

  By contrast, an archive is designed for the retention of critical information -  business records, contracts,e-mail - that companies may need to preserve for significantly longer periods.Archives tend to live on disk and often have built-in features such as classification and search that make it easy to identify and produce information that may be relevant to discovery or other investigations. Archives also provide IT with the tools to retain information long enough to meet rules and regulations and then dispose of that information once it reaches the end of its retention period.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Google vs Microsoft Office

  Google has refreshed its online word processing (Google Documents) and spreadsheet (Google Spreadsheets) applications. In the process, it has put Microsoft on notice: realtime collaboration and online-only software are here to stay.

  Realtime collaboration for Spreadsheets users was already a done deal, so Google's rewrite of the application focused on and tinkering under the hood to add more muscle to features and performance. .

  So, who will reign in this battle for the collaborative backbone of business computing? No one knows, of course, but a collateral winners are already emerging. CIOs and other IT decision makers, like the Los Angeles City Council, are finding reasons to switch.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Cloud computing lacks infrastructure controls

  Cloud computing lacks infrastructure conctols, standards for data handling and security practices, and even whether a vendor has an obligation to tell users whether their data is in the U.S. or not. And the industry is only beginning to sort out these issues through groups, such as the year-old Cloud Security Alliance.

  The cloud computing industry has some of the characteristics of a Wild West boomtown. But the local saloon's name is Frustration. That's the one word that seems to be popping up more and more in discussions.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Change Control and Version Control focus of ITSM Template

  Janco has just released version 4.0 of its IT Service Management - Service Oriented Architecture Template.  The focus of the current version is in change control and version control within the system development life cycle of IT systems. - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  National ID - Security Nightmare Could be a Reality

  Two U.S. senators met with President Obama on Thursday to push for a national ID card with biometric information such as a fingerprint, hand scan, or iris scan that all employers would be required to verify.

  In an opinion article published in Friday's edition of the Washington Post, Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Graham (R-S.C.) say the new identification cards will "ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs" and "dramatically decrease illegal immigration."

  This push for a national ID is part of what the senators say is a necessary overhaul of immigration law, including additional border security, more temporary workers, and a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the United States. It comes just two days before a rally in Washington, D.C. sponsored by groups including the AFL-CIO, Farmworker Justice, and the National Council of La Raza that also calls for amnesty.

  Linking national ID cards to immigration reform is a popular idea in Washington political circles. After all, if every U.S. citizen has a biometric-equipped cards, the thinking goes, it's easy to order employers not to give a job to someone without one.

  But concerns about privacy, security, and federalism have torpedoed each one of these proposals so far. A similar national ID plan--which also required that employers do verifications--sunk President Bush's broader proposal for immigration reform in 2007. A proposal three years earlier by Rep. David Drier (R-Calif.) to create federal ID cards with Americans' photograph, Social Security number, and an "encrypted electronic strip" with additional information was even less successful.

  Then there was the controversial Real ID Act, which tried unsuccessfully to compel states to standardize their drivers' licenses. But a libertarian grassroots revolt, including an anti-Real ID vote a few weeks ago in the Utah legislature, has halted Homeland Security's plans. (Rep. Ron Paul, the former Republican presidential candidate, argued it would do little to curb legal immigration.)

  Under the Schumer-Graham proposal, extracting biometric information from hundreds of millions of Americans is no trivial task. It could mean extraordinary lines at regional Social Security offices--and an inconvenience for Americans switching jobs who haven't had their retina or DNA scanned in and stored on the ID card.

  "We would require all U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want jobs to obtain a high-tech, fraud-proof Social Security card," the senators' opinion article says. "Each card's unique biometric identifier would be stored only on the card; no government database would house everyone's information. The cards would not contain any private information, medical information or tracking devices."

