Anyone who's been in the workforce in the past few years knows what a rollercoaster it's been. But things are looking up, according to a recent survey of IT professionals from Technisource. The company's latest IT Employee Confidence Index reveals that optimism levels have climbed above 50, after dipping below that critical mark last year. Overall, tech workers feel better about job security, employment-search prospects and the future of their organizations. "With the demand for IT professionals steadily increasing, confidence is rising once again," says Andrew Speer, president of technology solutions for Technisource. "We're seeing great demand for project managers, analytics professionals and .NET application developers, demonstrating that companies are opening their budgets and embracing technology implementation." And one-third of employees are actively looking for new employment, Speer notes, meaning CIOs and other tech managers must focus on the needs of IT teams to avoid unnecessary hiring and re-training costs. More than 245 IT professionals took part in the research.

While many questioned how the company would fare without its iconic leader, Apple continues to thrive in the post-Steve Jobs era. In its most recent quarterly earnings statement, the company reported selling more iPhones, iPads and Mac computers than in any three-month period in its history. This sales surge fueled $46.33 billion in revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2011, beating analyst expectations by a whopping $7 billion. The company's success is no accident; Jobs had a clear, powerful vision that he passed on to his employees and cultivated a corporate culture that rallied around that vision. In the book Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired—and Secretive—Company Really Works (Business Plus/available now), author Adam Lashinsky penetrates the legend of Steve Jobs and his company and breaks down the building blocks that make it all work. Lashinsky illustrates what Apple execs call the “secret sauce” – the systems, tactics and management strategies that produce hit after hit. Lashinsky is a senior editor at large for Fortune magazine and a Fox News contributor. For more about the book, click here. The following are ten of those secret sauce "ingredients" behind Apple's success.

If you feel like your IT staffers aren't giving 100 percent on the job these days, it could be because they're struggling financially. Budgeting at home is taking its toll on workers, and it's having a significant impact on performance, a survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) finds. More employees than in prior years are dipping into their employer-sponsored retirement plans, the survey finds. And the fallout for CIOs and other managers is decreased productivity, morale and focus -- even from formerly dedicated employees. “The source of money woes is unsurprising,” says Mark J. Schmit, vice president of research at SHRM. “But the toll it's taking on both workers and their employers -- in addition to the persistence of the weak economy -- are all troubling issues.” And things may not improve soon as fewer organizations are offering financial education programs these days. Nearly 460 HR professionals took part in the research. For more about the survey, clickhere. Here, we take a look at some of the survey's key findings.

You know that doing more with less has become par for the course as you rn your IT organization. And with increasing pressure from your C-Suite colleagues to help drive the business forward, you sometimes feel like your hands are tied. The book “Lean but Agile: Rethink Workforce Planning and Gain a True Competitive Edge” (Amacom/available now), can show you how -- with some careful planning and execution -- it is possible to create a lean, agile workforce that can meet your goals. According to authors William J. Rothwell, James Graber and Neil McCormick, maximizing personnel efficiencies doesn’t require you to get tough and single out employees. That leads to burnout and demoralized teams. Instead, CIOs and IT managers need to figure out what work needs to get done and hire employees with the skillsets that can get the job done. Rothwell is a professor of workplace learning and performance at Penn State. Graber is an organizational psychologist and managing director of Business Decisions Inc., a talent management and performance software company. McCormick is senior vice president for Talent2, an HR advisory and recruitment business. For more about the book, click here. Here are 10 highlights.

Technology professionals have been pulled through the wringer of a struggling economy, but after two consecutive years of stagnant wages, compensation is — if ever so slowly —on the rise, according to the 2012-2011 Salary Survey from technology career site Dice. "Finally! Compensation has mustered some momentum, as more and more top tech markets are notching increases in pay," Tom Silver, SVP of Dice North America, said in a Jan. 24 statement about the survey. Dice also looked at whether bonuses were being handed out, and with how generous a hand, as well as how the top 20 cities for tech jobs are faring. Conventional wisdom holds that the tech world follows Silicon Valley. While by broad strokes the survey found that to be true, the more nuanced story is one of stiff competition with the highest salaries going to professionals with the "right skill sets and the right experience level," according to the survey. The most generously compensated skills were those that enabled enterprises to harness their data in actionable ways. When they can do that, added Dice Managing Director Alice Hill, "is when the tech department is no longer seen as a cost center but a strategic partner in meeting companies' goals."

When it comes to preventing increasingly sophisticated and malicious attacks to your corporate network and its data, simply slapping on a few security appliances and scanning for spam isn't enough. Hackers act fast and are changing tactics. Even more can be gained by taking the time to analyze the data that your tools can give you about the attacks your enterprise is thwarting – or the malware that makes its way through. Analysis can give CIOs and IT managers value information about what's working and what's not when it comes to security. In the Cisco 4Q11 Global Threat Report, the company has rounded up information gathered by its security products to create a picture of the state of cyber-security between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2011. The report finds that while spam volume continues to decline, malware attacks are becoming more frequent; in fact, "33% of Web malware encountered was zero-day malware not detectable by traditional signature-based methodologies at the time of encounter," Cisco said. "Most importantly, regular review and understanding of the data can help uncover the elusive “black swan”—the types of surreptitious and malicious events that otherwise could fly below the radar." Here are the report's key findings.

Worried investors have for months been calling on BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion to replace co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. On Jan. 22, 2012, the company has finally done so, appointing Thorsten Heins as RIM’s President and CEO . Heins joined RIM in 2007 from Siemens Communications Group. After a stint as senior vice president for hardware engineering, he became RIM’s chief operating officer for product and sales in August 2011. As with any other company that has a change in leadership, RIM will undergo a quiet period of sorts as its new chief executive assesses some of the things that might be wrong with the firm, and sets out to change that. The company faces a Jan. 31 deadline to report the findings of a review of its management structure, according to Bloomberg News, and Heins has said he’ll be seeking a new marketing chief for the company. Among the 75 million BlackBerry users are many enterprises that have made deep investments in RIM products, so it’s fair to say you’re probably wondering about the fate of the firm at this stage, and how the leadership changes will affect the company’s future. According to the Wall Street Journal, Heins assured industry analysts that he isn’t looking to sell the company. Yet, some industry analysts are making dire predictions about RIM’s fate , which largely hinges on the new BlackBerry 10 platform and future products featuring the QNX-based operating system. Until then, RIM is relying on a product line running BlackBerry OS 7 to retain customers; the upside, of course, is that IT administrators and others who manage BlackBerry devices for businesses have several months before RIM wholeheartedly embarks on major changes. Here’s what you need to know about Heins and the future of RIM.

CIOs will be expected to do more with less once again in 2012, according to a new study from research firm Gartner, Inc.'s Executive Programs. The 2012 Gartner CIO Agenda Survey gathered responses from 2,335 CIOs, representing more than $321 billion in CIO IT budgets and covering 37 industries in 45 countries, during the fourth quarter of 2011. The survey finds that CIOs view technologies like analytics/business intelligence, mobility, cloud and social networking as a way to address business priorities, and changing the customer experience is a main priority. "The 2012 Gartner CIO Agenda survey results show that CIOs believe that the customer experience is the greatest opportunity for IT-enabled innovation," says Dave Aron, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "As business executives see the potential of technology to transform customer channels and the customer experience, their view of technology has leapfrogged conventional ideas of IT." Here we take a look at some of the survey's key findings.

The Era of the Virtual Employee is here, and managers who prefer more traditional, in-office work relationships may not get what they want anymore. Globalization, mobile technology and the continued decentralization of today's organizations have led the workforce to be more mobile. For CIOs and other managers, this means you'll need to adapt to managing workers who rarely, if ever, show up in the office. In his book "The Virtual Manager: Cutting Edge Solutions for Hiring, Managing, Motivating, and Engaging Mobile Employees" (Career Press/Available now), author Kevin Sheridan advises CIOs to embrace these changes instead of resisting them, and highlights the ways they'll need to adapt when hiring virtual workers. Success begins with the job interview. To help managers make good hiring decisions, Sheridan has listed several open-ended questions specifically designed for these employees, to give managers a sense of whether a candidate is a good fit for the “off-site” working life. Sheridan is chief engagement officer (CEO) of HR Solutions Inc. For more information about the book, click here.

Today's young workers are extremely tech-savvy, and the technology they'll have access to is a major consideration for many as they join the workforce. Many are used to having 24/7 access to email and the Internet on their smartphones or tablets. And with extensive knowledge of the Internet and its many services, more are using Web-based applications for many of the solutions they use on a daily basis. As an employer, making sure you have the right technology on hand to both appeal to and keep your younger workers happy is an important consideration when plotting out your technology roadmap. Keeping workers helps reduce training costs over time, and it could also help you sell your CEO on some product purchases. You know that cloud solution you're dying to implement? Well, tell the CEO about your young workforce being able to take advantage of it to work extra hours, and it might just happen. Want to bring iPads to the office? Tell the top executive that it might just improve productivity. As your company tries to find an edge in a job market filled with educated Millennials, technology could very well be the differentiating factor that helps you attract and retain a young workforce. Here's why.

You may think of them as "The PlayStation Generation," but your Millennial employees may be just the kind of "digital cowboys" that your organization needs to succeed in today's fast-paced, 24/7 business world. While you and your fellow executives may harbor some biases against them – that they're over-entitled and lack a work ethic – it's time to throw away these stereotypes and recognize the unique contributions Millennials can bring to an IT department. In the book "No Fear: Business Leadership for the Digital Age" (Marshall Cavendish Corp/available now), authors Pekka Viljakainen and Mark Mueller-Eberstein illuminate the many positive traits of the Millennial generation. They're less constrained by hierarchy, restrictive corporate traditions and geographic and cultural borders than some of your older staffers, for example. Viljakainen is the former president of Tieto International and now provides consulting for business leaders and tech teams. Mueller-Eberstein is founder/CEO of Adgetec Corp. For more about the book, click here.

Do you find that your devices are running your life instead of the other way around? Fear not. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The book, "Digital Leader: 5 Simple Keys to Success and Influence" (McGraw-Hill Professional/available now), helps you step away from the smartphone and take command of your technology. Author Erik Qualman finds that while we may not like our digital obsessions, we can blame ourselves; the average household has 20 digital devices, with mom and dad more likely to interrupt dinner for an email exchange than the kids. And trying to stay too connected may actually make us dumber. Checking your email while performing other tasks decreases your IQ in the moment by 10 points, research shows. With this in mind, Qualman has put together a primer for unplugging and simplifying your professional and personal life. But don't worry about someone taking away your smartphone. In some cases, he advocates actually adding apps or products to better manage day-to-day demands. In others, he provides shortcuts that will significantly reduce time spent with devices. For more about the book, click here.

CIOs and other top organizational executives foresee a global talent shortage looming for the next several years, according to recent research from Deloitte. The consulting firm released the results of its survey in a new report, "Talent Edge 2020: Redrafting Talent Strategies for the Uneven Recovery." When it comes to adequately appointing leaders and staffing key operations, the report says fallout from the talent shortage could be significant. In addition, retaining younger workers has emerged as a key issue for many organizations. Ultimately, companies that invest aggressively in talent management and development programs will reap rewards, the report concludes. "Today's top talent organizations are not sitting back and waiting for a slow recovery to solve their talent challenges," says Alice Kwan, talent services leader for Deloitte Consulting. "These executives are more likely to invest ‑ by a two to one margin ‑ across the board on talent priorities." More than 375 senior executives and talent managers at large companies worldwide took part in the research. For more about the survey, click here

Gartner analysts, summing up fourth quarter IT spending and looking ahead for 2012, offered global scenarios that could play out not so much from good to bad, but mildly bad to far worse. During a Jan. 10 webinar, Gartner analysts revised the firm's global IT spending forecast for 2012 from 4.6% to 3.7%, pointing to a global economic slowdown, the Eurozone crisis and the recent floods in Thailand. While the floods have received considerably less media attention than Japan's catastrophic earthquakes and tsunami, they're expected to have a far greater, and indeed unprecedented, effect on the tech industry, with no global OEMs expected to receive 100% of the HDDs they require. The good news, all agreed, is that 2012 is no 2009. Despite the forecast reduction, there's nonetheless an expectation of some growth, and companies are still spending, if in select areas. One such area is software, where investments are shifting from growth-oriented opportunities to solutions that enable organizations to do more with the same number of people.

How much do you know about some of the greatest innovative thinkers of the ages? Take our quiz and try to identify seven of them, taken from "The Little Black Book of Innovation: How it Works, How to Do It" (Harvard Business Review Press/available now) Author Scott D. Anthony contends that all too often the potential for innovation is stifled by corporate culture and outright panic. “Large companies are capable of — and often do — amazing things,” he writes. “But these firms just scratch the surface. The talent of their people, the technologies in their labs ... (are) held back by a mix of fear and misunderstanding. Too many would-be beautiful businesses that could reinvent markets and create substantial value live only in PowerPoint documents, never to be launched.” To counter this, Anthony outlines his 28-day program for mastering the skill of innovation and deploying it to benefit your organization. For more about The Little Black Book, click here.

Apple looks set to continue its reign as the designer of computing products that consumers love, and that CIOs love to hate. We understand. With many of your core enterprise applications optimized for the Windows OS, you may not even have enough Apple experts on staff to help support the demand from your workers to bring new iPhones and iPads into the workplace, let alone consider accommodating products such as the MacBook Air. But, as Apple continues to win over consumer hearts and minds, you’ll need to be prepared for the day when your CEO wanders over and asks, “Why aren’t we using this?.” With that in mind, here are the 10 Apple products you’ll need to evaluate this year.

If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to sharpen your business and leadership skills or to read more books, CIO Insight’s winter book guide can help you on both fronts. This collection of titles explores a broad range of key issues facing CIOs today, examining leadership trends, business agility, corporate and executive transparency and the ever-present mandate to innovate. If you add these to your “must read” list, you can find out why C-Suite executives have less influence than they like to think they have, or how you can use smarter social-media strategies to elevate your “e-profile”. Others discuss ways to maximize the effectiveness of today’s business tools and how to manage projects from an enterprise perspective. Each offers insights and information that can be of value to the ambitious technology leader. For more information about each book included here, click on the link above the slide. And please note, all publication dates are subject to change.

You're a tough negotiator when it comes to working with vendors to make sure your company gets the best technology it can for its money. But, how well do you negotiate when it comes to advancing your own career? Whether you're looking to move on to a new organization, or to get a raise and acknowledgement for your hard work and success at your current job, knowing what to say and how to say it can make the difference between getting what you want and being left out in the cold. According to Stuart Diamond, author of "Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World" and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, there are some sure-fire ways you can interact with your CEO, present or potential, to advance your career. The key, he says, is focusing on people and emotions instead of power and logic. Effective negotiation is situational. There is no one-size-fits-all model. "It’s time for a new model of human interaction," says Diamond. "Negotiating is not about gaining power over people to force your will on them. It is about how to get more, not getting everything, but doing better every single day." In his book, Diamond shares situation-specific examples on how to evaluate your goals, what could be standing in your way and who can help you get there. For more on Diamond's book, click here

If you’ve been promising your loyal IT staffers that you’ll take care of them with raises when the economy turns around, 2012 is unlikely to be the year you get to make good on those promises. While employees in some roles will see increases this year, raises will be held in check, according to the most recent annual salary survey/forecast from Janco Associates. And CIOs and other executive-level IT managers will be in the same boat, likely to see level compensation from last year. “For information technology, the recession has bottomed out and the hiring of IT professionals will increase in 2012,” says Victor Janulaitis, CEO at Janco. “However there still are a number of companies that will continue to be cautious, concerned that the recovery will not be strong enough to support increased IT spending. Cost control is still the rule of the day.” One encouraging sign: There will be a surge in the number of part-timers and contractors hired for mission-critical projects, which bodes well for eventual increases in overall salaries. Also, if you’re looking to find other ways to pay workers without increasing base pay, bonuses are trending upward, the research shows. Tech professionals representing more than 1,100 companies took part in the research. For more about the survey, click here.

The Consumer Electronics Show 2012, held in Las Vegas Jan. 10-13, has been a techie Bacchanalia filled with products sure to catch the eye of your employees. Whether they’re getting excited by LG’s 4G Spectrum with OLED screens or the countless Ultrabooks being shown off, you can rest assured that any number of new devices will be working their way into your enterprise and bringing you management and data security headaches. Sure, you can take some comfort in the fact that Microsoft is managing to keep folks interested in Windows 8. But there’s also plenty to fear in the year ahead, as the products introduced at this year’s CES find their way into the eager hands of tech-savvy workers. Here are 10 to keep you up at night.

Tablets, cloud computing, enterprise app stores and extreme low-energy servers are among the 10 technology trends that Gartner expects to be the most strategic in 2012. How to approach such a list? Most important is to ask yourself who in your organization is examining each trend, Gartner analyst David Cearley said in a Jan. 10 Webinar. In 2012 expect to see mobile define the user experience; social networking and contextual experiences to influence apps and interfaces; the cloud to become still more mainstream; and new strategies for managing the heaps of data coming from once-unimaginable sources. Speaking to the latter, Cearley offered the analogy of the frog in the stockpot, warning CIOs not to sit contentedly as the industry heats up around them. "Don't just throw money at it," Cearley advised. "But starting this year, do some analysis about where you can deliver on it." Remain alert and forman actionable plan: This seems sage advice for keeping out of the soup on all counts.

With the second decade of the 21st Century well underway, we thought it was a perfect time to pause and consider the remarkable products and technological innovations we’ve seen so far. The past 11 years have ushered in a parade of disruptive, life-altering (and business-altering) products and services that have settled so firmly into our everyday lives that it’s hard to remember how we functioned without them. In the process, these innovations have rewritten the rules of enterprise IT, reshaped the ways in which we communicate, and revamped our workplaces. The eight technology innovations on this list were chosen based on the impact they’ve had in our work environments, our personal lives, or both.

When it comes to power in the boardroom, men seem to be enjoying more than their fair share, according to a new report, "Women and the Paradox of Power." While many companies try to level the playing field between male and female employees and executives, female CIOs and other executives say their male counterparts are disproportionately calling the shots, according to the report, by Jane Perdue of Braithwaite Innovation Group and Dr. Anne Perschel of Germane Consulting. Many women in the higher echelons of business say they don't have the power they need to do their jobs effectively, and don't harbor high hopes that power is forthcoming. To help turn that around, female executives need to banish thoughts of living out a "Cinderella story," in which power is given to them as a reward instead of something they have to go out and take for themselves. More than 230 senior-level professional women took part in the survey upon which the report is based, which also includes research from the White House, the National Association for Female Executives, and other organizations. For more about the report, click here. Here are selected highlights:

Their budgets are being slashed, yet they're still asked to go out and innovate. Sound familiar? It should, because these are the challenges facing state CIOs and they're strikingly similar to challenges that their private-sector counterparts battle. In 2012, public-sector technology leaders say they will be looking at increased consolidation, cloud-computing services, exploring mobility and sharing services and network connectivity, according to a recent survey of state CIOs from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). NASCIO, which represents state CIOs and IT executives from the U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia, conducts the annual survey to identify the top ten strategies, management processes and solutions states are exploring, as well which tech applications and tools on their radar. And government IT leaders are dealing with many of the same internal and external pressures as those in private industry, especially with respect to funding. "Tough times require smarter decision making," says NASCIO president and Oregon chief information officer Dugan Petty. "Decisions for cutting as well as investing will need to be made with an enterprise perspective, and will need to be carefully evaluated and even defended through appropriate governance and analytics." For more about the report, click here. Here are their top ten priorities:

While business clichés such as "synergy" and "breaking down silos" may be hackneyed and worn, there's still value to be found in the ideas behind them, according to a new book by author consultant Tom Kendrick. In "Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You -- A Project Manager's Guide" (Amacom/available in January), Kendrick examines the ways in which once-isolated departments and teams can work together on projects, even when they're hired consultants or working in far-flung time zones. CIOs and other top managers are challenged to establish and maintain control, without pulling rank, Kendrick says. To help avoid problems before they arise, Kendrick reveals ten statements that portend trouble when spoken by outside-department project leaders. If you hear these, take charge and make the necessary changes quickly to avoid disaster. Kendrick is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and project/program management consultant for companies such as HP, Visa, DuPont and GE. For more about the book, click here.

