Janco Associates, Inc.

Social networking policy is a must

Webmaster — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:14:11 -0600

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.

Focus of CIOs shifting

Webmaster — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:31:05 -0600

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 businesss 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.

Steps to Take Before Disaster Strikes

rss@e-janco.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:15:23 -0600

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."

Fed IT Spending is on an uptick

Webmaster — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:37:26 -0600

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 Inputs new report "Federal Information Technology Market, 20102015."

The IT job market is looking up

Webmaster — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:29:07 -0600

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.

Disasters That All Businesses Face

rss@e-janco.com — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:24:31 -0600

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

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

rss@e-janco.com — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:47:42 -0600

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

87% of all enterprises now have disaster recovery plans

Webmaster — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:36:10 -0600

Businesses across the US are responding more to the need for business continuity planning according to a AT&Ts 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.

CIO Success is Based on Business Alignment

Webmaster — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:19:57 -0600

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.

IT Policy Templates - Ready to download and customize

Webmaster — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:42:11 -0600

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?

Disaster Recovery Business Continuity backup options

Webmaster — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:12:27 -0600

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

Recent Backup Critical For Disaster Recovery

Webmaster — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:28:55 -0600

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.

Mobile workforce needs rules - security is an issue

Webmaster — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:09:24 -0600

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.

Metrics are key to CIO cost control

Webmaster — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:25:03 -0600

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.

Sensitive Infromation Management Is a Major Issue for CIOs

Webmaster — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:43:37 -0600

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.

Backup verus Archive definition

Webmaster — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:25:49 -0600

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.

Google vs Microsoft Office

Webmaster — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:31:21 -0600

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.

Cloud computing lacks infrastructure controls

Webmaster — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:02:00 -0600

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.

Change Control and Version Control focus of ITSM Template

Webmaster — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 06:57:19 -0600

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.

National ID - Security Nightmare Could be a Reality

Webmaster — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:04:56 -0600

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."

Securtiy basics

Webmaster — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:05:49 -0600

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.

Sensitive Information Policy Template released by Janco

Webmaster — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:45:35 -0600

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).

Which skills are in high demand and low demand

Webmaster — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:10:23 -0600

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

IBM outsourcing cost 2,000 US jobs

Webmaster — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:42:50 -0600

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."

Practical Guide for IT Outsourcing Released by Janco

Webmaster — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:55:23 -0600

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.

CIOs are looking for more cost savings

Webmaster — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:08:50 -0600

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.

CIO must protect critical data

Webmaster — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:10:59 -0600

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.

CIO and CTO Changing Role

rss@e-janco.com — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:12:59 -0600

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%

IT Infrasturcture Policy Bundle Released

Webmaster — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:50:26 -0600

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

Blackberrys with car chargers a key component of business continuity

Webmaster — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:04:05 -0600

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.

Feds to increase goverment IT budgets

Webmaster — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:28:26 -0600

President Barack Obama today requested $79.4 billion in spending on information technology projects for fiscal 2011, a 1.2 percent increase from what he proposed in fiscal 2010 and a slight decrease from the $80.6 billion the 2010 budget actually allocated.

The Obama administration has proposed increasing the number of major IT projects. Last fiscal year, the administration proposed handling 781 major IT projects with $40.3 billion. In fiscal 2011, it's proposing 809 major IT projects at $40.4 billion, according to the budget proposal.

Despite modest increases in the budget request, Obama wants IT efforts related to open government and technology modernization to continue in 2011.

For example, work on the General Service Administrations Citizen Engagement Platform would continue under the 2011 request. Designed to be a resource for all federal agencies, that platform is a collaboration between GSA and the Office of Management and Budget. It is intended to increase the governments ability to interact and collaborate with the public and provide a cost-effective way for agencies to access tools and guidance related to engagement.

IT Metrics HandiGuide Released by Janco

Webmaster — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:32:53 -0600

Janco Associates, Inc. has just released Version 4.0 of its Metrics for the Internet, Information Technology, and Service Management HandiGuide. New with this version is an indepth presentation of Service Level Agreements for outsourcing and best paractices. Janco has developed metrics for enterprises worldwide and is a leader in the field. The CEO of Janco, Victor Janulaitis said, "With these difficult times many CIOs and CEOs are asking hard questions about the value that IT is contributing to the bottom line. Metrics are once of the tools necessary to answer those questions.

The Metirics HandiGuide is delivered electronically as a PDF document that is fully bookmarked. It is over 300 pages in lenght and has detail definitions of metrics as well as example reprorts for over 240 metrics. A full table of contents and selected pages can be download at http://e-janco.com/metrics.htm.

How companies protect laptops is an issue

Webmaster — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:17:15 -0600

More than 50% of organizations surveyed have indicated that they protected sensitive information with encryption software. A further 43% reported the use of asset tracking software. Simply knowing where all mobile computers are located is a powerful security measure, however, traditional IT asset management solutions are designed to track only those laptops that connect to a local area network (LAN) or virtual private network (VPN) connection. For a large proportion of laptop users, returning to head office is an intermittent event - allowing many laptop computers to remain below the radar of IT.