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Securtiy basics

  As the complexity of the threats increases, so do the security measures required to protect networks. Review the basics of security in order to safely deploy and manage networks today, including firewalls, network topology, and secure protocols, and network security best practices. - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Sensitive Information Policy Template released by Janco

  The Sensitive Information Policy Template (Version 2.4) has just been released by Janco. This policy applies to the entire enterprise, its vendors, its suppliers (including outsourcers), co-location providers, and facilities regardless of the methods used to store and retrieve sensitive information (e.g. online processing, outsourced to a third party, Internet, Intranet or swipe terminals). 

  New with this version are updates that specifically define the mandates of most recent federal (Gramm-Leach-Bliley) and state (Massachusetts and California).

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Which skills are in high demand and low demand

  IT salaries are determined by the skills that are required.  Janco has determined the following are the skills in high demand and low demand.

  Skills with a high demand

  • Project Management - especially large projects with short time frame for delivery
  • Security -  focus on mandated compliance issues
  • Network Administration - wireless and cloud administration
  • Virtualization (Cloud) - new applications and management of the IT infrastructure
  • Business and Operational Analysis - focus on business change
  • Productivity Improvement Analysis - metrics and operational analysis
  • Web 2 - interactive applications that add value
  • Database Management - applications that leverage enterprise assets
  • System Administration - Windows and UNIX management
  • Desktop Support - standardization and change management

  Skills with a declining demand

  • COBOL
  • HTML
  • System Network Architecture - SNA
  • Siebel
  • Rapid Application Development - RAD
  • ColdFusion
  • Wireless Application Protocol - WAP
  • Visual J++
  • Novell NetWare
  • Asynchronous Transfer Mode - ATM
    
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  IBM outsourcing cost 2,000 US jobs

  After shrinking its U.S. workforce by as many as 10,000 employees last year, IBM may be on its way to cutting another 2,000 workers.

  As of last October, IBM employed 105,000 workers in the U.S., compared to 115,000 in 2008. In 2007, IBM had 121,000 U.S. employees. It employs about 400,000 globally.

  IBM isn't commenting on its latest round of cuts and information about it comes from the Alliance union which gathers its data directly from IBM employees.

  "IBM is clearly offshoring things where they can," said one IBM employee who received his notice and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he didn't want to jeopardize his severance. A 10-year veteran and UNIX administrator, this employee said his customer support team once had 15 U.S.-based workers. That staff was reduced over time to just three workers in the U.S., with other members of the customer support team now in Brazil, Argentina and India.

  The employee said he was not given a good reason for his layoff. "Higher ups made a decision that a certain percentage had to be cut - it was not performance-based at all," he said. Although the employee said he's uncertain about the job market, "my sense is that it is not horrendous but I'll have to assume that I'll have to take a cut in pay."

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Practical Guide for IT Outsourcing Released by Janco

  Practical Guide for IT Outsourcing Released - Version 3.0 of the Practical Guide for IT Outsourcing has just been released. It includes a sample Outsourcing contract, Service Level Agreement with metrics, Risk Assessment - Business and IT Impact Questionnaire, and much more.

  The guide is delivered electronically and is available in MS - Word and industry standard PDF.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  CIOs are looking for more cost savings

  The recession is impacting how IT is performing. Budgets for many IT organizations has been frozen for about two years, and CIO have been on this efficiency kick for about the same amount of time. IT organizations have virtualized, consolidated data centers, have cut hiring and outsourced.  There is no low-hanging fruit left.

  Service level agreements are set however costs need to be reduced.

  The only areas where cost savings can be made are in hardware and software maintenance.