Managing the ever-growing amount of data your organization produces can be a daunting problem. New cloud technologies seem to present some solutions, but they also bring their own data challenges, according to a recent survey from consulting firm KPMG. What do CIOs and IT organizations need to do to make sense of their Big Data? To gain an edge over the competition, they need to reduce the complexity of data and use it to make better decisions, the survey finds. And many decision-makers are turning to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution upgrades to make that happen. "In the past, the focus was usually on connecting processes or transactions from disparate systems, often creating a hodge-podge of unfocused information," says Stephen G. Hasty, national advisory innovation leader for KPMG. "Today, executives have solicited business-unit input in advance, and planning for new IT frameworks at leading organizations already includes data analytics, predictive modeling and cloud strategies to improve corporate knowledge." More than 335 executives took part in the research. Here are selected highlights:

IBM CEO Virginia M. Rometty took the helm Jan. 1, 2012, as the 100-year-old company’s first female CEO, replacing longtime CEO Samuel Palmisano, who remains as the company’s chairman. When her appointment was announced in October 2011, Rometty told the New York Times that she does not anticipate changing course abruptly. Yet, Romettty’s first move, on Jan. 3, was to make key management changes in sales, growth markets and services. The next day, the company announced its plans to acquire Green Hat, a software testing company. Is this the pace of change we can expect under her leadership? The New York Times calls IBM "a company so predictable that its financial forecast is packaged as a ‘five-year road map.’". Bloomberg reports that Rometty is trying to reach a goal of $20 billion in new revenue for IBM by 2015. Rometty, who has been with the company since 1981, led the IBM services division for more than a decade before shifting in 2009 to the position of SVP and Group Executive for Sales, Marketing & Strategy. She’s been one of the driving forces behind the expansion of the company’s analytics unit, among other achievements. For years now, IBM has been a trusted enterprise partner that many CIOs have relied upon to get the right products and solutions into their offices. The ascension of a new CEO – even one with Big Blue roots as deep as Rometty’s – is likely to raise questions for enterprise CIOs about the direction the company will take next. With that in mind, here are nine things IT leaders need to know about Rometty.

While you may be one of those CIO mavericks when it comes to the latest technologies and trends, you may find that you sometimes need a hand when it comes to knowing how to leverage your knowledge and expertise to help shape your organization's strategy. How can you inspire people to get behind you and support your ideas? In the book "The Transformational CIO: Leadership and Innovation Strategies for IT Executives in a Rapidly Changing World" (Wiley/Available now), author Hunter Muller explores these issues and offers solutions and strategies to help CIOs transform their organizations. It’s written for the CIO of today, helping build your expertise beyond technology and develop in the spheres of business, leadership and corporate culture. Building these skills is critical, Muller says, because IT is no longer an internally-focused department lurking in the shadows. Instead, CIOs must take an active hand in developing and guiding multiple processes required to achieve broad business goals. Muller is president/CEO of HMG Strategy, a tech-leadership network that presents conferences and professional services for CIOs and other senior IT executives. For more about the book, click Here Here are selected highlights:

Have you really looked around your office lately? Chances are, you’ll see a wealth of products and services that you wish your employees weren’t using. Employees are often deciding for themselves what products they want to use at work. At the same time, some CEOs and other top-level executives are leaning on CIOs and IT leaders to permit consumer-focused products into the workplace. It’s beat ‘em or join ‘em time, and the fight against consumerization of IT appears to be a losing battle. That said, there are still some products and solutions that flat-out don’t belong (say, Netflix) or should be permitted only for certain users and with very specific use policies spelled out (say, Facebook or Twitter). Check out our rogues’ gallery and see whether you agree.

Just as the pace of technology continues to accelerate, breakthrough thought leadership from countless industry experts, visionaries and corporate leaders is helping us manage and analyze the ever-changing nature of the IT-business relationship. Our picks for the 10 top IT-business books of 2011 cover a broad spectrum—from practical advice on IT leadership and management, to revolutionary theories on the impact of technology change on our business, society and culture. These works—all of which are available on Amazon.com and via other book distributors—help current and aspiring IT leaders to cut through the techno-clutter to drive real results. They provide much-needed perspective on our ever-changing industry. And they offer compelling wisdom and tools that will help you embrace the current reality to accelerate your future. If you haven’t already read these choice books, add them to your reading list for early 2012.

The mobile market is a hot-button topic for consumers and enterprise users alike. On the consumer side, folks are scooping up smartphones and tablets. On the enterprise side, IT decision-makers are realizing the value of mobile products. With that success comes potential pitfalls for CIOs. For years now, you’ve been buying BlackBerry smartphones, employing BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and largely ignoring the mobile space after that. As more and more of your employees request to connect their iPhones and Android devices to the corporate network, and with tablets likely to be as important as smartphones, you can no longer turn a blind eye toward the impact of mobility on your enterprise. To help you out a bit, we’re taking a look at 10 mobile traps that, without some vigilance, could cause all kinds of trouble in the enterprise. With these as your guide, we’re confident you’ll make smart mobile decisions for your enterprise in the coming years.

Apple had a 2011 that was filled with great highs and great lows. The company’s iPhone and iPad continued to be successful, and sales outpaced those the company posted in 2010. But 2011 was also the year that the company’s co-founder and leader, Steve Jobs, passed away at the age of 56. To say that it was a sad day for consumers and Apple insiders alike would be an understatement. Through it all, Apple excelled in 2011. The company took on difficult tasks, met some challenges, and along the way, proved why it might just deserve the honor of being called the top technology company in the world. In the following slides, we’re going to examine that a bit further, and talk about some of the many accomplishments of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company. From launching Siri to effectively handling privacy concerns, Apple had a benchmark year in 2011.

Just because you've been downsized doesn't mean you have to stay down and out. Many employees who've been laid off due to downsizing are finding their way back to the workforce, even if they have to make some sacrifices along the way. In fact, a majority of the workers laid off in the last year have found jobs, according to a survey from Career Builder. Many were willing to relocate or even undergo a complete career makeover in order to get back in the game, the survey finds. Meanwhile, job seekers who are unfamiliar with new technologies can struggle, as not being up-to-snuff skill-wise can have a far-reaching economic impact, says Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America. "We have a growing skills gap and the need to get millions of Americans back to work," he says. "As the economy recovers, we must focus on retraining workers to help them move to new fields with a greater number of opportunities." More than 800 professionals who were laid off from full-time jobs in the past year took part in the research. Here are selected highlights:

Where can you go to find out what’s on the mind of some of the top CIOs in the world? Try the pages of the book “CIOs At Work” (Apress/Available now). Author Ed Yourdon gained access to leading IT executives in fields such as energy, government, technology and education and offers probing, insightful interviews. He speaks with the CIOs of 16 major organizations including Google, Microsoft, Verizon and the New York Stock Exchange. The book focuses on the shifting role of CIOs, from that of nuts-and-bolts IT managers to strategic players helping craft an organization’s business and growth strategies. “People in the business units are almost as computer-savvy as people in the IT organization,” Yourdon writes. “They, too, are part of the 'digital nation' that has been using computers since birth ... The most exciting part of the CIO work I saw during my interviews involved true partnership efforts between IT professionals and business-unit partners.” Yourdon is a computer science consultant and founder of NODRUOY Inc., as well as co-founder of the Cutter Consortium. For more about the book, click here. We take a look at 10 nuggets of wisdom that some of the world’s most savvy and influential CIOs have to offer.

No doubt you spend much of your time each day considering where to invest your company’s technology budget. You’re likely to drop corporate cash on computers, smartphones, cloud solutions, software, or any of the countless other products that your employees might need. But, even hardworking CIOs should get to have some fun with technology. So, what about the gadgets and tools that will benefit your own work/life balance? Here’s a look at the nine hottest tech products—from work tools to TV advancements—that are expected to be available in 2012. We think you’ll find many of these to be worthy of your hard-earned cash.

It’s nice to look back at 2011 and see all the great accomplishments in the world of technology. From honoring Steve Jobs following his death to delivering some of the finest products the industry has ever seen, the technology sector was filled with stories that should inspire companies to pursue innovations in the years ahead. But, there was another side to the tech industry this year. In far too many cases, some of the most prominent firms in the business engaged in activities that hurt consumers, wreaked havoc on the industry, and ultimately made them look bad. Even the most prominent companies, including Apple and Google, were unable to protect themselves from the slings and arrows of critics. Here’s a look at the 10 worst technology mishaps in 2011.

There are many levels of leadership, and CIOs who ask themselves a few key questions can determine their leadership style and how to best manage their teams for success. Begin by taking a look at whether your IT department employees follow you because they have to – or because they are inspired by you. In the new book, The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential (Center Street/Available now) author John C. Maxwell illustrates five levels of leadership -- Position, Permission, Production, People Development and Pinnacle -- and explains how to optimize your managerial impact in each area. Whether employees are motivated by favors like money, perks or nice gestures etc., by promotion potential, or by a pure sense of "buy in,” you need to be aware of the paths to success and the potential pitfalls you could encounter along the way. (Hint: Micromanagement, an unchecked ego and “my way or the highway” directives will ultimately derail your upward momentum.) Maxwell is founder of EQUIP and the John Maxwell Company, both leadership-training organizations. For more about the book, go to JohnMaxwellOnLeadership.com. Here are selected highlights:

The problem with big data isn’t gaining access to it – it’s knowing what to do with it once you’ve got it. To achieve this, CIOs and IT organizations depend upon the experience and skills of data scientists. These professionals are driven to analyze a mass assemblage of information to help companies achieve strategic goals. That said, a significant shortfall in data-science talent looms large, according to a global survey from EMC Corp., which has launched a training/certification program to help address this need. The world’s volume of data doubles every 18 months, according to industry forecast, fueled by a wealth of mobile sensors, social media, surveillance, medical imaging, smart grids and other information generators. This creates a dynamic in which the vast majority of data professionals doubt that companies will be able to keep up, and future business growth will suffer as a result. Nearly 500 members of the data science community -- including data specialists, business intelligence analysts and data engineers, all with IT decision-making authority -- took part in the survey, conducted by the EMC Data Science Community. For more about the survey, click here. Here are eight highlights:

As more employees than ever seek to bring personal mobile devices into the workplace – and onto corporate networks – CIOs and other top technology managers are left with a host of new challenges. Consumerization, social media and mobility are exposing IT management "blind spots," according to a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne for Compuware Corp. The vast majority of IT leaders surveyed worry about consumerization's impact on risk, and most say they need to develop a deeper insight into employees’ experiences with applications to improve IT operations. “The age-old disconnect between business and IT is at risk of widening,” said Steve Tack, CTO over Compuware’s Application Performance Management (APM) business unit. “Employees are clearly hungry to use the same technologies in their business environments that they are already using in their personal lives. This is creating more challenges for those responsible to keep these technologies up and running.” To address this, CIOs must go beyond the “running the trains” mentality and create policies that the end-user experience and demand for new technologies and services into account, Tack contends. This way, end users will be supported as they look to take advantage of emerging technologies, which can greatly contribute to their organizations' business missions. About 520 CIOs from large enterprises worldwide took part in the research. To access the survey, click here Here are selected highlights:

Although the economy is having some trouble turning around, the IT job market looks to be a bright spot for early 2012. In fact, many enterprises are having troubling finding just the right tech talent to meet their changing IT needs. Is your company among the many firms that are looking for employees who can handle the increasingly difficult tasks presented to them by today’s mix of mobile, cloud and big data technologies? Then you know that finding IT job candidates who can adequately perform those duties isn’t always easy. Job search site Indeed says it analyzed millions of job postings to compile this list of the top 10 tech job skills of 2011. Here’s what you should be looking for from your next IT job candidates.

If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, then they’re also on different planets when it comes to business networking. As a CIO, you know you need to network as much as any other high-profile senior executive. But in the particularly male-dominated field of IT, it’s easy to make missteps while mingling with the opposite sex, even when you have the best of intentions. The book, “Business Networking and Sex ” (McGraw-Hill/Entrepreneur Press/Available in January 2012) explores this topic with a specific focus on gender-based interpretations. Supported by a survey in which 12,000 professionals participated, as well as interviews with select executives, lead author Ivan Misner reveals the many layers of complications that emerge as members of the opposite sex get together for events that are primarily defined as equal parts business and social functions. The book offers some frank talk about the ways men and women operate in business that is likely to leave some folks steaming mad. For example, one interview subject from the book admits: “Not to be sexist, but the hot businesswoman will always draw a larger crowd at networking functions because men assume that giving business to her will make her like him.” (We just love when someone prefaces a blatantly sexist statement with the phrase “not to be sexist.”) Misner is founder and chairman of BNI, a leading business networking organization. Here are selected highlights, including tips for men and women on how to avoid running afoul of sexist stereotypes while networking:

With the holiday season upon us, the amount of stress floating around your office right now is probably at a tipping point. It’s natural throughout the year for employees to engage in personal activities while at work but there’s nothing like the year-end holiday season to ratchet up the distraction level. Whether it’s checking on shipments or shopping online, there are typically far more distractions in the office in December than there are any other times of the year. For you, that means security and productivity issues could become a problem. Some CIOs decide that rather, than deal with those problems, they will block access to shipping services, such as UPS, and the ecommerce sites that use them. But that’s a pretty Grinch-like move. For one thing, workers will likely opt to access those sites from their smartphones or tablets. Even worse, they might try to find their way around the firewall and use your network to access Amazon, eBay, or countless other shopping sites. So, the best thing to do when it comes to holiday shopping activities in the office is to manage it with education. Here’s what you need to tell your employees about shopping online.

Is holiday good will spreading throughout your office this season? Overall, it seems, cash bonuses and other gift-giving rewards are on the rise, according to a recent survey from Bloomberg BNA. In addition, organizations are more inclined than they were in recent years to give workers additional holiday time off. They’re also elevating their participation in seasonal charity events. And employer-sponsored, companywide parties are growing in numbers compared to the darkest days of the recession. That said, certain kinds of holiday cheer – specifically the level of alcohol consumption at these events – will be held in check. Given liability concerns, many employers are taking precautions with respect to monitoring intake and providing safe alternatives for those who have to drive home home. More than 390 U.S. employers took part in the survey. Here’s hoping your organization is following suit with some of these nine holiday highlights:

What will be the top IT trends in the coming year? Deloitte Consulting LLP offers its take on what’s to come in the company’s annual Tech Trends report for 2012. Deloitte lists the top 10 disruptive and emerging technology trends that will play a crucial role for enterprises over the next 12 to 18 months. The report, which will be released in late January 2012, found five imminent technology forces that are driving business innovation: mobility, social networking, analytics, cloud services and cyber. “As we head into 2012, many CIOs are evaluating the various aspects of IT, looking ahead to the new technologies that can help them drive business growth in the years ahead,” says Mark White, principal and chief technology officer at Deloitte and co-author of the report. “Mobility, social, analytics, cloud and cyber are technology forces each impacting business today. The intersection of these represents an opportunity for new business technology value and innovation.” Here are the 10 predicted IT trends identified for 2012, along with some insights from Deloitte:

While it might be premature to say that happy days are here again, the job market for tech professionals is looking sunnier for the first half of 2012, according to a recent survey of IT-focused hiring managers and recruiters by Dice.com. The majority of respondents said they plan to hire more IT talent during the first half of 2012, and that those IT pros are likely to command higher salaries. This is good news for CIOs and other senior tech managers, many of whom have struggled to balance having fewer employees and increasing organizational demands. Yet finding the right kind of highly skilled job candidate continues to be a challenge as proven performers may choose to remain in their current jobs. "The pace of improvement has been impacted by broader economic concerns," says Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com. "Many companies are chasing mid-career talent. But the elevated economic uncertainty makes it tougher for hiring managers to lure tech professionals into leaving their current positions." Nearly 1,200 IT-focused hiring managers and recruiters took part in the research. Dice.com is a leading hub for IT professionals. Here are highlights from the survey:

Do you sometimes feel like a powerless manager who can’t affect change? Do you think that any one of dozens of people could sit in your chair and the outcomes would all be the same? Don’t worry, we won’t tell. It’s easy to get discouraged, but remember: This isn’t why you’ve worked so hard to pursue the path of being a CIO. So, consider the book “StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution” (Thomas Nelson/Available now). This guide will help you bring out the qualities within that will allow you to emerge as an organizational agenda-driver. Author Marcus Buckingham goes beyond affirmative platitudes to offer prescriptive tools to help readers evaluate and maximize their own strengths. These strengths “can be put to good use, or they can be put to bad use,” he writes. “If you don’t own your own strengths, if you don’t know them and understand them and consciously decide how you can best apply them in your life, they will come out anyway. But you won’t be in control of how they do.” The book also sheds insight on how to sharpen your managerial skills. Buckingham runs The Marcus Buckingham Company, a training and management consulting firm. For more about the book, click here.

What amounts to a good day for your IT team members? Is it when they make it to close-of-business without pulling out their hair over unclear goals, unrealistic deadlines and unnecessary distractions? Or, do they consider a good day to be one in which they accomplish measurable progress on projects that deliver concrete value to your company? CIOs and other managers, of course, strive for the latter scenario. In the book “The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work” (Harvard Business Review Press/available now), authors Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer reveal strategies to cultivate the latter kind of workplace. The book draws its conclusions based upon rigorous research – Amabile and Kramer analyzed nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by hundreds of employees in selected organizations. In the end, the authors discovered that fostering what they call a “progress culture” sparks long-term motivation. Amabile is a professor of business administration and director of research at Harvard Business School. Kramer is a developmental psychologist and contributor to publications such as Harvard Business Review. For more about the book click here .

