Opinion: The legal jungleOpinion: The Legal Jungle
The Other Information Revolution
By Larry Downes
Ever since the rise of the Web, governments have tried to define, regulate, tax, constrain and ban the Internet. In nearly every instance, those efforts have failed in the face of legal challenges and storms of protest. Now comes the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act, a laudable act that contains within it yet another effort to control speech on the Internet. Where are the voices raised in protest, wonders columnist Larry Downes? Perhaps they're too busy worrying about all the other threats from viruses, malicious hackers, greedy individuals, and companies looking to take advantage of the Web's openness. It's a different Web indeed.
Case Study: Boeing Co.
Flying in Formation
By Edward Cone
The art and science of building commercial aircraft has come a long way. The forthcoming Boeing 787, sheathed in a high-tech composite skin in hopes of saving weight and fuel costs, is being designed and built with the help of a wide assortment of global partners. By using the Internet and some sophisticated software and communications tools that allow the team to collaborate in real time, Boeing hopes to shave production time and costs on a project critical to the company's future financial health and competitive position. Senior Writer Edward Cone explores how this collaboration is transforming the entire company.
Expert Voices: Jagdish Bhagwati
The Age of Flux
With Ellen Pearlman and Edward Baker
Despite its title, Jagdish Bhagwati's 2004 In Defense of Globalization is by no means a one-sided argument for the virtues of globalization. Instead, Bhagwati, an economics professor at Columbia University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, openly acknowledges that there can be downsides to rapid globalization, completely free markets and powerful multinational corporations. In this lively interview with CIO Insight editors Ellen Pearlman and Edward Baker, Bhagwati outlines his view of what he calls "the Age of Flux."
Analysis: Offshoring for small companies
Think Big
By Dan Briody
In the business world, small companies have a number of advantages over their billion-dollar brethren: flexibility, aggressiveness and innovation, to name a few. But they're way behind the curve when it comes to enjoying the cost benefits of offshoring IT work. They have no procurement specialists. No vendor management teams. No in-house legal counsel. So is it even worth it for small businesses to look overseas for IT help? The answer is a resounding "maybe," says Executive Editor Dan Briody. The tales of small business forays into international waters vary from the triumphant to the futile to the comical.
strategic technology: global supply-chain management
Trade Winds
By Debra D'Agostino
It is no surprise that supply chains are going global. What is surprising is that most supply-chain systems are designed for domestic use. It's a problem that companies will have to remedy, says Senior Reporter Debra D'Agostino, and the solution may involve overhauling the entire system. New software can help companies gain greater visibility into the global supply-chain process, identify low-cost suppliers overseas and even sort out logistical problems. The first step requires transforming inward supply-chain systems into outward-facing networks, sharing key data with suppliers and retailers, and learning to make decisions in real time.
Research: Outsourcing
Can an Anxious IT Organization Be Productive?
By Allan Alter
As spending on IT outsourcing grows—by an expected 3.2 percent in 2006—offshore outsourcing is also becoming more common: Forty percent of all companies that outsource use foreign firms. Yet CIOs are experiencing more frustration with vendors and more problems inside their own IT organizations than ever before. In fact, our 380 respondents are less satisfied with their outsourcing vendors than those who took our 2004 survey. The more alarming problem: Forty-five percent of respondents say the fear of losing jobs to outsourcing has had a disruptive effect on their IT organizations, up from 39 percent in 2004.