Encryption software is commonly referred to as the computer security fall back. In the event that a computer protected by organizational policy and physical deterrents is stolen, sensitive information on the laptop is made unreadable by encryption. For encryption software to be effective however, laptop users must consistently and accurately follow company encryption policy. Even more worrisome is the fact that more than 30% of companies believe employees are actively involved in the theft of company computers. Armed with the necessary passwords and encryption keys to access data, disgruntled or dishonest employees represent a threat that cannot be addressed by encryption alone.

The common failing of these laptop security measures is the fact that they are heavily reliant on the diligent action of laptop-using employees to remain effective. If a cable lock is not used, an authentication password is taped to the keyboard for convenience or a regular encryption process not completed, organizations remain unnecessarily vulnerable to public data breach. By the same token, complex, expensive and ultimately productivity-dampening security measures may be effective but greatly reduce the benefits of laptop computers. Endpoint security solutions complement other security measures by providing a final, user-independent layer of protection.

Data breaches continine to be CIO's concern

rss@e-janco.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:41:23 -0600

The FBI received a record number of complaints in 2008, and the associated direct cost of the frauds carried out with stolen data was $265 million versus $235million in 2007. Adding to this is the challenge of securing personal information and intellectual property data. Companies are granting access to more systems and information - bank customers access to account balances; workers maintain their own 401k and investment accounts; web shoppers place orders and make purchases with a single click; and business partners work on projects in a collaborative manner online.

To reduce the risk of a data breach or theft, organizations must adopt new tactics. In addition, companies must address e-mail and Web security along with employing a functional data loss and prevention strategy. The application of multiple security techniques is required to reduce risk. For example, there must be a way to control spam and block the downloading of malicious software from poisoned Web sites. In today's open Web 2.0 and social networking environments, companies need a way to defend against attacks and protect secret or sensitive data. At the same time, they must maintain a flexible and responsive infrastructure to support today's business working habits.

The Janco Security Manual Template has helped over 2,000 enterprises world-wide to meet these requirements.

Pandemic Disaster Recovery Plans At Risk

rss@e-janco.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:40:27 -0600

Pandemic disaster recovery planning should consider the impact the H1N1 flu virus could have on the Internet if workers and students are forced to stay home because of the pandemic. Officials at the U.S. Government Accountability Office weighed in on the potential for clogged networks in a 71 page preport.

Although the issue has been raised before by various ISPs and network carriers, recent worries have focused on securities firms that depend on third parties to clear trades and process payments over the Internet, according to the GAO.

"Internet congestion during a severe pandemic that hampers teleworkers is anticipated, but responsible government agencies have not developed plans to to address such congestion and may lack clear authority to act," the GAO warned.

Internet backbone congestion from a pandemic is not a major concern. The larger problem may be with the network "edge" or "last mile" in the residential portion of the Internet. Janco says that work-at-home strategies for organization may not work as advertized as residential Internet access may not be sufficient. This is true both from a capacity and bandwidth at work at home sites.

Often many residential DSL users could share a single DSLAM connection at the carrier's switching office to reach the backbone, contributing to congestion problems. Last-mile DSL and cable modem networks are where remote access falls apart.

While the network edge impact would vary by neighborhood, the Centers for Disease Control planning guideline that assumes 40 percent of the workforce might not be in the workplace for an extended period of time during a pandemic.

Best Practices for CIOs and IT Departments

rss@e-janco.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:40:01 -0600

Business continuity is not just a good business practice - it can mean success or failure if data and applications on a production server are lost. Disaster recovery planning ensures organizations have the capability to continue essential functions across a wide range of situations that could disrupt normal operations. High availability is the cornerstone for most business continuity plans and is one of the reasons for evaluating and deploying data protection solutions. However, traditional data protection strategies focus on just the data and not the application.

CIOs and IT departments design the organization's infrastructure with continuity of business operations in mind. However, most organizations are not doing enough to protect mission-critical data, applications and systems from unexpected disruption and potential loss -- volatilities, such as viruses, power outages, natural disasters, corruption, human error and media failures can't always be prevented. Environments today are characterized by rapid data growth, complexity, stringent business requirements and the increasing government regulations, making it difficult for organizations to get their arms around their data protection strategies. In many cases, the focus is on just protecting data - not necessarily on recovering it. And when there is a focus on recovery, it usually involves just making data available to an application.