You know all about Business Process Management (BPM) tools. And you probably think you have a handle on social-media sites and applications. But we’re betting you haven’t yet considered how social networking and BPM can come together to make your department, and your entire enterprise, more agile than ever? The book “Social BPM: Work, Planning and Collaboration Under the Impact of Social Technology ” (CreateSpace/available now) examines what could evolved into a new technology force-of-nature. In the chapter, “How Social Technologies Enhance the BPM Experience for All Participants,” contributing author Steve Russell sheds insight into the human equation of social BPM. He spotlights two key trends: the increase of user influence on technology decision-making and the decline of rigid, hierarchal corporate structures and says together they have opened opportunities. “Instead of starting with the process model, start with the participants within the process,” he writes. “Once their needs are understood, processes can be developed that support those needs, not the other way around.” Russell is CTO of Global 360 (now OpenText), an international provider of process and case-management solutions. Here are selected highlights:

CIOs and other managers know the heat is on to succeed internationally, given the huge growth in global markets. Talent acquisition is part of the picture here. But organizations need to do a better job of specifically targeting women overseas. While not specific to the tech sector, the book “Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women are the Solution” (Harvard Business Review Press/available now) has a lot of guidance to offer IT leaders as they consider the gender balance in their own organizations. In addition, while the book focuses on markets outside the U.S., many of the practices outlined here can be easily applied to the American workforce. The book’s authors, Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid, contend that professional women in markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Middle East boast better credentials, higher ambitions and greater loyalty than their male peers. They highlight the 10 tactics being used by high-profile, international companies that are improving the gender-balance equation – within the rank-and-file and executive levels. The key: addressing work-life and understanding the professional challenges that are unique to women. Hewlett is an economist and chair of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force — a group of 65 global companies and organizations committed to developing talent across the divides of gender, generation, and culture. Rashid is executive vice president of the Center for Work-Life Policy and has served as a management consultant in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

You may consider yourself as more of a business manager than a brilliant designer. But guess what? You don’t need to be a software whiz to incorporate useful principles of design-project excellence into your day-to-day job as CIO. In the book Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Toolkit for Managers ” (Columbia University Press/available now), authors Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie reveal how these principles can guide organizations to success. The authors contend that too many business leaders consider design thinking as some kind of magical mystery that only companies such as Apple and Google can harness. Rather, they argue, innovation stems from exploration and collaboration that can benefit everyday end users in small but notable ways. There are two sections in the book that offer particular interesting insights for CIOs: One about the myths of business leadership, and another focused on the significance of value-chain mapping to unleash design thinking across your organization. You’ll find highlights from both sections below. Liedtka is a member of the Strategy, Ethics and Entrepreneurship area at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Ogilvie is CEO of Peer Insight, an innovation-strategy consultancy for clients such as Bank of America, GE, HP, Pfizer and Starwood Hotels.

Like many CIOs, you may find yourself struggling to innovate in advance of an anticipated economic recovery, while still striving to keep costs down in a decidedly uncertain business climate. And, even though you’re striving to be seen as a valued, senior member of your management teams, the enterprise perception of how much IT contributes to a competitive edge is decidedly mixed. These and other findings convey a broad sense of the current state of affairs for CIOs worldwide, as reported in a survey from researchers PA Consulting Group and IT recruitment firm Harvey Nash. Results indicate that CIOs are challenged to strike a balance with respect to overseeing operational efficiencies, cutting expenses, providing nuts-and-bolts utility while attempting to innovate. The latter point is a moving target, says PA’s David Elton, an IT and change-management specialist. “There is constant change in the business environment and in business appetite for risk,” he says. “Outsourcing is increasing, cyber security is a growing concern and cloud is a potential game changer -- albeit with a lot of firms in wait-and-see mode. All of these trends are creating an opportunity for CIOs to innovate and collaborate. But it also means CIOs constantly have to adjust the balance of utility versus innovation balance in their organizations.” More than 2,500 CIOs and IT leaders took part in the research. For more information about the survey, click here :

Today’s precarious economy has forced organizations to think lean -- as in launching transformations to eliminate wasteful processes and inefficient use of resources. Yet, by focusing strictly on cost reductions, CIOs and other top business leaders lose sight of what’s really important: The need to create value throughout this lean transformation. The book “Beyond the Lean Revolution: Achieving Successful and Sustainable Enterprise Transformation” (Amacom/Available now) conveys the need for managers to assemble a complex and interdependent blueprint involving people, processes and technology to effectively serve all stakeholders. Authors Deborah J. Nightingale and Jayakanth Srinivasan provide a detailed lean transformation roadmap, as well as examples taken from real-life companies such as Raytheon and Rockwell Collins. Nightingale is a professor of practice of engineering systems and aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and is director of MIT’s Center for Technology Policy and Industrial Development. Srinivasan is a research scientist at MIT’s Lean Advancement Initiative. Here are eight highlights:

Nowhere in the enterprise is the rapid turnover of technology trends felt more keenly than in your own IT organization. Your ability to identify upcoming technology trends and steer your organization in the right direction is a major ingredient to your success as a CIO. So, how effective is your IT organization when it comes to spotting and taking advantage of trends? Do you opt for a wait-and-see approach? Or, do you take the opposite tactic, chasing every “Next Big Thing” without properly evaluating whether it will contribute to strategic goals? In the book Harvard Business Review on Rebuilding Your Business Model (Harvard Business Review/Available now), contributors Elie Ofek and Luc Wathieu identify four classic mistakes that executives make in helping their businesses navigate trends. While not unique to the world of IT, most of us can relate to trend-steering mistakes that “result in missed profit opportunities or wasteful investments in R&D,” as the authors write. “At the extreme, [such missteps] can jeopardize a company by ceding to rivals the opportunity to transform the industry.” Ofek is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Wathieu holds the Ferrero Chair in international marketing at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin. Here are the four classic mistakes to avoid:

We’re often told that rational decisions trump “gut calls.” But that’s not always the case. Intuition and instinct are intangible – even mysterious – qualities. Yet, they’re essential for those who’d rather lead with a bold sense of innovative vision than play it safe with the consensus model. In the book The Intuitive Compass: Why the Best Business Decisions Balance Reason and Instinct (Jossey-Bass/Available now), author Francis P. Cholle doesn’t endorse a gameplan in which all logical thinking and conventional wisdom is checked at the conference-room door. Gut decisions, he stresses, are more than guesses. He does, however, reveal how CIOs and other top managers can develop an educated sense of internal intuition -- within themselves and their employees -- to produce decisions that lead to innovation. With 20 years experience of working with Fortune 500 companies, Cholle is an international business consultant who lectures at the Wharton and Columbia business schools. For more about the book, go to www.theintuitivecompass.com. Here are 10 highlights:

As Apple’s iPad and other tablets move from the consumer world into the corporate IT ecosystem, business applications are moving beyond simple personal productivity applications to include enterprise heavy-hitters such as CRM and ERP. Vendors are launching tablet applications to meet enterprise demand, following where users want to take the tablet platform, says Gartner vice president and analyst David Willis, and CIOs should be aware of the ways software is evolving to conform to the tablet platform. “There are many highly visible ‘quick wins’ for tablets, such as board books and sales automation, which the CIO can use to break new ground,” Willis says. “But not all tablet apps are created equal from an enterprise perspective. Businesses must evaluate tablet apps based on functionality and business process integration, user factors, system integration, management and security, application architecture and vendor viability.” According to Gartner’s latest forecast, worldwide media tablet sales to end users will total 63.6 million units in 2011, a 261.4 percent increase from 2010 sales of 17.6 million units. Media tablet sales will continue to experience strong growth through to the end of 2015 when sales are forecast to reach 326.3 million units. By the end of 2014, the installed base of devices based on new lightweight mobile operating systems like Apple iOS, Google Android and Microsoft Windows 8 will exceed the total installed base of all PC-based systems. Here, we take a look at Gartner’s predictions of the top 10 commercial business applications you'll see on tablets.

Mobile applications are all the rage right now in the technology industry. Every time Apple gets a chance to talk about one of its iOS-based devices, the company also announces a new application-download milestone it has hit. And Google fans, always hoping that their favorite company will take down Apple, like to tout the growing number of developers who are moving to Android to create new applications for them. All told, ABI Research predicted in April 2011 that 44 billion mobile apps would be downloaded by 2016. For most CIOs, though, the allure of mobile apps isn’t so great. There are still many IT executives we speak with who see such applications as potential security and productivity holes that have no place in the enterprise. But not all mobile apps are created equal. Although there are major issues that can be associated with them, they can also deliver several important benefits to your company that you may not be not taking advantage of right now. Here are 10 things, good and bad, you need to know about mobile apps.

Do you sense that you’ve hit the glass ceiling? Or are you looking to help out fellow colleagues who feel like their career is stuck in neutral? Then consider this list of companies that rank highest for upward advancement and overall career opportunities. While this list isn’t exclusive to CIO or tech jobs, it’s a great starting place as you consider your next career moves. Glassdoor generated the research, gaining input from more than 150,000 employees who took part in a 20-question online survey. These companies run the range of classic American industry – from high-powered consulting and finance firms to a social-media phenomenon to, well, a popular convenience-store chain. Common characteristics of featured organizations include strong training and resources allocation and an autonomous atmosphere that encourages initiative. Says Robert Hohman, founder and CEO of Glassdoor, a jobs and career community site, “This [list] provides insight to job seekers, highlighting companies that have demonstrated to employees the paths to career advancement.” Summaries of each company are taken from survey responses. To access the entire list, click here: http://www.glassdoor.com/Top-Companies-for-Career-Opportunities-LST_KQ0,38.htm

A study by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by security technology vendor Vormetric Inc., shows that less than half of the 1,018 U.S.-based IT security practitioners and compliance officers surveyed think their organizations have adequate technology in place to secure their cloud computing infrastructures. The two groups of executives—IT security and compliance—disagree sharply on whether the cloud is as secure as on-premise data centers. They also have differing opinions on who is responsible for cloud data security and what security measures companies should use. Ponemon Institute’s report, “Data Security in the Cloud Survey of U.S. IT Operations, IT Security and Compliance Practitioners,” surveyed the executives online over a three-week period ending in October 2011. “While we were surprised by the different attitudes towards cloud security among IT practitioners and compliance officers, the findings did reveal that security in the cloud is a concern for both groups, especially in IaaS environments,” says Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. What is most troubling, Ponemon says, is that while respondents feel they lack adequate technologies to secure their cloud environments, ownership of security in the cloud is dispersed throughout the organization.

Would you or your employees feel depressed, anxious or physically ill if you had to go a week without a smartphone? According to recent research from enterprise mobility services vendor iPass, Inc., the majority of us say we expect to show these physical or psychological signs of addiction if we had to put down our iPhones, Android smartphones or Blackberrys for a few days. The research finds these feelings can be the result of the increasingly blurry line between personal and business time and the fact that many of us are using our personal Angry Birds-playing devices for business reasons. Yet the 24/7 workplace culture, abetted by the ubiquity of mobile devices in our lives, is taking its toll. We aren't sleeping or exercising enough, and our physical health is suffering, which can hurt your bottom line. "Today's mobile employees are critical to the success of every enterprise, contributing 240 more work hours a year than their non-mobile counterparts," says Evan Kaplan, president and CEO of iPass. More than 2,300 mobile enterprise employees took part in the research. For more about the survey, click here. Here are selected highlights:

We recently reported on a study that sheds light on the increasing prevalence of smartphone addiction, in which 88% of professionals polled say they’d feel either disoriented, distraught, lonely or physically ill if they went without their device for a working week. You may dismiss your own constant use of a smartphone as simply a convenient way to get through the day, ignoring the telltale signs of a developing problem. One troubling threshold that’s not to be ignored: When the device seems to control the user, as opposed to the user maintaining control over the device. “There are people who are compulsive about other habits, such as eating or shopping,” says Ramani Durvasula, a licensed clinical psychologist and California State University professor who has appeared on the program, Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers. “And this paradigm can be extended to smartphone use.” To provide additional insight for CIO Insight readers, Durvasula and career coach/productivity expert Marsha Egan, CEO of InboxDetox.com, have come up with these nine “red flag” behaviors that indicate possible smartphone addiction:

For quite some time now, some of the brightest minds in academia and IT leadership have been advocating and evangelizing the value of enterprises incorporating consumer IT into their operations. Now, the “Consumerization of IT” has undoubtedly taken hold. But, exactly where it’s happening most might surprise you. And CIOs who have resisted the “bring your own technology” movement need to pay close attention. For “The Promise of Consumer Technologies in Emerging Markets,” a September 2011 report from the Accenture Institute for High Performance, authors Jeanne G. Harris and Iris Junglas surveyed more than 4,000 IT employees in 16 countries to gauge where ubiquitous personal tech tools are permeating the enterprise. Turns out the iPads, iPhones, and Android smartphones, as well as popular Web apps such as YouTube and Skype, are most abundantly utilized in emerging markets. Sure, Asia has always been seen as a pioneer in mobile technology usage, but countries such as China, India and Singapore have run with that ethic—and left developed nations in their dust. Western IT leaders may learn some valuable lessons from these findings from Accenture’s study.

As a CIO, you both help promote new trends in the industry and respond to them. While some of your colleagues are still determining what to do in the next year, you're already thinking about how technology is going to help shape your business far into the future. CIOs have to be forward-thinking executives to make sure enterprises are leveraging technology in the right way. In light of that, a host of major changes are coming your way in the next few years. From the increased popularity of cloud computing to the resurgence of Apple in the enterprise, you’ll be faced with a host of opportunities and challenges that will have profound effects upon your decision-making and your ability to help your company maximize its return on investment. Here we take a look at some of the trends that will impact your decision-making as you plot your company's technology roadmap. From cloud-computing to extremely low-energy servers, a slew of new ideas and technologies are coming your way.

Is the enterprise ready for the cloud? Companies like Google, Salesforce, IBM and others think so and they're creating solutions give enterprise customers what they want. Cloud-computing solutions are gaining traction across the market. As a CIO, the value of cloud computing is clear. And chances are, if your company hasn't already deployed cloud solutions, you're making plans to do so. However, with budget limitations, unless your CEO finds value in cloud computing, it may be challenging to get the solution you want. How can you educate your CEO and convince him or her that cloud computing will be a boon to your business? Here we take a look at some tactics you can use when talking to your boss. Cloud computing may not be the easiest sell, but when you make it abundantly clear that cloud services can help your company in a big way, they're bound to listen. Flip through the following slides to find out how to sell your CEO on cloud computing:

It's not easy balancing all of the responsibilities you have as CIO. Whether it's managing your staff, determining which technology solutions will best benefit your business, or trying to work with a CEO who isn't technology-minded and can't see how your contributions to the company are vital, you've got a lot on your plate. And as technology and business goals become more intricately intertwined in the enterprise, your responsibilities are sure to become more plentiful and more complicated than ever. With all the added pressure, it's important that you stay focused and avoid making mistakes that could be costly. Technology has become so integral to the daily tasks of employees, not following up with the right solution to an issue or failing to see the bigger tech picture can have a profoundly negative impact on your company. If and when that happens, holding the reins of the IT organization, all the blame will fall on your shoulders. So, for moments when you might need some guidance, we've created this cheat sheet to help keep the big picture in focus. In the following slides we take a look at some technology mistakes that you'd do best to avoid if you'd like to be considered a consummate CIO.

For CIOs, not all technology vendors are created equal. There are some that deliver outstanding solutions for enterprises across a wide array of technologies and others that fall short. It's the CIO's job to make sure the company is focusing on vendors that offer what they need. With that in mind, we take a look here at some of the companies that you, as a CIO, should keep at the top of your list when you're evaluating technology solutions and looking to stay ahead in today's highly competitive marketplace. Some industry observers might find at least a few of the companies on the list surprising. But it’s important to note that as technology and the needs of business evolve, many unexpected companies are playing a role in the enterprise. The times are changing. And although there are a few vendors that refuse to go away, the reality today is that there are more companies able to have an impact on your daily decision-making. In the following slides we take a look at some of the companies that should matter the most to CIOs and IT leaders.

The turbulent economy is taking a toll on worker confidence – and IT professionals are far from immune. Recent surveys from Technisource and Glassdoor reveal that employees are growing increasingly pessimistic about career prospects as the impression that a sustained rebound remains elusive lingers. The latest Technisource IT Employee Confidence Index score has dipped below the 50 mark, for example, and very few tech professionals feel that the economy is getting any better. Meanwhile, Glassdoor reports that U.S. employees are “on edge” with a significant share of workers concluding that the economy will lead to either a stalled out career or even a lost job. "Employee confidence in the job market and compensation levels appears to be at a pause, in much the same way the economy is stuck between growth and contraction right now," says Rusty Rueff, a Glassdoor career and workplace expert. “Employees and job seekers are both expressing deep concern that continued market uncertainty will impact hiring and their careers and ability to find jobs in the near future." More than 2,290 adults took part in the Glassdoor survey, for which results may be accessed here. Nearly 260 IT professionals took part in the Technisource survey, which may be accessed here. Here are highlights from both reports:

The damage experienced by a company in the wake of a data breach can have a lasting negative impact on brand equity and reputation. How lasting? An online survey of 843 executives in the U.S. conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by security technology provider Experian Data Breach Resolution shows that it takes about one year, on average, to restore an organization’s reputation. In addition to the time and energy it takes to rectify the situation, a data breach has the potential to severely affect a company’s brand equity over the long term, according to the report. Depending on the type of information lost as a result of the breach, the average damages to the value of the brand ranged from $184 million to more than $330 million.

When Microsoft launched Windows XP at the turn of the millennium, no one was sure what to expect. Would the operating system become a mega-hit like Windows 98 or would it disappoint customers the way Windows Vista did? Now over a decade since its launch, Windows XP is widely considered one of the best operating system versions to ever hit store shelves. Companies around the globe are still running the operating system, even though two successors have launched. But the time has come for every company to finally cut the cord and ditch Windows XP. Yes, it’s a fine operating system that supports all your accessories and applications, but it’s really past its prime. And with an outdated design that many employees find tedious at this point as sleeker, easier to use competitors hit the market, it’s about time you ditch XP in favor of another operating system, such as Windows 7 or even Mac OS X Lion, that can deliver all the features you need – rather than settling for having only some of them. Flip through the following slides to find out why Windows XP, after a long tenure in your office, needs to go.

It’s not news that times are tough, and have been for a while. Jobs are scarce, and pay is largely flat. If there’s any bright spot in the business economy, a report from Deloitte finds that productivity has actually increased in these uncertain times. According to Deloitte’s findings, 70 percent of the 696 midmarket executives polled in the U.S. said productivity has climbed 70 percent since the Great Recession began in December 2007. For these companies, it’s all about business processes and technology—not people. Automation and the efficiencies it brings have always promised great things, and for these respondents, the vision has become reality. But while hiring en masse has not been a viable option, respondents say they’re getting more from their existing workforce. Tough times can bring positive benefits for some, it appears: these executives cited better morale/teamwork, and more skilled and educated workers as a bonus in keeping their business machine running. The survey was conducted from July 19 to August 15, 2011; these findings are responses to the question, “What were the top three reasons behind the rise in productivity at your company since the onset of the recession?” Only time will tell if these ingredients will continue to drive the recipe for success. But the major gains in business process improvement and technological enhancement should make CIOs and other IT leaders feel a sense of accomplishment…for now.

Whether you're a CIO or an IT employee, Agile methods can help your team innovate and excel in a world in which data warehousing, business intelligence and analytics are becoming a more important part of the IT ecosystem. In the book, Agile Analytics: A Value-Driven Approach to Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing (Addison-Wesley Professional), author Ken Collier demonstrates how Agile thinking can fuel greater successes for teams that manage analytics development, using widely diverse skill sets to support the oversight of quickly growing data inventories. Team collaboration is essential to the process of devising winning strategies and solutions. Collier outlines best practices for effective team collaboration in his book, and these practices can be applied beyond the world of business intelligence and data warehousing. They can be applied to any IT project that requires team members working together and being creative. Collier is founder/president of KWC Technologies Inc., and is a senior consultant with the Cutter Consortium in the agile development/business intelligence practice areas. For more about the book, click here.