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  CIO must protect critical data

  CIOs need to focus on at least four areas in order to protect critical data:

  • Implement a  Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan. This is the traditional solution for mitigating exposure to information loss. However it has grown more complicated as 24/7, global economy, and open source have become standard business mantras. Of paramount importance is overcoming the hurdles associated with backup window requirements, application performance, reliability and consistency, and recovery time.
  • Streamline IT Infrastructure and Increase Productivity. As staff and resources become overburdened, companies are refocusing on infrastructure management. Easing critical pressure points is often the catalyst to surviving a difficult fiscal climate.
  • Manage Storage and Server Costs  Closely. Controlling cost of operations has become a top priority for many organizations. With data growing at exponential rates, these costs can easily mushroom.
  • Support IT Infrastructure Consolidation. Today's data protection architecture seems to be intrinsically broken - as characterized by slow backups, complex recoveries, compromised application performance, and difficult resource administration. IT infrastructure consolidation including server virtualization magnifies the problems and elevates the rearchitecture of storage and data protection as a priority. Finding high performing, easy-to-use, scalable data protection remains a key imperative. Further, system migration of production servers and critical applications to a virtual environment are likely to be costly and painful unless an easy and minimum-impact solution to migration is built into the rearchitecture.
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  CIO and CTO Changing Role

  In a recent study of over 2,000 CIOs a major firm defined high-growth and low-growth CIOs  who work in organizations with high Profit Before TaxProfit Before Tax growth as "High-growth CIOs" and to those working in organizations with low Profit Before Tax as "Low-growth CIOs."   The characteristics of the role played in each type of firm are different.

  
  

  	High Growth Companies	Low Growth Companies
  Are members of most-senior management team	62%	46%
  Integrate business and technology to innovate	64%	33%
  Focus  time on enabling the business and corporate vision	28%	15%
  Focus your time on providing core technology services	23%	40%
  IT team uses collaborative tools	53%	33%
  IT team provide collaborative tools across the enterprise	41%	22%
  Aggressively turn data into actionable information	58%	36%
  Give customers excellent data integrity and transparency	68%	44%
  Seek active input from your customers	87%	70%
  Co-create business strategy with fellow execs	74%	61%
  Co-present business strategy to senior management	66%	53%
  Part of the team setting the organization's strategy	62%	46%
  Business models unique and hard to imitate	63%	49%
  Business models include partnering alternative sourcing	60%	52%
  Create IT centers of excellence	44%	26%
  Data readily available for relevant users	67%	51%
  Data reliable and secure	81%	66%
  Manage change successfully	61%	43%

  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  IT Infrasturcture Policy Bundle Released

  Janco has combined the policies that it has developedin concert with some of the best IT organizations around the globe into a single package. With this bundle you get a PDF file that has all of the procedures in a single document that is over 210 pages long. It would take your staff months to develop these procedures from scratch. In addition you get a separate MS-Word document for each procedure which can easily be modified.

  This bundle contains the following policies:

  • Backup and Backup Retention Policy
  • Blog and Personal Web Site Policy
  • Internet, Email, Social Networking, Mobile Device, and Electronic Communication Policy
  • Outsourcing Policy
  • Record Management, Retention, and Disposition Policy
  • Sensitive Information Policy
  • Service Level Agreement Policy
  • Telecommuting Policy
  • Travel, Laptop, PDA and Off-Site Meeting Policy
  - more info
  
  
  

  ---

  Blackberrys with car chargers a key component of business continuity

  Business interuptions caused by the East Coast blizzard of 2010 show that BlackBerry are a must have solution.  A blizzard with whiteout conditions, warnings to stay off the roads in the Washington metropolitan area and power interruptions have proven to be no match for teleworkers with access to a BlackBerry smart phone and a car charger.

  Many federal employees were 100 percent on BlackBerrys during the outage.  With power losses to homes car chargers were the only way to keep the devices charged.

  This is a strategy that gained attention during the one-two punch of blizzard conditions and multiple power outages in the Washington area. For three days in a row, the federal government and many local governments are closed while a second major snowstorm blew through on the heels of a historic snowfall Feb. 8. Utility companies in Washington and Baltimore reporting about 17,000 homes without power in the afternoon.

  Many federal employees are relying on their BlackBerrys haven't slowed down one bit.

  - more info