Audit Fatigue is Setting In for Some

rss@e-janco.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:39:26 -0600

(Internet Research Group) - Regulation is a part of business, regardless of company size, industry, or geography. In addition, for the most part, the larger the enterprise, the larger the potential for non-compliance risk. Non-compliance can mean a number of things - sanctions, fines, legal action, market value impact, and the cost of remediation may exceed the perceived cost of prevention. Audit program is required

The results are supportive of the term audit fatigue, that unmanaged IT Audit efforts within regulated organizations have a negative business impact on IT resources and reduce IT efficiency. However, respondents are largely aware of and interested in tools to automate audit processes and controls as a means of overcoming audit fatigue and freeing up IT budget and resources for innovation rather than compliance. This results in the following:

Compliance impact is increasing, resulting in high audit frequency and number: As can be expected, larger organizations must satisfy a number of IT audits. Small to mid-sized enterprises (SMBs) are also subject to an increased level of compliance requirements - resulting in higher than expected IT audit engagements. Given the lack of consistent IT standards across industries and geographies for audit criteria and reporting, compliance efforts - i.e., IT audit and remediation - are largely manual.
Audit costs are unmanaged, resulting in increased cost: Many respondents conduct audits on an ad-hoc basis rather than as a scheduled effort of an enterprise risk-management program. Given the inability to forecast audit and remediation, spending, budgetary control is lost - exacerbating the perceived impact of compliance efforts.
Lack of controls automation, limited process maturity: Audit fatigue can be attributed to lack of controls automation and unmanaged IT Audit processes. Limited controls maturity - i.e., repeatable and sustainable controls enforcement and audit processes - constrains IT innovation due to uncontrolled costs associated with IT Audit and issue remediation.
Security Policies and Procedures missing

CIOs controlling costs in the new year

rss@e-janco.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:31:42 -0600

As CIOs move into the New Year they are faced with reduced budgets and rising cost. One of the first things that are doing is establishing standardized metrics to identify and control costs. Metrics are the key

As that process proceeds Janco suggests that CIO then do the following to control costs in the new year:

Justify hardware and applications - Underutilized or old systems should be taken out, and workloads should be shifted to more-efficient hardware. Rationalization and consolidation programs can reduce the number of servers deployed.
Consolidate data center sites and server farms - Financial savings often follow consolidation of multiple sites into a small number of larger sites.
Manage energy and facilities cost. Tools and techniques include raising the temperature of the data center to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, using outside air when possible as an alternative to air conditioning, setting up hot aisle/cold aisle configurations and deploying server-based energy management software tools to run workloads the most energy-efficient way
Manage the employee and contractor costs - Workers remain the single largest cost element for most IT organizations, accounting for as much as 50% of overall costs.
Eliminate or defer procurement of new assets - Servers' useful life often exceeds their amortized life, so monitor the condition of hardware carefully.
Monitor energy consumption - Advanced monitoring, modeling, and measuring techniques and processes are essential to the adoption of many new technologies and going green.

Security Manual Template

Webmaster — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:59:11 -0600

As enterprises move more of their business transactions online, they face the challenge of defending a perimeter that grows increasingly porous. The network firewalls that once locked down the enterprise perimeter are ineffective against Web-based threats such as SQL, Cross Site Scripting, and DDoS attacks. By exploiting common Web application security flaws, the attacks are able to cause tremendous business disruption, particularly through the theft of sensitive enterprise information as well as customer and employee personal data.

Security Manual Template

ISO 27000 / HIPAA / SOX / CobiT Compliant

Includes PCI DSS Audit Program

The IT Security Manual Template provides all the essential sections of a complete security manual and walks you through the creation of each step. Detailed language addressing more than a dozen security topics is included in a 230 plus page Microsoft Word document, which you can modify as much or as little as you need to fit your business requirements. The template includes sections on critical topics like:

Risk analysis
Staff member roles
Physical security
Electronic Communication (email / Smartphones)
Blogs and Personal Web Sites
Facility design, construction and operations
Media and documentation
Data and software security
Network security
Internet and IT contingency planning
Insurance
Outsourced services
Waiver procedures
Employee Termination Procedures and Forms
Incident reporting procedures
Access control guidelines
PCI DSS Audit Program as a separate document
Security Compliance Checklists
Massachusetts 201 CMR 17 Compliance Checklist

Safety Program Updated by Janco

Webmaster — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:39:56 -0600

Effective management of worker safety and health protection is a decisive factor in reducing the extent and the severity of work-related injuries and illnesses. Effective management addresses all work-related hazards, including the potential hazards that could result from a change in worksite conditions or practices. Additionally, it addresses hazards whether or not they are regulated by government standards.

The electronic document includes proven written text and examples for the following major sections of a disaster recovery plan:

Policy Statement
Safety Rules - including a check list of standard proven rules
Accident Investigation Process
Hazard Recognition and Control
Safety Committee including membership and procedures
Training including guidelines for orientation, job instruction, Supervisor training as well as specialized training
Communication including for management and employees
Record Keeping including inspection; accident investigation; training and coordination with Safety Committee.
Job Description for Safety Director (ADA compliant)
Technical Appendix including definition of necessary phone numbers and contact points; and sample forms:
- First Report of Injury
- Safety Audit Checklist
- Alternate Work site Safety Checklist (i.e. work at home)

There is an extensive description that shows how a full test of the Safety Program can be conducted.