In the rush to move into cloud computing, deploy mobile devices and leverage social media, a growing gap is developing between organizations’ business needs and their ability to tackle new and complex security threats, according to Ernst & Young LLP’s 14th annual Global Information Security Survey. Although 72 percent of the 1,700 worldwide IT and security executives surveyed see increasing levels of risk due to external threats, and more companies are likely to adopt mobile tablet usage, security implementation is still low, the report says. Only about one third of respondents, surveyed online between June and August 2011, have updated their information security strategies in the past 12 months. “Information security is one of the most important issues companies face today, and strategies need to be refined to adjust to an ever-changing environment and resulting security risks,” says Bernie Wedge, Americas IT risk and assurance leader at Ernst & Young. “Mobility and networking are here to stay. The best-protected companies are those that are proactive, detecting and managing minor issues before they become major incidents, and for many companies, this means the current mindset needs to change from a focus on short-term fixes to a holistic, strategic approach.”

Remember when making decisions about which enterprise mobility products to choose was easy? You simply looked up the latest RIM offerings, chose your solutions, and you were all set. How times have changed. Now your users are demanding choice, and Apple’s iPhone as well as devices running the Google Android OS are multiplying in the workplace. Into the mix comes Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system, which has Samsung, HTC and, most recently, Nokia lining up devices. So far, though, the vast majority of enterprises haven’t indicated any widespread support for Windows Phone 7. For its part, Microsoft says that the corporate world should strongly consider deploying its operating system, since, it argues, the platform features a slew of worthwhile corporate-friendly features. For now, though, you’re right to turn your back on Windows Phone 7. Here are 10 reasons why.

Every interaction you have with members of your IT team is an opportunity to help them grow as both employees and as future leaders. But how often do you take advantage of this to coach them during your day-to-day interactions in the workplace? Are you setting aside time to mentor your employees and help them set goals that will advance their careers and benefit your department? Making the time is worth it, as your legacy within your organization will be determined by the quality of the leaders you leave behind. The book, Becoming an Exceptional Executive Coach: Use Your Knowledge, Experience, and Intuition to Help Leaders Excel (Amacom/Available now), explores this topic in-depth, providing insight and outlining best practices to help CIOs and other senior executives forge human partnerships with team members ready to take on leadership roles. While the book places much focus on formal sessions between a coach and a key company contributor, many of its “takeaway steps” can easily apply to routine interactions between department heads and employees. Authors Michael H. Frisch, Robert J. Lee, Karen L. Metzger, Jeremy Robinson and Judy Rosemarin are all executive coaches/trainers who have collaborated on creating the “iCoachNewYork” professional coaching certificate program for the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City Universtiy of New York. For more about the book, click here. Here are selected highlights:

If your company is like many others, you’re already exploring social media. But are these efforts providing real value? Or is social media perceived as more like a novelty -- interesting enough, occasionally amusing but ultimately disconnected from the delivery of business-focused outcomes? The book, The Social Organization: How to Use Social Media to Tap the Collective Genius of Your Customers and Employees (Harvard Business Review Press/available now), reveals what CIOs and other senior executives must understand about social media to maximize its potential. Authors Anthony Bradley and Mark P. McDonald have studied successes and failures at more than 400 organizations to come up with proven techniques that best capitalize on collective behaviors of users. If effective collaboration is established with these users, the authors contend, corporate leaders can benefit from fresh insights about practices, products and emerging trends, among other key topic points. Bradley and McDonald are lead researchers at Gartner. Here are three social media success stories, plus seven best practices you can put to use today:

When we think about the technology world, we often spend our time discussing the hugely popular products. We examine how Windows became so popular, and talk about the way in which the iPhone and iPad have changed the world. The products that fail, or in some way disappoint customers, are typically left out of discussions. Every now and again, though, it’s worth examining those devices and services that couldn’t make the grade, and discuss why they failed. Most of the items featured here managed to survive longer than celebrity Kim Kardashian’s 72-day marriage to Nets basketball player Kris Humphries. But all of them were ultimately doomed. In some cases, it was simply a matter of being ahead of the times. But for others, the failures were due mainly to the trouble the companies had in proving to customers -- both consumers and enterprise users -- that the products were worth trying out. Herewith, our list of 10 epic tech failures. Some may surprise you, and others may bring back ugly memories. Let’s see what we can learn from these mistakes.

Do you consider your computer history chops to be up to snuff? Then test your smarts with our quiz of the 10 most influential contributors to the history of computers. You’ll find no mention of the usual suspects, such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, in this quiz, which we compiled based on information from Ranker.com. Instead, we focus on unsung pioneers whose collective work dates back to the War of 1812. We’re presenting this quiz in classic “Jeopardy!” answer-then-question format. Ranker.com is a site dedicated to declaring superlatives within the worlds of film, TV, music, games, sports, automobiles, books and technology. It claims more than 2 million monthly unique users. We work on the honor system here, so take the quiz with no help allowed from your “Internet machine”:

We recently revealed to you the six common causes of stress among IT folks. But, are you aware of some of the less predictable sources of tension, anxiety and headaches? Naturally, if you want to be at your best in leading your tech teams, it doesn’t bode well to devolve into a crumpling pile of brittle nerves. Your teams look to you as a leader, after all, not a needy train wreck. But you may be surprised to learn that your eating, dressing and grooming habits— as well as something that can only be scientifically described as “the cuddle factor”—can make or break your state of calm under pressure, according to research and wellness experts. We compiled this list based upon tips suggested by websites such as healthline.com and mystressmanagement.net, as well as wellness coach Elizabeth Scott. For more about Scott’s work, visit www.elizabethscott.info . Here are 10 surprising stressors that you can cut out of your work life right now:

A few years ago, when President Obama ushered in a seemingly tech-savvy administration, all IT eyes looked at government as the next great incubator of technology advancement. A report by trade group TechAmerica and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) shows how IT leaders in state and territory governments are managing one of the biggest CIO priorities: consolidation and shared services. The survey, which polled 51 state and territorial IT leaders during the summer of 2011, examines the 12 areas where they’ve made the most progress in consolidation. This list—and the subsequent status for each—should be very instructive for private-sector CIOs as well, as they continue to look for cost reductions and efficiencies in the ongoing economic uncertainty. Some of the top initiatives—telecom, Email and data centers—are no-brainers, while other popular consolidation-worthy aspects (servers, storage) also scored highly. See how your IT organization stacks up when it comes to this all-important initiative.

Talk about perceived value: In the eyes of some college students and young professionals, access to Facebook and Twitter via the mobile devices of their choice is now a bigger workplace priority than money. That's the big eye-opener gleaned from the 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology Report. The study paints a picture of a new generation of information workers that has lofty expectations of mobility and social media access on the job, and is even willing to accept a lower salary in exchange for that flexibility. The survey, conducted for Cisco by market research firm InsightExpress, polled 2,800 college students and young professionals in their early 20s — 100 of each group in 14 countries. The findings, available here, should provide IT executives with much to think about as you contend with growing pressures to support a wide array of devices and ensure anytime, anywhere network access for a user population that is growing increasingly dependent on social media to remain simultaneously connected to work, home and friends. Here's a look at some of the study's most telling numbers (percentages reflect the portion of all respondents, unless otherwise specified):

Do you find that some of your IT workers always think in worst-case scenarios, even when there’s no indication that the worst will happen? Or, do they they lash out over relatively minor setbacks? These are both signs of excessive stress, according to a recent report from CPP Inc., “Indicators of Stress for Top Professions,” . The report sheds light upon a number of classic symptoms of anxiety overload for a variety of professions, including IT positions such as software engineers and computer programmers. It also offers best practices for CIOs and other IT leaders to consider that will help reduce these internalized feeling of constant pressure among your team members. It’s important for managers to recognize and respond to these circumstances, as they could result in long-term damage for the individuals and the organization. The behavior of overstressed employees “can appear clumsy and out of character, even to those who know them best, which may hamper their performance,” according to the report. “In light of our current economic upheaval, and the stress epidemic it has engendered in the U.S. workplace, we shouldn’t be surprised to see loss of productivity, increased conflict, poor performance and other issues.” CPP is a workplace consultant firm and exclusive publisher of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment tool. Here are highlights:

When Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM) unleashed the first Blackberry devices on the world in 1999, it marked the first time corporate IT departments had a viable option for delivering Email to employees' mobile phones. No wonder the devices spread like a wildfire throughout corporate America, spawning a generation of professional "CrackBerry" addicts. But, as the mobile phone market shifted its emphasis to smart phones in the ensuing years, Apple -- and later Google -- put into the hands of consumers a computing device that was far more diverse than BlackBerry's. As business users have steadily acquired iPhones and Android-powered devices for personal use, they've increasingly sought to use them at work in place of their BlackBerrys. This goes a long way toward explaining recent survey findings from Enterprise Management Associates indicating that only 16% of respondents who are BlackBerry users in large enterprises are satisfied with their devices, and that more than 30% of respondents plan to switch platforms in the coming year. With that in mind, we offer you eight reasons why IT organizations should consider jettisoning the BlackBerry from their mobile strategies:

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry services outage, which left some users worldwide without Email and messaging for more than a day, was a public relations challenge for the company, and an event that some analysts say could have a dramatic impact on RIM's future. It remains to be seen whether RIM's plans for a host of new "superphones" running the BBX operating system will help it regain market share regain market share . Meanwhile, RIM tried last week to make things right by offering consumers free apps worth $100 and giving enterprise users a free month of technical support. The company also apologized profusely, saying that it let customers down. The outages left out in the cold those CIOs who have held the line on requiring RIM's smartphones and accompanying BlackBerry Enterprise Servers as the best enterprise options for secure corporate mobility. Here are our nine suggestions for things we’d like to see RIM do for its enterprise users to restore goodwill in the wake of its BlackBerry services outage.

As 2011 starts to wind down, you may be trying to work up the nerve to ask your CEO for a raise next year. The biggest mistake an IT leader can make when heading into the CEO’s office to ask for a salary increase is to go in unprepared. You know that you provide value to your company, and during your meeting, you need to make that abundantly clear. To do so, you'll also want to have some key metrics in at the ready, in case your CEO wants to see raw data that proves you should get the salary increase you so desire. But you also need to make your CEO aware of all the things you do on a daily basis that may be taking place under the radar. Here are 10 things you can tell your CEO that should demonstrate your worth and prove that you've earned the extra cash you’re asking for.

With the rising tide of regulation and litigation, it can be a challenge for CIOs to know what data the company needs to retain -- and for how long -- in order to protect and defend itself in the event of a legal or regulatory incident. According Symantec’s 2011 Information Retention and eDiscovery Survey, conducted by Applied Research, it's no longer just a question of archiving your email. During the eDiscovery process, attorneys more commonly seek structured and unstructured information than they do email, the survey found. Social media and text messages also made the list of commonly requested digital records. Annie Goranson, discovery attorney at Symantec, says that knowing what to keep is critical for CIOs. "There are a lot of risks associated with keeping that data around past its useful life. It really becomes a drain on the business and on the technology that the business is using. The ability and the focus to develop a deletion policy [and] a retention policy puts the entire organization in a much better position with respect to risk. From the CIO's perspective, that's probably the biggest gain." Applied Research surveyed 2,000 global enterprises with at least 1,000 employees on behalf of Symantec in June and July 2011. Respondents came from both IT management and legal departments. In addition to highlighting survey findings, we provide six steps to help you keep your organization prepared for an information request.

Do you consider the ability to establish trust between a manager and his staff as a “soft skill” -- something that’s “nice to have” but not a “gotta have”? Think again. Mistrust actually doubles the cost of doing business, according to the Deming Center for Quality Management at the Columbia Business School. And, companies with a high-trust factor generate total returns to shareholders at almost three times that of companies with low levels of trust, according to Towers Watson, a global consulting firm. In the book "The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line (Summerside Press/available now), author David Horsager breaks down this topic to eight essential “pillars of trust” that CIOs and other organizational leaders must establish to secure this kind of bond with employees. Ultimately, Horsager contends, the building of trust is a marathon – not a sprint. Horsager is a professor, speaker and business strategist who has worked for FedEx, Wells Fargo, the Department of Homeland Security, the Minnesota Vikings and other clients. Here, we highlight Horsager's eight pillars of trust and explain how you can put them into action.

Sure, we all know that today’s 24/7 business environment has kept us perpetually tethered to our mobile devices. But the act of texting or phoning while driving is reaching a critical point, according to a survey from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Nearly all survey respondents view these practices as dangerous. Yet, a significant number admit that they engage in such behavior behind the wheel regardless. "This research continues to illustrate a ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’ attitude that persists among drivers," says Peter Kissinger, president/CEO of the foundation. "Changing our nation's traffic safety culture requires drivers to take responsibility for their actions and alter their own behaviors on the road." To date, 34 U.S. states have banned texting while driving. AAA continues to push for lawmakers in the remaining states to do the same. Beyond enacting legislation, CIOs and other managers need to encourage best practices among your employees in the interest of safety – then set a good example by practicing what you preach. More than 3,100 U.S. residents took part in the survey. Here are eight highlights:

With Apple’s iPhone 4S already breaking sales records -- the company says it sold 4 million units in the first three days after the smartphone's Oct. 14 launch -- and Sprint added to the list of wireless carriers offering the handset, you're probably looking to understand the key differences in Apple’s line of smartphones. For many enterprises now, the question is not "How do we keep these things out of the workplace?" but rather, "Which one should we offer employees?" Currently, Apple is selling the iPhone 3GS, which it launched two years ago, as well as last year’s iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S, which launched on Oct. 14, is also out there for the taking. Making that decision requires you to look hard at some of the key things that might sway such a decision. Here, we highlight 10 factors that may help you make up your mind about which Apple iPhone should be deployed in your operation:

Far more employees are qualified to work from home than the number who actually do so, according to the report The State of Telework in the U.S. from the Telework Research Network. If this is the case, then what – or, more specifically, who – is holding them back? Don’t blame the highest levels of senior management, which sees benefits from telecommuting with respect to savings on office space and other costs. Employees aren’t providing pushback either, as they view these arrangements as beneficial to the work-life balance equation. No, it’s actually departmental managers (like you) who often won’t allow for buy-in, according to Telework. “It’s clear that the majority (of bosses) is not ready to make the organizational culture shift that’s required to manage a remote workforce,” according to a summary from the report’s authors, Kate Lister and Tom Harnish. “The issue of mistrust – ‘how do I know they’re working? ’is huge and not easily overcome. Management attitudes that were born in the days of sweatshops and typing pools still dominate.” The report – compiled via collection of data from agencies such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Office of Personnel Management, as well as independent survey research – also presents interesting breakouts on demographic trends of those who telecommute. Here are 10 highlights from the report:

In the wake of his death on Oct. 5, 2011, the media were rife with details about his life, his work, and his amazing legacy. Indeed, even before his passing, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had entered into the pantheon of technology legends whose work will influence generations to come. Enterprise CIOs know only too well how Jobs' innovations at Apple have permanently altered the enterprise technology ecosystem. At the same time, the dual trends of IT consumerization and an expanding role for information technology throughout the enterprise, means that CIOs are being called upon like never before to make innovation part of your job description. Whatever your feelings about Apple's products, there's no denying that creativity is at the core of Steve Jobs' legacy, and we would all do well to take away these lessons from his astonishing history of innovation. Here are 10 lessons we learned from Jobs, and how you can apply these in your own experiences as an enterprise CIO.

Apple’s iOS 5 went live to users of the company’s iPads and iPhones on October 12. It's also the operating system behind Apple's latest iPhone 4S, which also hits the streets on Oct. 14. Consumers will flock to the operating system as they look forward to getting their hands on the latest and greatest features available on Apple’s lines of devices. CIOs, though, are left pondering whether iOS 5 brings any new value to the enterprise. The good news is: It does. The operating system is well-built, comes with a host of improvements, and should deliver all the functionality that a company might need, sans support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which is available only for Research in Motion's line of products. With iOS 5, we get Siri voice recognition software, iMessage, the new Notification Center and the platform’s consistent security -- among the other features that make Apple’s iOS 5 an enterprise winner.

While most IT executive salaries remain flat , some CIOs, CTOs, and IT mavens are cashing in to the tune of several million dollars a year in total compensation. As part of its ongoing look at IT salaries, IT management consulting firm Janco Associates has tracked the highest-paid IT executives, based on publicly available SEC filings. In the past, these filings have uncovered compensation levels that most IT geeks can only dream of. For example, Randy Mott, the former CIO of Hewlett-Packard, made more than $28 million in total compensation in 2008. Economic times have gotten a lot tougher since then, but some IT chiefs still managed to rake in north of $1 million in compensation in 2010. Topping the charts (which are based on publicly available data) is GM Vice Chairman and CTO Tom Stephens, at $5.63 million. Twenty-two other CIOs/CTOs topped the $1 million mark in 2010, according to Janco’s research. Note that since this report, some of these IT executives have moved on to greener pastures—or, just more notable positions. For folks like these, the title of CIO certainly doesn’t translate to "Career is Over." (All compensation figures have been rounded up to two decimal points.)

Aside from worrying about information security, technology decision-making, and the plethora of other challenges you face on a daily basis, as CIO you also need to think seriously about how you will hold onto your best employees. There's a premium on certain tech skills in today's job markets, so you need to have a strategy in place to keep your best workers, plus a plan so that you won't be caught off-guard when they bolt for a better offer. A study from staffing company Express Employment Professionals sheds some light on how clueless many leaders are about employee retention. The organization surveyed 18,000 of its current and former executive clients in North America. Here are 10 highlights from the report:

Apple was expected to show off two new iPhones at an event held in its hometown of Cupertino, CA on Oct. 4. One, the iPhone 4S, was believed to be a nominal upgrade over its predecessor, the iPhone 4, while the other, the iPhone 5, would deliver the revolutionary upgrades Apple loyalists were after. However, Apple instead unveiled the iPhone 4S and its new iOS5 operating system at the event, disappointing those hoping for a major device upgrade. However, with the Oct. 5 death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs coming hard on the heels of the product debut, the Twitterati were abuzz with speculation that the "4S" was so named in honor of Jobs: iPhone 4S being shorthand for "iPhone For Steve." Naming decisions notwithstanding, for CIOs, it might have been good news. For one thing, Sprint joins the ranks of U.S. wireless carriers Verizon and AT&T in offering the iPhone 4S when it hits the market on October 14. And, as we’ve said on these pages before, iPhone 5 didn’t look to be an enterprise winner. Using rumors and analyst reports as our guide, it appeared that the iPhone 5 was undoubtedly designed with only consumers in mind. And in the process, CIOs, hoping to make their employees more productive, would have been disappointed. Such is not the case with the iPhone 4S, which includes some nifty new features via iOS5. On paper, at least, Apple’s latest handset entrant could be a winner for consumers and enterprise users, alike. Here are 10 reasons why.

Even as the economic recovery lags, IT departments are beginning to show signs of recovery, according to the Society for Information Management's annual survey of CIOs and IT executives from around the country. "In previous recessions, IT was always the first place to be cut, and that's not the case in this recession. Businesses are now looking to leverage IT or work with IT to identify opportunities to reduce business expenses," says Jerry Luftman, lead researcher for the SIM survey and a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology. "Companies are seeing that there is something to this IT stuff, and maybe we need to think about how better to apply it." Where are companies investing this year? According to the survey, budgets, hiring and salaries are on the rise, with an increased focus on IT and business alignment and business process management. Of the 285 organizations participating in the survey, 85 percent said their IT budgets will increase or stay the same in 2012 over 2011, and 94 percent said staff salaries will stay the same or increase. Companies will also be taking a close look at cloud computing, Luftman says. "There are some major transitional technologies that are in front of us, including cloud, including social networking, including the Consumerization of IT," he says. "If you put all of these things together this is a really exciting, challenging time in how you balance all of that from an IT leadership point of view."

Google’s Android mobile operating system is taking the world by storm. People from just about every continent on the globe are quickly warming to the idea of adopting Google’s operating system, and even those that have yet to take the plunge and buy an Android device are thinking quite seriously about doing so. In fact, Forrester recently found that Android and Apple's iOS, users, combined, outpace BlackBerry users in the enterprise. That's no comfort for most CIOs, who have legitimate reasons to be concerned about Android-based smartphones and tablets in the workplace. Here are 10 good reasons why.

For those IT executives out there who have seen a noticeable increase in their paychecks, congratulations! Sadly—but not surprisingly—you’re among the lucky few. According to the 2011 Mid-Year IT Salary Survey from IT management consulting firm Janco Associates, pay for most high-level IT leadership positions remained flat between June 2010 and June 2011. CIOs for large companies (at least $500 million in annual gross revenue, by Janco’s distinction) actually saw a 2 percent increase in total compensation, compared with the same period a year ago. But five of their top deputies experienced pay cuts, and of the three getting a raise, only one topped 1 percent (and barely, at that). CIOs at medium-sized companies (less than $500 million in annual gross revenue) took a minor hit in total compensation, while most of their deputies got a bump. VPs of Technical Services and VP/CSO received the most handsome raises at mid-tier companies, according to the study. Take heart, IT leaders. Good times are coming back…at least, they should be, at some point.

When Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire on Sept. 28, consumers around the globe became immediately excited. They look at the device as the next best answer to Apple’s iPad 2, and at a price of just $199, it seems like an affordable option for those who have yet to enter the tablet fray. Plus, the way the economy is affecting the marketplace now, it’s quite possible that the Kindle Fire could sell even better than some analysts predict. But, amid all the excitement surrounding the Kindle Fire, CIOs everywhere groaned. Here's yet another device that will probably be brought into the office when it finally launches in November, and users are sure to be hitting your wireless network seeking a connection for it. From its Android integration to all of its consumer-facing features, the Kindle Fire is a decidedly anti-enterprise product. And the average CIO will probably do everything he or she can to keep it out of the office. Here are 10 good reasons why.

A large number of global companies think they have an effective information security strategy in place and are proactively executing their security plans, according to a new survey by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). But a relatively small percentage of the organizations surveyed (13%) are what the firm calls true information security “leaders.” The PwC 2012 Global State of Information Security Survey, in which more than 9,600 business and IT executives worldwide were surveyed online between February and April 2011, finds that companies are actively investing in information security, driven by a quickly evolving and dangerous landscape of cyber threats, according to PwC. “The face of cyber threats has rapidly evolved from curious college kids taking their hand at hacking to an enormous global ecosystem of cyber-crime,” says Mark Lobel, principal at PwC and co-author of the study. “Companies need a comprehensive approach to security--technology, education and awareness--and a very small number have truly mastered all three.”

They’re constantly connected, whether at home, a coffee shop or an airport terminal. These are our modern mobile employees, and they’re increasing their presence and impact upon the enterprise. Yet, despite the fact that they always seem to be on the job, a recent survey conducted by enterprise mobility service provider iPass sheds light on some surprising insights about this culture: More than six of 10 respondents say they’re experiencing better work/life balance now than they did before the advent of mobility tools, in spite of a long work day. There are even a growing number of workers who manage to find some time to unplug. “Even though mobile workers are putting in more hours, we are starting to see the pendulum swing back to the center on disconnecting,” says Barbara Nelson, CTO at iPass. The bottom line for managers is that most respondents feel that workshifting -- the ability to complete tasks whenever and wherever they want to -- enables them to increase their productivity and efficiency. More than 3,100 mobile enterprise employees worldwide took part in the ,survey which was conducted between July 1 and July 15, 2011. Here are eight highlights from the report, plus four best practices for your IT department on the effective oversight of your mobile workforce.

What’s wrong with being perfect? A lot, if you push it too far. Sure, we all want to excel. But there’s a difference between driving for excellence and obsessing over every single detail. The latter results in the unnecessary exhaustion of your IT department resources, as outcomes fail to justify the effort. Additional fallout may include dropped deadlines and a demoralized staff – not to mention the personal toll you may suffer -- according to "The Perfectionist's Handbook: Take Risks, Invite Criticism, and Make the Most of Your Mistakes" (John Wiley & Sons/Available now). Author Jeff Szymanski distinguishes between the constructive and destructive sides of perfectionism. He illustrates the trouble signs that emerge when you’ve taken the pursuit of high standards to extremes. Then, he offers insight into how you can tap upon this trait to increase your organizational value while minimizing the consequences. Szymanski is a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School, and serves as executive director of the International OCD Foundation. Here are selected highlights, including six action steps to help you cultivate positive perfectionism in yourself and your workforce.  

Over the past week, we’ve been discussing Apple’s potential influence in the enterprise. We’ve talked about why CIOs might want to go all-in with the company’s products, and what you can expect if you do. Now that Apple's iPhone 4S has had its "big reveal," it's going to be harder than ever for you to say "no" to the use of Apple's iPads, iPhones and Macs in your organization. Here are 10 reasons why.

In the world of computing, Windows is the most important operating system out there. Companies all around the world rely on Microsoft’s platform to get work done, manage their businesses, and more. So, when Microsoft showcases a new version of Windows, you can bet that CIOs around the globe turn their attention to the software giant to see what it has planned for the future of its operating system. This time around, that means focusing on Windows 8. Microsoft revealed a developer preview of Windows Server 8 at its BUILD conference in Los Angeles on Sept. 15 The operating system, which is scheduled to launch in 2012, will deliver some of the company's most radical changes in user interface in a long time. What’s more, the operating system will be the first option from Microsoft that focuses heavily on tablets. So, while Windows 8 will be suitable for desktops and laptops, it will also be making its way to a growing number of slates starting next year. Here are 10 things you need to know as you consider how to plan for Windows 8 in the enterprise.

“Leaders are born, they are not made.” So said legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, who has been hailed as quite the leadership expert. We’re sure the authors in this season’s collection of leadership books would beg to differ, though. Before the calendar flips to 2012, current and aspiring leaders have a vast collection of new books to choose from. This fall, an impressive collection of business professors, executive coaches and strategy experts offer unique perspectives on everything from personal leadership growth to team building and organizational strategy. CIOs and up-and-coming IT leaders can find crucial leadership lessons in each one of these works. Read up to learn more about what your bosses, peers, customers and partners expect you to deliver. Click the link above each slide to get more information. Note: All publication dates are subject to change.

When Apple co-founder Steve Jobs made the surprising decision in August 2011 to step down as CEO of and become chairman of the board, many CIOs couldn’t help but wonder what the future would look like for the Cupertino, Calif.-based firm. (Editor's Update: Jobs passed away Oct. 5, 2011, at age 56.) Will Apple stay the same or will it drastically change under the leadership of new CEO Tim Cook? As one might expect, in the time that Cook has been leading Apple, not much has changed. What’s more, Cook himself has said that he has no plans to change how the company operates since, he believes, that it’s doing what it must to be competitive (and dominant) in the marketplace. Over the years, CIOs have had a love-hate relationship with Apple and Jobs. And the same might be said for Apple and Jobs towards CIOs. But with a new CEO comes a new opportunity to rekindle that relationship, and see, once and for all, if Apple really can be a friendly to enterprise customers while maintaining its consumer pizzazz. Here are the 9 questions we're betting you'd like to ask Apple CEO Tim Cook right now.

After only 11 months on the job, Leo Apotheker was ousted Sept. 22, 2011, from the CEO slot at HP and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman was named by the company's board of directors to replace him. Whitman, who had attempted an unsuccessful run in 2010 for the California Governor's office, becomes the company's third CEO in 13 months. She has very little experience in the enterprise technology sector, and she appears to know more about the online world than the PC business. Indeed, some critics wonder whether she's the right choice for the job. Then again, running a company of the size and scale of HP is no mean feat, as the revolving door of the CEO's office has shown. HP's enterprise customers have no choice but to wait and see how things play out under Whitman. As you consider your options, here are 10 things you need to know about HP's new CEO.

The use of smartphones running Google Android and Apple iOS platforms is on the rise in the enterprise, according to findings from The State of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2011 from Forrester Research. The study, which is based on Forrester's Q2 2011 US Workforce Technology and Online Engagement survey of 4,985 U.S. information workers, also reveals that half of those surveyed now split their work time between the office, home and other remote locations. The study was released Sept. 22, 2011, during Forrester's Content & Collaboration Forum in Boston. “Looking out five years, Forrester sees three technology ‘trains’ impacting the future of workforce productivity, innovation, and advocacy," said Matt Brown, vice president and practice leader at Forrester Research, during his opening remarks at the Forum. "All three of these trains have left the station: enterprise mobility, enterprise social, and cloud services for business.” Read on for 12 highlights from the report.

In a recent slideshow, we examined why it's time for CIOs to consider going with an “all-in Apple strategy.” If you have made up your mind to switch to Apple products in your enterprise, you need to be ready for some significant changes. At first, your employees might experience some loss in productivity as they transition to new platforms. And, with the added entertainment value of many of Apple's consumer-focused products, you'll have to make sure they aren't having too much fun with the devices. Over time, though, once the kinks are worked out, the benefits of going all-Apple might outweigh the troubles. That said, here are 10 things you need to know if you decide to go all-in with Apple for your enterprise.

If you’ve been working in the IT business for a long time, you know the attitudes most folks have towards Apple. They typically acknowledge that the company’s products are well-built and compelling to consumers, they fall short in many ways for enterprise users. Over the years, Apple has been viewed as little more than the enterprise also-ran against companies like Microsoft, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and others. Maybe it's time for a change. Nowadays, Apple products are nicer than ever. And employees, hoping to get their hands on the latest and greatest devices out there, are increasingly asking their CIOs if they can start using Apple products, including Macs, iPads, and iPhones in the office. Chances are, your answer has consistently been “no.” But further inspection of the marketplace and the troubles some companies are having with enterprise-focused solutions reveals that having an all-in policy on Apple products might be a smart move. Yes, you heard that right: It's time for CIOs to consider bringing as many Apple products into the office as possible. Read on to find out why:

Being a CIO just isn't what it used to be. It seems that new technologies are appearing almost daily, most brands are stepping up their pursuit of an increasingly fickle customer base, and the pace of business is constantly quickening. The old ways of doing things just don't cut it any more. With that in mind, Deloitte Consulting recently surveyed nearly 1,000 IT executives about how they view the role of the CIO in their organizations. The upshot: Most view their CIOs as hopelessly-behind-the-times technology stewards, rather than revolutionaries who are leading their businesses into the brave new world. But Suketu Gandhi, a Deloitte principal who was involved in compiling the survey data, says that the onslaught of new technologies--from mobility and social media to analytics and cloud computing--will give CIOs the opportunity to act as agents of change in their organizations. "These combined technologies give the CIO the opportunity to be an active strategist and decision maker within their respective organizations, and can allow them to be a revolutionary force. The CIO will increasingly have the ability to actually change how business is conducted." Here, we highlight findings of the survey along with the factors Deloitte believes are pushing CIOs into a more revolutionary role.

Fall is back-to-school time, and that means it’s time to hit the books. But first, take this mini self-evaluation: Do you regret being a perfectionist? Do you wish you could improve your grasp of visual skills? Would you like to expand your management or leadership capabilities? Our fall reading list has you covered. We've handpicked 12 books that address a wide range of topics relevant to the performance of CIOs and other senior managers. Among subjects covered: recognizing the value of intuition, establishing trust and managing how technology users impact your organization. Our authors include a host of business leaders, an expert in graphics and visual thinking, and even a Harvard Medical School instructor who is a leading expert on obsessive-compulsive disorder. A link for more information about each book is included in the html field above each slide. Keep in mind that publishing dates are always subject to change.

Do you ever wonder what your IT employees are really doing when they’re telecommuting? Sure, you establish work-from-home policies based upon principles of trust. Still, a significant number of workers are taking advantage of the long leash, according to a survey from CareerBuilder. We're talking about more than simply working in pajamas all day. (Which, incidentally, quite a few telecommuters do.) It’s about the actual amount of work time put in at home. For nearly one-in-five workers, that amounts to an astonishing hour a day (or less). "With mass adoption of smart phones and advanced network technologies, telecommuters are connected to their offices like never before,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “However, to avoid situations where telecommuters aren't putting in the necessary time, managers need to be clear about expectations and establish daily objectives. The autonomy of working from home can be very rewarding, so long as it doesn't diminish productivity." Nearly 5,300 U.S. workers took part in the research. Here are nine highlights:

“When the CFO is having a bad day, everyone is having a bad day ...” This variation on an old adage may be especially true in tech departments, given that as many as 42% of CIOs report directly to CFOs, according to industry research. And, apparently, a lot of CFOs are having bad days lately. They’re feeling pressured by rising healthcare costs, as well as the need to control spending and improve profitability, according to the report " CFO Concerns: What Are The Top Challenges Facing Today's Financial Executives," from staffing services firm Robert Half. The report includes survey results from more than 1,400 CFOs. In seeking ways to trim budgets, CFOs are cutting benefits and increasing financial pressures on managers and employees. One encouraging wrinkle in the research indicates that CFOs and their organizations willing to improve workplace morale with perks that don't present a major budget drain. As you plan your IT investment strategies, knowing what's top-of-mind for your CFO can help you decide how best to make your case. The bad news? According to the survey results, technology purchasing is not even on the radar when it comes to CFO priorities. "Although many concerns of financial executives are not new issues, they are compounded by today's economic and regulatory uncertainty," says Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half Management Resources. "Leaders continue to be tested in multiple ways – they are managing issues for which there are no right answers or proven outcomes.”

Who better than a headhunter to tell you how to deal with headhunters? Nick “Ask the Headhunter” Corcodilos knows the drill for dealing with executive search consultants, and his advice for how to best go about the process might not be what you expect. The scenario goes something like this: A headhunter phones you with what sounds like a juicy opportunity. As you quiz him, it seems like he’s dialing for dollars. He’s fishing for referrals, or, worse, he doesn’t even understand what his “client” really needs. (It’s not even clear he really has a client!) When you ask about the buzzwords the headhunter is reciting, all you get is auditory equivalent of a blank stare. Or, you take the bait, send your resume, and waste your time for several weeks. The deal goes nowhere, and the headhunter won’t even return your calls or Emails. There are good executive jobs out there, and executive search consultants are working on them. But how do you get in on the real deals? Corcodilos’s “Ask The Headhunter” series of books—including “Answer Kit: How Can I Change Careers?” and “How to Work with Headhunters. . . and How To Make Headhunters Work For You" offer in-depth insight. Here, we highlight his seven secrets that will make working with a headhunter a worthwhile experience.

If you're following the tech news trends, then you already know that Google is growing rapidly. Once known primarily for its search engine, Google has exploded, providing a host of services and solutions that include operating systems, advertising systems, and -- with the acquisition of Zagat-- original reviews content. For CIOs, Google’s growth over the years hasn’t been all that worrisome. The search giant has generally catered to consumers, and for the most part, leaving the enterprise largely unaffected. However, in the last couple of years, that has changed. And now, Google is having an impact on your business in a wide variety of ways: Your users may be demanding Google Apps for Business -- the company’s cloud-based business applications -- or opting to download its Chrome Internet browser. They're probably clamoring for smartphones based on its Android mobile operating system. In fact, when it comes to the unstoppable force of consumerization in IT, Google is giving CIOs plenty to worry about on a daily basis. Here are seven factors to consider.

Do you sometimes wonder whether you really have what it takes to lead? Just asking that question puts you a step ahead of the rest of the pack, according to the book What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential (Harvard Business Review Press/available now). Author Robert Steven Kaplan contends that it’s more important to ask good, honest questions of oneself, rather than pretending to have all the answers. Such questions should be designed to help you diagnose your strengths and weaknesses, analyze problems and change course when needed. Here, we highlight five key leadership questions from the book to get you started, and shed insight on next steps to take to help you respond effectively to each one. Kaplan is a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. He was previously a vice-chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group.

Humility is not the first character trait that generally comes to mind when one thinks about what it takes to rise up the corporate ranks. Yet, some of America's most successful executives are those who cultivate a quiet strength to create a winning corporate culture. The book Start With Humility: Lessons from America’s Quiet CEOs on How to Build Trust and Inspire Followers (GreenLeaf Center/Available now) will teach you how you can use tiny gestures, sincere empathy and consideration to transform yourself from a boss into a leader. Authors Merwyn. A. Hayes and Michael D. Comer come up with an all-inclusive gameplan that will help you build meaningful alliances – from the lowest rungs of the corporate ladder all the way through the C-suite. Merwyn is CEO/president of The Hayes Group International, a consulting firm that focuses on people issues within organizations. Comer is a consulting partner with the Hayes Group. Here are 10 highlights:

As much as you'd like to, you know it's impossible to peer into every single thing your company's workers are doing with the technology you've given them. Chances are, you have too many people to look after, and when it comes to monitoring your network, you have to focus on the truly alarming activities at the expense of some of the more mundane, but at times equally dangerous, behaviors that are going on. It’s unfortunate, since many cyber attacks come in by way of common human error, such as the eight loopholes we highlight here. We offer insight into some of the things your employees are probably doing right now, but will likely never tell you.

Chances are, your love of all things tech is what set you on your current career path. Likewise, you hire staff primarily for their technology skills. But, too often, IT people at all levels find themselves “lost in the weeds” of systems and applications, losing site of business objectives. In fact, more than 90 percent of large IT projects fall short on schedule, cost and quality goals, according to industry research. The book Going Corporate: A Geek's Guide (Apress/Available now), demonstrates how CIOs and other tech-department leaders can foster a sense of corporate focus among IT teams. Author Shailendra Kadre contends that CIOs must ensure their team members understand and appreciate the total business environment that they’re hired to support. In the end, these employees will reap career benefits. “By becoming aware of what’s important to your superiors, and what’s current in the industry, you will do your job better,” Kadre says. “And it will prepare you for bigger, more lucrative jobs that can amplify the positive impact you have in the companies you work for.” Kadre is a prolific writer/author on tech topics, as well as a 17-year leadership veteran within the IT industry, having worked for companies such as Oracle Financial Services Software. Here are selected highlights:

What you don't know about IT security could hurt you -- and your company. According to Symantec's 2011 State of Security Survey, IT security is the biggest risk companies face, ranking ahead of the theft of physical goods, terrorism and natural disasters. Mobility, social media and good old-fashioned hackers remain the biggest cyber threats. How can companies best mitigate these threats and keep their employees and their data safe from attack? Here, we highlight 10 survey findings to help you decide how your company stacks up against your peers. The survey was conducted in April and May 2011 by Applied Research on behalf of Symantec. Applied Research received survey responses from 3,300 executives in 36 countries, including C-level professionals, strategic and tactical IT executives, and individuals in charge of IT resources.

Business analytics solutions are being used as an effective tool for decision making at a majority of organizations, according to a new Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services survey sponsored by SAS, a provider of business analytics applications. Organizations have benefited from increased profitability, reduced cost, improved risk management, process optimization and fast decision making, according to the survey, in which 930 business professionals worldwide were polled in May 2011. Business analytics solutions are more pervasive in worldwide enterprises today than it was in 2009, the report says. According to the survey results, companies gaining the most value from business analytics share several characteristics, including: a top-down embrace of analytics by senior executives; putting the right analytics talent in place; improving data management and governance; and deploying the right analytic tools. Here are 10 highlights from the survey:

If you had to choose which applications represent the biggest priorities for your organization, what would they be? Business intelligence/analytics? Social media tools? Data management? Mobile management? All of the above? The wealth of options seems endless. Yet, CIOs and other senior technology executives continue to pursue them as they seek to align IT acquisition with their organization’s strategic objectives, according to a recent survey from SnapLogic. BI, for certain, remains hot. But so are other apps, such as those that are Saas/cloud-driven. Also in demand: Tech tools that can help companies better manage the wealth of data-volume growth. More than 110 CIOs and other top executives took part in the research.

The proposed $39 billion merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA has been the most talked-about topic of 2011 in the wireless industry. Shortly after the merger plans were announced, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit Aug. 31 seeking to squash the deal, which would see AT&T merge with the U.S. wireless division of Germany's Deutsche Telecom. Wireless competitor Sprint jumped into the fray on Sept. 6, filing its own lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the deal. Reportedly lining up in favor of the deal is the Communications Workers of America (CWA), a union representing more than 700,000 wireless industry employees. The union claimed in an Aug. 31 statement that the merger could create as many as 96,000 quality jobs. Enterprise users will be affected no matter the outcome. But for now, based on what we know of the merger, CIOs with large numbers of wireless users in the U.S. had better hope that this deal isn’t approved. Here are 10 reasons why.

At the risk of sounding Machiavellian, it seems that you may have more leverage than you think when it comes to your mobile users. The key? Freedom of choice. Are you aware of how much your employees would be willing to sacrifice in order to choose their own mobile device? A survey of 500 workers in the U.S. and U.K. conducted in July 2011 by Kelton Research on behalf of Sybase and SAP reveals that everything from free coffee to vacation time is up for grabs. Read on to find out the lengths to which your smartphone-besotted workers are willing to go for wireless freedom-of-choice. We ask only that you use this knowledge for good and not evil.

Many organizations lack confidence in their ability to properly manage access 
to sensitive information when users connect via the cloud or on mobile
 devices and laptops, according to a survey by Courion, a provider of identity and access management technologies. The company conducted an online survey of 988 IT
 decision makers at large enterprises worldwide in June and July 2011. Courion notes that the findings are “especially troubling, given the growing popularity of consumer
 devices.” Two out of every three large enterprises report that they have employees who are connecting their own personal mobile devices o
n the corporate network, and yet more than one out of every five organizations
 does not have a policy in place to govern this use, or is not even aware If 
a policy exists. The survey results indicate that enterprises are fairly 
confident that they can assure appropriate user access to resources
 on-premise, but they become much less confident when users connect via the cloud
 or on mobile devices or laptops.

In the wake of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' resignation on Aug. 24 -- and the promotion of former COO Tim Cook as his successor -- we thought it a good time to take a close look at Apple’s executive leadership. In one way or another, the executives included here have proven integral to the development of Apple’s brand and its ongoing success. Although the company hasn’t always been the most CIO-friendly firm in the technology industry, its executives have far more impact on the average enterprise than you might think. The fact is, Apple’s products are becoming increasingly popular around the world, including in the workplace. And even Apple’s harshest critics have to acknowledge the appeal of the firm's mobile products, especially the iPad, and accompanying applications. Here's what you need to know about the five key executives at Apple that really matter to CIOs.

Tim Cook, Apple's former chief operations officer, took over as CEO of the company on Aug. 24 after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs resigned. Jobs, now the chairman of the board of directors at Apple, recommended Cook as the ideal choice to be his successor. For consumers, Apple’s decision to promote Tim Cook to CEO doesn’t change much. For years, Cook has been learning from Jobs, and by the look of things, he will continue along the same roadmap. In fact, Apple has made it abundantly clear to consumers that they won’t see any major changes now that Jobs is no longer leading the company. But what about CIOs and other IT decision-makers? For years now, the needs of the enterprise have taken a back seat at the consumer-driven Apple. But with a new CEO, might things change at Apple? Will the company become more CIO friendly than it has been in the past? Not a chance. Here are 10 reasons why:

After discontinuing its TouchPad tablet and all but killing WebOS, HP learned a valuable lesson: being successful in the tablet market is far more difficult than Apple makes it look. When HP launched launched the TouchPad tablet in July, the company surely thought that its future was assured as a tablet contender. Yet, like HP, many of the companies struggling to break into the tablet space seem lost. And, in their race to carve out consumer market share, most of the tablet vendors have pretty ignored the needs of the enterprise. In fact, just about every prominent firm -- including Apple -- is making mistakes when it comes to understanding what CIOs need from the tablet format. Here's how these 10 companies have missed the mark for CIOs.

We often talk about the generational divide when it comes to the use of technology in the workplace. While IT professionals of any age are naturally more tech-savvy than the general population, a recent study shows that there are actually only slight differences in adoption rates for most consumer technologies. And, despite the tendency to assume that most of your employees are rapidly embracing every new gadget that comes along, a survey from Affinity Research shows that adoption rates for many so-called "hot" devices are actually rather low. Affinity surveyed more than 60,000 American consumers to find out which devices—including e-Readers, tablet PCs, smartphones and that old-school machine known as “the computer”—are most in-demand among the members of the Millennial, Gen X and Baby Boomer generations. The research also provides insight about future acquisition intentions within these demographics. One conclusion is clear: Smartphone adoption is high among all age groups and there's plenty of room for growth. Computer-lovers take heart: More than eight in 10 of those surveyed already own one. Here are nine highlights from the report:

If you're a CIO-in-transition, or simply looking for new opportunities, having a top-notch resume can make the difference between finding a great new career opportunity and being buried in an avalanche of applicants. "When the recruiter is coming after you, when you're the known commodity and they've targeted you, having a good resume that tells a strong story is important. But it's not as important as when you're trying to go to them," says Howard Seidel, Ed.D., J.D., and partner at Essex Partners, a career management and transition consultancy for senior executives. If you're between positions, or you've heard of an interesting opportunity for which you've not been actively recruited, a top-notch resume can make all the difference. What are some traits of the very best resumes Seidel has seen? "It's like reading an outline. You want people to see the company, the title, the core responsibility of the role and you want them to see the key achievements of the role," Seidel says. The very best resume focuses a recruiter like a laser on your talents and the legacy you've left behind with previous employers. It says "this is why those companies are better now than they were when I got there," he says. "People can go long periods of time without a very strong resume. But a resume is one of those things that, when you do need one, you need a good one. For that reason, it's important that if you're going to build it, to build it with these principles in mind." Here are the five most-common mistakes on executive resumes, and how to fix them.

In overseeing an IT organization, you need to know about technology, but you also need to master the people equation. You must determine what inspires your team members and what causes them to lose focus and/or motivation. Effective leaders establish standards of performance that build critical buy-in from employees to ensure successful accomplishment of organizational goals. Former Verizon Wireless CEO Denny Strigl knows a lot about this topic. His company’s wireless revenues grew from $192 million in 1991 to $62 billion by the end of 2009. In his book "Managers, Can You Hear Me Now?" (McGraw-Hill/available now), Strigl reveals classic management mistakes -- as well as proven strategies and techniques to avoid these traps. Ultimately, you need to be visible, accountable and responsive, Stigl contends. Here we highlight five of the top management mistakes featured in the book, plus steps you can take to ensure that you’ll never make them:

As a general rule, to thrive as a CIO you have to maintain a degree of patience that goes far beyond that of the average executive. In the course of your daily travels around the office, you'll see employees -- and workers on your own IT team -- engaging in cringe-inducing activities with technology and software. Your job requires you to make judgment calls. If you walk past a colleague who's on a Website that clearly has nothing to do with work, or see someone busily chatting on Facebook and Twitter, chances are you'll just keep on going unless the behavior is truly egregious. But, all of us have our breaking point. Herewith, then, is our list of the top 10 workplace behaviors perpetrated by your colleagues -- from the C-suite to the admin pool -- that are guaranteed to drive even the most tolerant CIO around the bend.

Google's plan to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion is a game changer that puts the search giant on enterprise radar like never before. The deal is expected to close at the end of 2011 or early 2012, pending regulatory approval. Now's the time to get up to speed on what Google has been doing in recent years. The company, which started out as a search firm trying to make it big in against giants, is now a giant itself. The company operates in a slew of industries, including advertising, mobile software and platforms, online services and even enterprise solutions. In many ways, thought, due mainly to the fact that it has little corporate appeal, Google remains an unknown entity for many CIOs. However, as the firm continues to grow and change, it might see its corporate appeal grow. With that in mind, here are 10 key things that every CIO should know about Google.

Are you struggling to strike a gender balance within the ranks of your IT department employment base? You're not alone. There's a scarcity of women pursuing technology careers. In fact, research from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) reveals that the percentage of females working in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- known collectively as STEM -- lags far behind that of the overall female-to-male workplace ratio. And while women in STEM jobs make more money than their non-STEM female counterparts, they are still paid considerably less than their male colleagues. The findings are based upon on analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and Current Population Survey.

When making business decisions, CIOs typically remain loyal to a select handful of vendors that they know and trust. But over the last few years, several companies that CIOs once relied on have undergone major changes. And now, it appears that some of those firms are failing CIOs. Perhaps these vendors are simply adapting their businesses to suit our changing technology times. But, for CIOs who need the best solutions for their employees, waiting for a vendor to determine which market matters most is a serious drawback. Here, we take a look at some of the technology giants that are not providing the enterprise-level of service that CIOs require. Some of these companies might seem rather obvious, while others will surprise you. Here's how these nine are falling short for CIOs today.

Let's face it: When it comes to hiring, CIOs and other managers are in the driver's seat these days as a result of a bleak economic climate, and that doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon. In the book "Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy". (Amacom/available now), author R. William Holland targets employment-bound professionals with an abundance of job search and job interview tips and best practices. For hiring managers, the book also reveals what you should expect from the modern-day job applicant. In IT, for example, it’s not enough to find a candidate who is technically skilled. You'll also want to seek candidates who are well rounded and bring deep industry knowledge. It also helps if they demonstrate awareness of your company's core organizational strategies, as well as a personal commitment to career growth. With this in mind, here are nine questions to consider while reviewing resumes and cover letters and interviewing potential recruits. Holland is founder/principal of R. William Holland Consulting, a career-management firm, as well as a senior vice president at BeamPines, a leadership development, assessment and coaching firm.

As the summer temperatures have hit new highs this season, do your IT employees appear more frazzled than ever? A survey from CareerBuilder indicates that a large percentage of workers are reporting a high degree of stress, leading to feelings of burn out on the job. This is understandable. Thanks to the wealth of layoffs in recent years, workloads are heavier than ever. And this apparently won’t end anytime soon, as many employers feel the current push for ever-greater productivity is a sustainable one. CareerBuilder offers a caution, however, to CIOs and other bosses who pursue this path to extremes. "The recession produced consequences for the many employees who were asked to work harder as a result of leaner staffs," says Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America. "While getting more out of a smaller workforce is a sign of organizational agility during unpredictable times, it's hard to see such yields in productivity holding forever. Headcount will be needed to meet increasing demands." More than 2,660 hiring managers and nearly 5,300 workers took part in the research. Here are selected highlights:

As a CIO, your job is about more than ensuring the quality and security of the technology our employees use around the workplace. You also need to play well with your fellow C-level executives, all of whom have their own interests and ideas in mind to help your company improve its revenues. When you think about who you need to interact with most in the C-suite, we're betting your Chief Marketing Officer rarely comes to mind. After all, the CMO at your firm is focused on your company's public image, while your mandate is likely related more to the technology used internally. But, a survey conducted by Pitney Bowes indicates that the boundaries between the CIO and the CMO may start to blur as reliance on marketing tools such as social media and mobile solutions continues to grow. Your expertise in these and other technology growth areas will be needed more than ever by your marketing team. The study was conducted in April 2011 and includes responses from 500 small- and medium-sized business owners. Read on to find out more about the marketing efforts companies are engaging in today. The information will give you the stats (and marketing jargon) you need to pursue productive collaboration with your CMO.

Not everyone seeks inspiration in a diverse group of thinkers that includes Charles Darwin, Sun Tzu, Jeff Bezos and Jay-Z. But author/business leader Ryan Blair’s path to success has hardly taken a conventional route. In his book "Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain", Blair reveals how he went from living an idyllic life in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Southern California to joining a gang and then shuffling in and out of juvenile detention centers. Through a life-changing mentorship, he focused his energies on entrepreneurship, going on to create and sell three companies for hundreds of millions of dollars (the first of which he started at age 21). In "Nothing to Lose," Blair shares thoughtful, motivational quotes from famous people both current and historical—reflections that can benefit CIOs and other leaders. Here eight highlights—including one from Blair— plus takeaways on how these translate to your life as CIO:

You may take the view that the world is divided into two distinct tribes, one made up of those who understand the value of IT, and the other made up of those who absolutely do not. Chances are, your company employs people belonging to each tribe. Those in the former tribe respect use policies, remember to lock their computers down, and generally adhere to all the rules you’ve established. Those in the latter tribe do nothing of the sort. And, when it’s all said and done, the latter proves to be most troublesome to the state of IT in your company. Unfortunately, some of your worst offenders happen to reside in the C-suite. In fact, in far too many cases, it's your CEO who is most clueless about the value of IT, and as a result commits some of the most egregious blunders. Here are nine signs that you work for a CEO who just doesn't "get it" when it comes to understanding the power of IT in your organization.

Awaiting a return to the economic “good old days” is starting to fell like an endless car trip. “Are we there yet?” rings the eternal refrain. Given a host of lingering doubts about employment trends, the debt crisis, the international financial forecast and other critical issues, this bumpy ride may last a while longer. That said, occasional encouraging signs continue to emerge, most recently with the Q2 2011 “Confidence Index” survey of IT workers from IT staffing firm Technisource. Overall, the index remains relatively positive. Workers maintain an optimistic view about their company’s future. And if they’re having doubts, they’re also finding more jobs available to them now than in the recent past. Workers also maintain a hopeful view about the economic future of their companies. “We are seeing more stabilization in the confidence levels of IT professionals,” says Michael Winwood, president of Technisource. “However, the likelihood of workers to look for other opportunities continues to grow. Employers need to continue to provide their top talent with training and development programs to keep them from doing so.” The survey also breaks down differences among genders and age groups on these topics. More than 225 tech employees took part in the research.

In your workplace, you undoubtedly deal with top-level executives who want to get the most out of the technology in your workplace. The only trouble is, in many cases, those executives don’t know the limitations that govern your position nor how you have to put together all the many working parts to get your company ready to go with its IT. A survey conducted by Lieberman Software, a vendor of identity management and security management solutions, reveals that, for the most part, senior business executives don’t fully understand the true nature of IT’s role in the workplace. They also appear to have no clue about how much power IT professionals have when it comes to data access. The 2011 Survey of IT Professionals was conducted by Lieberman Software and received responses from nearly 500 IT professionals who attended the RSA Security 2011 in San Francisco and InfoSec 2011 in London. Here are 11 scary factoids from the research.

As the global workforce becomes ever more mobile, your job as a CIO is to ensure that employees on the road are just as productive as they would be in the office. To make things easier, a host of solutions living in the cloud are designed to help you achieve that goal. And, thanks to a wealth of wireless device options, folks can be working no matter where they are. But, as you know all too well, when people are out of the office, they tend to be far less productive than they are in the office. For some employees, not having a boss hanging over their shoulder to find out what they’re doing provides them with the license to do what they want, when they want. That’s where you come in. Rather than allowing those road warriors to run amok, you can provide the right solutions and enforce the proper policies to ensure your employees are working when they should, and not engaging in other activities. Here's a guide to help keep your mobile employees productive while they’re on the road.

Do you effectively encourage innovation within your IT teams? If your department spends most of its time putting out fires and making sure the “IT train” is running on schedule – leaving agile thinking as an afterthought—then there’s plenty of room for improvement. The recent book, "The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators" (Harvard Business Review Press/available now), provides a series of building-block steps to incorporate innovation as part of a department/company culture. To help readers achieve this transformation, authors Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen outline discovery skills such as questioning, observing, associating, networking and experimenting. Real examples used in the book include those that have helped Amazon, Apple and Google emerge to the top of the “most innovative” company lists. Dyer is a professor of strategy at the Marriott School at Brigham Young University. Gregersen is a professor of leadership at INSEAD and consultant to global organizations on innovation. Christensen is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and is considered a top authority on disruptive innovation. Here are are eight “innovation steps” explored in the book:

What does quality software need to do today? It must work on multiple platforms, within a global landscape. It needs to remain compatible with legacy systems, as well as other currently popular software applications. It can’t allow defects to cripple organization objectives. As a CIO, you’re ultimately responsible for these and other software-related demands. If you fail, there are a number of possibly devastating consequences, including rejection by internal or external customers, failure to deliver on strategic business objectives and possibly even a massive onslaught of litigation. The recent book "The Economics of Software Quality" (Addison-Wesley Professional/available now) explores these issues while providing guidance to CIOs and other top tech executives as to how to ensure optimal choice and use of software. Authors Capers Jones and Olivier Bonsignour contend that poor software choices can endanger large-scale development projects, but few organizational tech leaders fully understand the economic and business impact of the wrong software. The book reveals best practices that can generate needed ROI and reduce total cost of ownership. Here are 10 highlights:

Generally, overall compensation is nudging up ever so slightly, according to the first-half 2011 IT salary survey from Janco Associates. And while the employment picture is far from cheery, there's some comfort in the finding that more tech jobs are being added than are being cut. Janco also surveys companies for the status of bonuses and perks, and the research again presents a mixed picture. On the positive side, 56 percent of employers are offering flex hours/schedules. This percentage has held steady since 2010, and remains well over the 49 percent of employers who allowed this two years ago. The standards for performance bonuses are changing, however, to shift focus from individual excellence (personal bonuses are down) to accomplishments that benefit the entire organization (enterprise performance bonuses are up). More than 1,100 professionals took part in the survey. The vast majority of respondents are senior IT managers or HR managers. Additional research was compiled from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting. Here are nine highlights:

Microsoft. It’s the company that has dominated the corporate world for years. It’s also the company that has helped keep employees productive over the years. Many CIOs around the world rely heavily upon Microsoft services and solutions for their organizations. And the chances of those folks turning their backs on the software giant are slim. But, as corporate needs change and Microsoft fails to deliver the best products in all the markets in which it competes, the company’s dominance in the enterprise space could decline. Here are 10 reasons why CIOs might turn their backs on Microsoft.

Mozilla’s Firefox Internet browser has been an absolute success in the consumer market. People all around the globe have downloaded the free application and are using it on a host of computers, including Macs and PCs. Even in the enterprise, the browser has caught on among some CIOs who have thought it might be a fine replacement for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. However, in recent weeks, due mainly to Mozilla’s new rapid-release cycle for Firefox, there has been some discontent in the enterprise. And now, many of the problems that CIOs are seeing with the software are starting to come to a head as more and more companies realize that perhaps a switch to Firefox might not be the best idea, after all. Of course, there are some CIOs who don’t necessarily take issue with Mozilla and its handling of Firefox. But they’re becoming few and far between as the problems surrounding the browser continue to grow.

On July 20, Apple released new versions of its MacBook Air. The computer, which is designed to be the ultra-mobile alternative to its current slate of notebooks, led by the uber-powerful MacBook Pro, comes with a host of features that consumers would love to have. But for enterprise users, the MacBook Air’s appeal isn’t so apparent. CIOs are admittedly suspect of deploying Macs to their employees, but as recent Apple sales have shown, a growing number of companies are warming to the idea. The device is powerful, sleek, and quite mobile. And even the most anti-Apple CIO should be able to find at least something to like in it. Granted, it’s not the perfect corporate device, but here are 10 reasons why it could work in your organization.

Want to know what ranks foremost on the list of priorities for your CEO? According to a survey from The Conference Board, it’s a matter of driving their companies toward growth while developing talent and keeping costs down, among other goals. As to how, exactly, to achieve these objectives, CEOs often depend upon contributions from the CIO and IT department, according to the research. Strengthening end-to-end process management, systems thinking and agility -- three goals that tech plays a firm hand in -- are all considered part of the solution set here. “Quality management practices today go far beyond a handful of statistical tools and a quality assurance mentality,” according to the report. “While these tools are still essential, they are not, by themselves, sufficient. Quality management today takes a more holistic view and is tightly linked to strategies and goals while embracing new channels for engaging and responding to customers and consumers.” More than 700 global CEOs, presidents and chairmen took part in the research.

In leading IT teams, it's inevitable that you'll see things heat up among members. Heck, you may even find yourself drawn into the fire. In many cases, the best way to put out these blazes is to douse the flames early on. In other cases, it’s best to let conflict take its course and allow your employees to work things out like mature professionals. Clearly, this is a judgment call – a nuanced aspect of management that they likely didn’t teach you in school. The recent book "Conflict 101: A Manager’s Guide to Resolving Problems so Everyone Can Get Back To Work" (Amacom/Available now), examines the essence of workplace confrontation and offers a wide range of best practices for CIOs and other senior executives to consider. Author Susan H. Shearouse establishes guidance and modeling behaviors that you can provide to help your teams work things out on their own. And it also sheds insight on steps you need to take if your personal involvement is required. Shearouse is a consultant and mediator specializing in differences resolution for organizations such as Lockheed Martin, the Federal Aviation Administration and the IRS.

When it comes to Apple, CIOs have a difficult time coming to a consensus. On one hand, the company delivers outstanding products that consumers and even the most battled-scarred tech leader can agree are appealing. In fact, soaring iPhone and iPad sales gave Apple its best fiscal quarter ever . However, when it comes to enterprise functionality, Apple’s products fall short in many ways. While the company’s enterprise appeal is much improved from where it stood a few years ago, Apple still has a long way to go before it wins over most CIOs looking to make decisions about technology for the workplace. Realizing that, we thought it might be a good time to take a look at what Apple can do to be more CIO-friendly. Rather than continue to focus exclusively on consumers by offering products such as iPhone and iPad, with which many CIOs find fault, Apple should think seriously about what it wants to accomplish in the enterprise. The time has come for Apple to become far more CIO-friendly than it has been in the past. Here's how Apple can achieve that goal while staying true to what its business is all about.

Recovery? What recovery? If your IT employees seem skittish lately, it's because overall worker confidence has fallen to levels not seen since the peak of the recession, according to a recent survey from Glassdoor, an executive job-search site. As a CIO, you need to be aware of these sentiments, as a decline in morale could impact job performance. The upshot: Continuing trouble signs -- especially in the jobs outlook -- are taking a toll on Americans. On the positive side, employees express more satisfaction about their jobs now than they did a year ago, and company practices with respect to layoffs, furloughs and other measures in reality (despite worker perceptions) are on the decline, according to survey results. The sense of pessimism apparently stems from expectations. "It's clear that the psyche of American workers has been measurably shaken as a result of recent discouraging economic reports,” says Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor career and workplace expert, as well as co-author of the book "Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business" (FT Press/Available now). “While company layoffs have abated in recent months, employees may be preparing themselves for what they think will be another round of belt-tightening if the economy doesn't improve." More than 2,200 U.S. adults took part in the research.

Workers, regardless of the industry or country, typically take the technologies provided to them by IT and engage in activities that would make even the most laid-back CIO cringe. Whether it’s allowing other people to use their company computer, or forgetting to change passwords, employees are engaging in behaviors that put your company’s sensitive data at risk. Here are the 11 dumbest (and most worrisome) activities that your employees are likely doing with company-provided technology on any given day. As you share this, you'll do well to remind your workers that bad tech behavior speaks volumes about the kind of people we really are.

You may turn to business- or technology-focused books to seek advice on improving your leadership skills as a CIO. Or you might spend considerable time at workshops and seminars focused on developing your management know-how. But you can’t overlook the fundamental “lessons learned” in everyday life, and that includes the classroom. No, we’re not talking about college. We’re talking about the schoolhouses where, for so many of us, learning and developing first took hold. Think about it: If you consider the five or six greatest influencers in your life, wouldn’t you put at least one of your K-12 teachers on that list? With that in mind, we present these highly transferable snippets of advice from the real-life teachers who contribute to TeacherVision.com, an online resource for educators. Better yet, try spending a day in your own child's classroom when it's back-to-school time. Can't wait until fall? Here are nine management tips from grade school teachers -- and how these can translate to your IT organization -- that you can put to use in your office today.

Are you the type of CIO who simply can’t get away, even for a summer vacation? Given the level of responsibilities you take on, we know plenty of you are tempted to constantly check on email and even voice mail while on a break. Some of you probably even use up all the leave time you’ve earned. Given this, when you return, you may feel like you haven’t had a vacation at all. You may justify this behavior by saying, “Well, that’s what everyone does these days.” But you’d be wrong. In fact, if the above describes you, we suggest you review these 10 clues that you're a workaholic. Because research from Aerotek —a provider of technical, professional and industrial staffing services—indicates that American employees are more than happy to take all of their vacation time. And they hardly harbor any guilty feelings about completely disconnecting while they’re gone. The research results are somewhat counterintuitive in today’s economic climate, and may indicate that employees are ready to stand firm on principles relating to work-life balance. More than 1,000 employees were polled for the survey. Here are five quick highlights:

Donald Trump may be best known for the words, "You’re fired." But the ever-colorful real estate magnate has clearly had a lot more to say over the decades. In fact, many of his statements demonstrate a reflective organizational leader whose philosophies are readily transferable any CIOs or other senior IT leaders. Trump started working for his father’s real-estate firm while attending Fordham University, and graduated from the Wharton School in 1968. Just three years later, he took over the family business, now known as The Trump Organization. He has successfully overcome adversity, such as his well-publicized bankruptcy filings in the early 1990s. He’s enjoyed a lasting comeback since then, and Forbes now estimates his net worth at $2.7 billion. Given that Trump has also served as a highly entertaining, human sound bite over the years, we offer these 10 Trump pearls of wisdom—and how they make sense for today's IT organization.

They’re emailing, texting, status-updating and Tweeting while going on vacation, driving in cars, relaxing in bed—and even attending religious services! They're buying their own technology for use at work, and increasingly blurring the lines between personal devices and work-focused tools. And they’re happy to take the initiative to use social media to reach customers—in far greater numbers than their employers realize. They are the modern-day “iWorkers,” 21st Century employees who are driven, tech-savvy and seemingly never disconnected. You may recognize these behaviors among your own IT department staff. But, it’s clear that a growing number of workers are adopting these behaviors regardless of the department in which they work, according to a recent survey conducted by IDC for Unisys. You'll want to stay on top of these trends, as the survey reveals a clear disconnect between CIO perception and reality when it comes to what the level of tech-related activity among iWorkers. Ultimately, such disconnect could impact enterprise operations. “While IT executives are now realizing and accepting that the consumerization of IT is happening,” says Nick Evans, vice president of strategic innovation for Unisys, “they actually appear overwhelmed by the movement and aren’t taking the necessary, proactive steps to ready their organizations and applications for the iWorker era.” Nearly 2,660 iWorkers worldwide and more than 560 IT managers at large enterprises with more than 500 employees were polled in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

There are some companies that just about every CIO can point to and say that they have delivered outstanding enterprise services. Over the last couple years, one of those companies has been Google. The search giant has done a much better job, of late, delivering enterprise solutions that CIOs can actually get behind. And, perhaps most importantly, Google has done so with the same level of professionalism that it has brought to the consumer market. But Google, like Microsoft, Cisco, HP, and other enterprise-friendly tech firms, isn’t perfect. In fact, in many ways, the company has failed CIOs. Whether we consider Google's decisions around the Android smartphone OS, or its slow trek to delivering more power in Google Docs, the firm still has a long way to go before it enters the pantheon of true enterprise greats. Here are nine ways the company is letting CIOs down.

Recently, we took a look at Apple’s iPhone 5 and discussed why CIOs around the globe might take issue with the company’s upcoming smartphone. This time around, we’re going to examine Apple’s iPad 2 to see why the tablet, which is easily besting all others in total sales, might pose challenges for your operation. Admittedly, the iPad 2 is an outstanding consumer tablet. The device is well designed, it has all kinds of nice entertainment features, and its App Store is packed with applications that people of all ages can enjoy. But for the enterprise, the iPad 2 isn’t necessarily the best choice. Its focus on entertainment will raise red flags for CIOs who are are worried about productivity. Plus, there are other devices on store shelves now that deliver more corporate-friendly features than the iPad.

Worldwide spending on computing hardware, software, IT services and telecom is on pace to grow 7.1% in 2011, according to 2Q spending outlook by Stamford, Conn., research firm Gartner Inc. (For more research on tech spending, check out CIO Insight's IT Investment Trends Study .) In the Gartner report, released at the end of June, the research firm's analysts revised their overall IT spending forecast from their 1Q update, when they projected 5.6% growth for 2011. "It is a bit surprising that we have not seen a more significant impact on our global IT spending forecast as a results of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, but despite widespread concerns about disruptions to the supply of critical components in the initial aftermath of the natural disaster, there has not been a dramatic impact on overall IT spending," says Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner. The computing and hardware segment is poised for the strongest growth of any major category this year, Gartner says. Cloud computing is playing a huge role in the spending landscape. The 2Q forecast shows that spending on public cloud services is expected to grow four times faster than spending on overall IT.

Ultimately, you and your employees are in the customer-delivery business. Yet, far too many tech departments fall short in delivering on customer expectations. In the book "Unleashing the Power of IT: Bringing People, Business, and Technology Together" (Wiley/available now), author Dan Roberts devotes a section to elevating the customer-centric culture within IT. Within the section, Roberts addresses a number of common concerns, such as quality assurance, expectations management and complaint follow-through. One key takeaway: CIOs and their IT employees must realize now that their customers are savvier than ever about technology, thanks to mass consumption, and that this dynamic will continue to transform future interactions. “It’s important to remember that internal IT is no longer the only game in town,” Roberts writes, “and the days are gone when clients depended solely on IT to provide technology services.” The author is president/CEO of Ouellette and Associates Consulting Inc., an IT leadership/professional development company. Here are 10 highlights from the book:

IBM is celebrating its centennial this year. That’s right: Big Blue was founded 100 years ago , and its history tells the story of a company that has remained on the leading edge when it comes to computer systems, hardware, software, IT consulting and other tech niches. IBM has won multiple Nobel Prizes, and holds more patents than any other U.S.-based technology company. (IBM actually invented the ATM.) And, if you believe one popular urban legend, IBM's supercomputers served as inspiration for Hal, the computer in "2001: A Space Odyssey." In the book "Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company"(IBM Press/Pearson/available now) authors Kevin Maney, Steve Hamm and Jeffrey M. O’Brien chronicle IBM’s impact on the state of global technology, focusing on the company’s ability to anticipate change and constantly transform. So, how up-to-speed are you on IBM-related trivia? Test your smarts with this quiz, based on information contained in the book. As always, no help from Google allowed:

Google is an interesting company. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the search engine made it easier for people around the globe to find the information they were looking for as quickly as possible. And, within a short time, Web users realized that Google had achieved its goal. After cornering the search market, Google turned its attention elsewhere by solidifying its position as the top Web advertiser in the industry, cementing itself as a top cloud-computing company, and even releasing a mobile operating system. Now, Google is one of the most powerful companies in the world. And that power has garnered the company an equally fair share of lovers and haters. In the book “Search and Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc.,” (Telescope Books/available now), author Scott Cleland looks to be one of Google’s detractors. He outlines why he believes the search giant is taking control over information with the ultimate desire to become a top power in the technology industry. For its part, Google has said that it doesn’t want to do “evil.” And many would agree that the company has been successful at that. When asked to comment on the book, a Google spokesman replied: "Is it possible to be quoted shrugging my shoulders? Everyone knows that Mr. Cleland stopped being a neutral analyst years ago and is now paid by Microsoft and AT&T to criticize Google full time.” We figure we'll let you decide for yourself. Here are 10 highlights from Cleland's book:

Dealing with your company’s Chief Executive Officer is probably a pain from time to time. As many CIOs can attest with the Apple iPad and iPhone, your top executive from time to time will get jazzed up about some new nifty technology fad and start questioning you on why you’re not rushing to deploy said solution in the workplace. Such is the case now with "the cloud." A recent survey, conducted by independent market research firm Marketing Solutions Corp. and sponsored by Dell, finds that CEOs are hearing great things about the cloud, and already they’re trying to think of ways in which they might be able to capitalize on it. But CIOs— who are the frontlines of the day-to-day realities of technology in the workplace— aren’t so sure jumping to the cloud right now is the best idea. In face, The survey polled 223 IT professionals during the Cloud Expo in New York City June 7-9. Many respondents believe the cloud might just be another fad that will come and go, but say their CEOs have a different viewpoint.

As a tech-department leader, you probably love to discover and deploy great new IT innovations. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In the book, The Power of Convergence: Linking Business Strategies and Technology Decisions to Create Sustainable Success (Amacom/available now), author Faisal Hoque reveals how CIOs and other top tech execs can lead the way for breakthroughs that address business values first and foremost. One outstanding example cited is the iPod, which wasn’t really a groundbreaking tech product, Hoque contends. MP3 players, after all, existed well before Apple introduced the product. What gave the iPod the edge, however, was the creation of the iTunes music store that allowed consumers to buy songs, rather than entire albums, as well as a highly user-friendly experience. Hoque is founder/CEO of BTM Corp., a top business-technology management solutions firm. Here are 10 how-to highlights:

The hype over the tech trend of desktop virtualization might have you believing that companies are adopting it across the board at the highest of capacity levels. But that’s not the case, according to a survey conducted by Matrix42, a vendor of workplace management and automation solutions. Certainly, the launching of desktop virtualization initiatives is on the rise in today’s workplaces, the research reveals. But decision-makers are still dipping their toes, relatively speaking, as opposed to taking the big plunge. Which means CIOs and other IT managers expect to oversee an environment in which both traditional and virtual options are deployed for some time. "2011 seems to be the year that businesses stop speculating about virtualization and actually invest in it," says Matrix42 CEO Herbert Uhl. "Unfortunately, however, there won't be a clear-cut switch for most organizations. For the IT manager, the new challenge will be managing a mix of physical and virtual desktops -- for the long run." The report also sheds light on the impact of the use of employees’ personal devices at work. Matrix 42 surveyed more than 90 tech execs at the Citrix Synergy 2011 conference, May 25-27 in San Francisco. Here are selected highlights:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications are becoming increasingly important in today’s corporate world. Companies all over the globe count on CRM solutions to help market products, manage customer service, empower sales teams and enhance contact-center capabilities, all with the ultimate goals of increasing revenue and improving customer loyalty. The Worldwide Semiannual Customer Relationship Management Applications Tracker, from research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), finds that CRM solutions gained significant popularity among corporate users in 2010. Oracle, SAP, and Salesforce.com each amassed more than $1 billion in CRM software revenue worldwide in 2010. Business customers are expected to spend even more this year on CRM solutions. If you’re thinking about acquiring a new CRM solution, or if you’re already invested in one, view the following slides to check out how the market is growing:

The “consumerization” of IT remains a hot topic for technology executives, with the growing popularity of products such as the Apple iPad and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. So how secure are these consumer-focused technologies that are increasingly pushing their way into the work environment, and what impact are they having on corporate compliance efforts? Proofpoint Inc., a provider of cloud-based email security offerings, and research firm Osterman Research, conducted an online survey of 632 IT and security professionals from U.S. businesses and government agencies in May 2011 to find out. The results are featured in the "2011 Consumerized IT Security Survey," released on June 23. According to the report, this is an issue many organizations need to think about: more than 80 percent of those surveyed are letting their employees use consumerized IT products and services to conduct business communications. “Consumerized IT in the workplace is a fact of life, and organizations recognize that they must act to integrate it in a secure and compliant manner,” says Michael Osterman, principal of Osterman Research.

The Apple iPhone 5, announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in early June, was reportedly due for its big reveal on Oct. 4. However, when the big day came no iPhone 5 was mentioned. Instead, Apple introduced an improved version of iPhone called 4S and announced that Sprint is in line to offer the iPhone. When Apple originally announced the new phone at its WWDC, the company stopped short of discussing hardware, instead choosing to focus its efforts on its operating systems and a new cloud-based platform, called iCloud . More details will be available when the company's new CEO Tim Cook unveils the iPhone 5, at which point CIOs will need to determine if the device is right for employees. You'll want to examine the device itself, as well as the wider market, to see if bringing the iPhone 5 to your operation would be a benefit or a detriment to the daily goings-on in the office. As nice as the iPhone 5 might be for consumers, we're betting that the device will fall short for many CIOs. Read on to find out why:

Organizations are falling far short of strategic needs when it comes to innovation, according to a recent survey from Korn/Ferry, an executive recruitment firm. CIOs and other key executives feel that their companies simply aren’t inspired enough to push forward with game-changing ideas, or they’re simply not structured in a way to foster this, according to the survey. And the vast majority of these executives say the CEO is to blame. "CEOs and companies talk so often about the need for innovation,” says Jane Stevenson, vice chairman and managing director of Korn/Ferry's Board and CEO Services and author of the book Breaking Away: How Great Leaders Create Innovation that Drives Sustainable Growth. “It is practically a cliché. Yet, far too many fail to create the innovation that drives sustainable, top-line growth. Companies that have truly mastered innovation are driven by courageous leaders who understand that leadership and innovation are inextricably linked." More than 300 executives worldwide took part in the survey.

How up to speed are you on the winning ways of companies and high-profile leaders present and past? Take this quiz and find out. Our examples are taken from the book "You Can’t Lead With Your Feet on the Desk: Building Relationships, Breaking Down Barriers, and Delivering Profits" (Wiley/Available now). In the book, author Ed Fuller contends that CIOs and other managers must get out and proactively seek insight from their employees about customer feedback, trend patterns and other critical organizational topics. Leaders also have to allow a sense of autonomy within the ranks in order to encourage ownership of job responsibilities. This kind of autonomy allows for, among other benefits, a full- picture perspective of customer sentiment and loyalty to emerge. Fuller is president and managing director of Marriott Lodging International. (Spoiler alert: Marriott is the subject of one of the five questions in this quiz.).

Only three of 10 employees are engaged by their work, according to industry research. While prospects of a future downsizing can certainly act as one type of motivation, workers need more than the threat of a pink slip to feel emotionally committed to company objectives. This is especially true when they’re asked to take on added duties without additional compensation and/or career advancement. In the book " Engaged Leadership: Building a Culture to Overcome Employee Disengagement" (Wiley/available now) author Clint Swindall examines the significant level of disengagement within organizations these days, and provides action steps for CIOs and other top managers to boost their work teams’ sense of ownership in what they do. Failing to achieve this can result in damaging consequences that will reflect negatively upon your own ability to lead. After all, overworked layoff survivors “may be more productive, but you can’t call them engaged,” Swindall writes. “As the economy turns around, your industrious workers will have options they haven’t had in years – and if they’re unhappy, they’ll jump ship.” Here are 10 best practices from the book.

As you know, several factors go into choosing a place to move jobs overseas. You need to think about financial considerations, for one, but you should also consider sociopolitical issues and personal safety as among the factors that could potentially interrupt the functions that you need performed. A recent report, "Image Matters: The Latin American Perception Shift," is based on a survey conducted by Nearshore Americas during the month of February 2011. The survey was completed by 266 outsourcing decision-makers and influencers located in North, Central and Latin America, including the Caribbean. All survey responses were divided into four main categories: outsourcing buyer/end user; service provider (IT, BPO and contact center); industry analyst/consultant; and country/city investment promotion agency. Here's what the respondents had to say about six major Latin American nations:

A study from the Ponemon Institute puts statistics behind something you may already know: That self-encrypting drives are integral to the safety of your corporate data. The study, "Perceptions About Self-Encrypting Drives: A Study of IT Practitioners," was commissioned from Ponemon by Trusted Computing Group, a provider of open-standard computing technologies. Companies that employ such drives are far more likely to save themselves from potential breaches than those that choose not to use such hardware, according to the report. If you aren’t familiar with self-encrypting drives, the devices encrypt corporate data automatically and on a continuous basis to ensure information is not unnecessarily left open to potential threats. Self-encrypting drives become all the more useful when one considers that 40% of employees admit to turning off software encryption services without considering the security impact of doing so. In order to gauge the importance of self-encrypting drives in the enterprise, Ponemon Institute surveyed 517 U.S. T workers in the financial services, retail, healthcare, and technology sectors. The survey also reveals some frightening stats on how many respondents have experienced a data breach.

Whether you realize it or not, one third of your employees may believe they are overqualified for the work you have them doing. At the same time, many believe they would benefit from additional training to improve both "hard" and "soft" skills. That’s the verdict from the Work Watch study published May 31, 2011, by HR services provider Randstad. The study is based on a survey conducted May 2-5, 2011, for Randstad by Ipsos Public Affairs; 1,006 adults aged 18 and older who are currently employed participated in the online poll. Respondents were also polled around their intent to pursue further education or training in an effort to achieve career advancement. Despite 97 percent reporting that they consider themselves "qualified" or "overqualified" for their current job, nearly two thirds (62 percent) say they still wish they had more skills "The data suggest that U.S. workers are less challenged by their current jobs," said Jim Link, Managing Director of Human Resources for Randstad. "It also raises questions about how this will affect employee turnover and retention as the job market recovers."

They deal with strapped budgets and yet are pushed to deliver constant innovation. Sound familiar? It should, because “they” are CIOs just like you. The only difference is that they’re the designated technology managers for U.S. state governments. The book CIO Leadership for State Governments: Emerging Trends and Practices (Public Technology Institute/available now) is packed with guidance and real-life success stories about the best practices of state IT departments. These insights are supplied by state CIOs and senior tech managers, as well as public-policy leaders and other experts. Published in partnership with the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO), the book can be as valuable for private-corporation CIOs as for their government counterparts. For example, one section focuses on the five critical steps that are essential for successful innovation. These steps are provided courtesy of Ken Theis, chief operating officer for Dewpoint and a former head of the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget; and Andris Ozols, a senior policy advisor for that department. Read on for the five essential steps to achieve successful innovation:

For a long time, the greatest threat to your company’s security was in the form of desktop-based malware. Cybercriminals around the world create programs and other malicious services that can wreak havoc on your network and steal important data. With the growing use of mobile devices in the enteprise, a new threat is emerging. Not only do you need to worry about devices being stolen, but malware on mobile products is becoming a growing issue. Google’s Android operating system, Symbian, and even iOS are all bigger targets than ever for cybercriminals. That was made abundantly clear in McAfee’s 1Q 2011 Threats Report, which reveals that mobile threats are on the rise. And you need to be prepared before trouble erupts. Read on to find out about the current state of mobile malware and how these trends might impact you and your company going forward.

Three years ago, IT services provider Avanade conducted a global survey to quantify the real and perceived business value, as well as the potential pitfalls, of cloud computing as an emerging technology. The company recently commissioned research firm Kelton Research to revisit the topic with a new online survey to determine where cloud computing is in the adoption cycle. Kelton surveyed 573 business and technology executives in 18 countries in March and April 2011 to learn how technology—and particularly cloud computing—is being used in the enterprise. Among the key findings: Cloud computing is maturing as a technology, although there are still widespread concerns about security. The proliferation of cloud services is also creating new pain points for IT executives, including unmanaged “cloud sprawl.” More generally, the survey indicates that technology investment is on an upswing, and companies are facing greater pressure than ever to innovate and grow, rather than save money. As a result, the rate of new technology adoption is also increasing.

Pirated software poses a huge risk for corporations, according to a report from the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Getting corporate users to download malicious programs is one of the most surefire ways for hackers to gain access to your network. Some of these threats come in the form of malware, while others pretend to be innocuous programs. According to the BSA, an anti-piracy organization, businesses in six states were responsible for nearly half of all alleged cases of corporate software piracy in the U.S. BSA receives tips from IT personnel and other knowledgeable sources through its online reporting form. “The trend underscores how prevalent these harmful copyright violations are throughout the US economy,” says Jodie Kelley, the BSA’s Vice President of Anti-Piracy and General Counsel. The overall software piracy rate in the United States was 20 percent in 2010, according to the BSA-IDC Global Software Piracy Study, and its commercial value was nearly $9.5 billion. BSA offers companies a state-of-the-art training course and certification program called SAM Advantage, which teaches them how to avoid piracy in the first place by better managing their software tools as strategic assets. The course helps companies understand how to capture greater business value from their software assets while increasing efficiency and avoiding security risks and legal jeopardy.

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 6, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is currently on a medical leave of absence from his company, announced a new cloud service, called iCloud. The offering, which is available to users of Apple iOS-based devices, as well as Mac and PC owners, allows folks to store content and push it wirelessly to any Apple products connected to it. Even better, the service is available for free, making it a potentially attractive offer for consumers. As CIO, your primary concern is to ensure that the services you bring to your operation make sense from a productivity and profitability standpoint. You'll also want to consider how workers using the service might impact your network. We’ve dug deep into iCloud and extracted the key features that you’ll need to think about before you determine whether iCloud is good or bad for your operation.

With the Great Recession subsiding, organizations could be headed for a leadership gap as they seek to ramp up growth. CIOs and other corporate leaders are expected to meet business goals, attain profit targets and retain top talent. But, very few employers feel that their top executives are performing any of these roles particularly well, according to a recent survey from human resources consulting firm Aon Hewitt. This comes at a critical time, the survey reveals, given that the majority of businesses are now focusing on revitalizing talent recruitment and retention efforts. "As we emerge from one of the worst recessions in history, company executives must develop new leadership skills in order to improve workforce productivity and stimulate engagement," said Amy Mills, vice president with Aon Hewitt. "They also must invest in developing middle managers who can bridge the gap between leadership strategy and employee actions, and are best positioned to effect change. In fact, our survey shows a crisis in confidence that corporate leaders will be able to reposition their companies for profitable growth and create an engaging work environment." The research also demonstrates that employers aren’t happy with the commitment level of the workforce in general. More than 1,320 U.S. employers took part in the survey. Here are 11 highlights from the report:

You may be anticipating the need to ramp-up your IT employee recruitment and retention efforts in light of an expected and sustained economic recovery. After all, when prospects for tech jobs improve, employees naturally want to check out their worth on the free market. The Great Recession has kept many workers from pursuing new opportunities in part because the opportunities simply weren't there. That said, all economic turnarounds have their ups and downs, and a recent survey from Technisource indicates that confidence levels among technology professionals are experiencing a bit of a setback. For example, fewer tech professionals polled in Q1 2011 said they felt optimistic that the economy is improving compared with Q4 2010. Significantly more respondents in Q1 2011 said they expected to lose their jobs within the year, compared with those who had the same expectation in Q4 2010. On the optimistic side, these workers do feel that there are more tech job opportunities available than there were in 2010. So don’t entirely ditch those recruitment and retention plans. "Employers really need to evaluate how committed their top talent is to their organization, and if they are equipping them with some of the things they value to keep them around,” says Michael Winwood, president of Technisource. “Talent will be a key differentiator as the economy recovers, as companies continue with plans for new technology implementations, software migrations and other long-overdue projects throughout the year." The report also sheds light on workplace differences among generations and genders on these topics. Some 205 IT professionals responded to the survey.

Take advantage of the summer slow-down to fine tune your leadership skills with these 11 books. If there’s a unifying theme here, it’s the need for CIOs and other senior tech managers to boost critical thinking skills – whether pursuing IT projects, developing an atmosphere of success in your departments or uncovering new strategies for recruiting talent. Some of these tomes will help you hone in on your hard skills, such as tech-service management, business-intelligence oversight and data-warehouse administration. Others titles hit on growth areas that have very little to do directly with IT – such as your ability to cultivate trust, innovate and ask good questions -- yet are crucial to your overall career and management growth. Links to find out more information about the books are included on each slide. Keep in mind that publishing dates are always subject to change. We've highlighted these 11 books as a way to pump up your CIO IQ and inner leadership power during the summer months:

If you left your organization, who would replace you? The answer to this question is too often unknown. A recent survey from CareerBuilder reveals that many companies these days aren’t paying enough attention to succession planning. In fact, there really isn’t a designated successor for the highest-level positions within a large number of large businesses. The adverse impact of this lack of planning can be considerable: decreased productivity, weakened financial performance and an absence of strategic direction. While many survey participants blame the recession for the inattention here, managers need to start looking ahead in more proactive fashion, according to the research. "As the economy gradually improves, it's important for organizations to proactively plan for the future of their businesses," says Jamie Womack, vice president of corporate marketing and sales training at CareerBuilder. "Having a blueprint on who will succeed management at all levels is a critical facet to your overall strategy. It ensures that your organization will be able to tackle future challenges and compete in your industry." Nearly 1,100 employers at organizations with more than 1,000 workers took part in the research. Here are seven highlights:

Given the volume of data that all organizations must manage now to compete, it’s not surprising that the vast majority are planning to expand their data-center space this year, according to an annual survey of the North American data-center market from Digital Realty Trust Inc. The biggest trends? Leasing out space, instead of buying, and taking a do-it-yourself approach, according to the report "What's Driving the U.S. Data Center Market, 2011 ." “Increasingly, enterprises appear to be favoring the lease model, as fewer companies are choosing to go it alone on these capital-intensive projects,” says Michael F. Foust, CEO and director at Digital Realty Trust. “Unlike many of the large Internet companies, many enterprises that participated in the survey are choosing to lower costs and minimize development risks by working with a data-center specialist." Meanwhile, CIOs are finding more budget room for data-center operations than in the past, according to the research results. Approximately 300 IT decision makers at large corporations in North America took part in the research. Here are 10 selected highlights:

Do you know your Django from your Hadoop? If so, then you'll ace this quiz, designed to challenge your grasp of cloud jargon and terminology. If these terms leave you feeling a little "lost in the cloud," fear not. The questions and answers you'll find in this quiz are based on a very CIO-friendly glossary provided in the recent book " Building Applications in the Cloud: Concepts, Patterns and Projects " (Addison-Wesley Professional/available now). In the book, author Christopher Moyer provides insights that can help managers maximize the value of their cloud applications. Here are two freebies to get you started: Django is an open-source Web app framework written in Python; Hadoop is a specific implementation of the Map/Reduce pattern implemented in Java). Challenge yourself to see how many of these other six cloud-related questions you can nail. And remember, we work on the honor system here: No seeking Google help as you attempt to define these terms:

IT downtime costs businesses, collectively, more than 127 million person-hours per year—or an average of 545 person-hours per company—in employee productivity, according to an online survey of IT and business executives sponsored by CA Technologies and conducted by research firm Coleman Parkes in November 2010. This loss is equivalent to 63,500 people being unable to work for an entire year, according to CA. The survey of 2,000 organizations in North America and Europe also found that IT outages are frequent and lengthy, and can substantially damage company reputation, staff morale and customer loyalty. Despite this, a majority of organizations in North America don’t have a formal and comprehensive disaster recovery policy. “There are a variety of practical and affordable steps organizations can take to protect themselves against the adverse business impact of IT outages,” says Steve Fairbanks, vice president of product management, Data Management, at CA Technologies. “Given that these outages are a fact of life, and that some of the consequences of outages can be irreversible, investments in improved business continuity are extremely worthwhile.”

How your organization views the role of IT has a dramatic impact on your actions as CIO, according to a report from IBM entitled “The Essential CIO: Insights from the Global Chief Information Officer Study,". The study is based on more than 3,000 face-to-face conversations with CIOs worldwide. Using statistical and textual analysis of responses, the research spotlights four “CIO Mandates” that reflect how an organization views the role of IT. The four CIO mandates are to: leverage (streamline operations and increase organizational effectiveness); expand (refine business processes and enhance collaboration); transform (change the industry value chain through improved relationships); and pioneer (radically innovate products, markets and business models). We highlight the report's findings on how a CIO with each mandate is expected to prioritize his or her time, as well as provide tips on how each mandate can be fulfilled. We also highlight the CIO priorities that cut across all types of organizations.

CIOs and other senior tech managers are looking for alternatives to traditional hiring models. While there are still many who stick to recruiting full-time, local employees, a growing number of CIOs are interested in expanding their use of contractual, part-time or even overseas talent, according to a survey from Harvey Nash Group and PA Consulting Group. The survey serves as a general “State of the CIO” report, shedding light on topics such as the surprisingly high level of job fulfillment among senior tech mangers. But, the more revealing results focus upon the strategic/talent-staffing challenges that CIOs expect to face for the immediate future. “CIOs are facing new challenges presented by a world which is increasingly mobile, using social networking tools to transact and communicate,” says Albert Ellis, CEO of Harvey Nash. “Technology leaders have to deal with the two main priorities from the CEO: driving innovation, particularly in the mobile applications area, while continuing to manage costs. The result is an increased dependence on a flexible, multi-sourced environment.” More than 2,500 senior tech execs worldwide took part in the survey. Here are 10 highlights:

How much are you paying your IT employees? If you’re like the majority of CIOs nationwide, it’s not much more than you were paying at this time last year. Because of a continued, cautious outlook due to the recent recession, compensation levels remain fairly static. And, unfortunately, this same trend applies to the amount of money that companies are willing to pay CIOs, according to the 2011 IT Salary Survey from Janco Associates. According to Janco, organizations are looking to keep costs down by increasing the number of part-time and contract employees they use. They’re also asking IT professionals to pay a growing share of health-care benefits. However, on the positive side, managers are more willing now to play the “How can I pay you without paying you?” game. That means they’re more receptive to concepts such as flexible hours and customized work schedules. More than 980 executives took part in the survey, conducted in partnership with eJobDescription.com. Here are eight highlights:

If you’re not satisfied with your business intelligence platform and how your company is using it, you’re not alone, according to a new survey from web-based business intelligence software maker LogiXML. The survey finds that while many companies are planning on increasing their BI software spending over the next year, most aren’t happy with what they’ve got. And blame for failed BI implementations, underperformance and the system’s inability to meet the users’ needs falls on the shoulders of IT departments. “The findings we’ve compiled suggest that the overall need for BI continues to grow, but that companies are bogged down by traditional BI approaches that contain complex and costly platforms and data manipulation or tool sets with long development cycles—all of which require significant IT involvement,” said Brett Jackson, CEO, LogiXML. The survey polled 575 business and IT professionals between March 29 and April 8, 2011 about their experiences with, and plans to implement, business intelligence software solutions. Here are 10 key findings.

If your CFO revealed that you’d have more than $38 billion to spend on your IT department or systems, you’d think you just received the equivalent of a blank check, right? Well, that's the amount requested by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for fiscal-year 2012. Before you let your imagination take wing, however, this report from INPUT/Deltek Information Systems puts it all in perspective. Despite the hefty dollar amount, the report reveals that the DoD is firmly focused on increasing IT efficiencies and consolidation in a challenging funding environment. In other words: Military CIOs and IT departments face the same budget struggles as CIOs and IT leaders in private sector. In particular, DoD agencies are being directed to pursue efficiency and consolidation initiatives in the areas of service-oriented architecture, command-and-control network systems and “green” technology. In the end, given the pure scale of our military agencies, that $38 billion is hardly a windfall. “Tight budgets facilitate efficiency, in that [they force] prioritization,” says Deniece Peterson, senior manager of federal industry analysis within Deltek’s INPUT business unit. “However, some of the prerequisites for deploying solutions to drive efficiency -- such as cloud computing -- require significant work to standardize the DoD’s IT environment, all with security still in mind.” Here are selected highlights from the report.

An uptick in phishing attacks, a lack of domain name service security awareness among IT personnel, and an increase in mobile attacks are among the findings of IID's "eCrime Trends Report, First Quarter 2011." IID is a vendor of anti-phishing solutions. Many in the information security industry have been focused on Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) during the past several months, according to the report. The typical “low and slow” approach is often pointed out as a popular tactic for cyber criminals who are targeting systems at large organizations. As a result of the HBGary Federal breach, it has been discovered that enterprises such as Johnson and Johnson and Dow Chemical have been targets of hackers, as was the law firm King & Spalding. Like the attack against HBGary Federal, the breach of RSA’s SecurID Security two-factor Authentication product in March 2011 shows that threats really can penetrate and disrupt even those businesses that focus on IT security, according to the report. More than 25,000 organizations worldwide use the SecurID product. These events illustrate how cyber criminals are focusing on particular aspects of the Internet business ecosystem and not just haphazardly guessing at which organizations to target. In the plus column, Microsoft, McAfee, Fireye and other security researchers worked with U.S. Federal law enforcement to take down the Rustock botnet.

As the world slowly emerges from the Great Recession, some companies are starting to invest in IT hiring, according to a study from technology staffing and service company, TekSystems. The company's 2Q 2011 quarterly IT Executive Outlook survey, conducted in partnership with the Inavero Institute and released April 28, finds that 36% of IT leaders plan to add contingent IT headcount over the next three months, and 41% plan to add permanent IT headcount in the same period. Part-time hiring is the only area in which the vast majority of survey respondents (87%) expect no change in 3Q 2011 from the previous quarter. Nearly half of respondents (47 percent) also plan to increase spending on IT infrastructure services in 3Q 2011, while 42 percent plan to increase spending on IT applications services in the same period. The quarterly survey polled more than 1,000 IT decision makers in the U.S. and Canada in March 2011.

Whether or not you work in the healthcare or pharmaceutical industries, it's worth noting the growing role of the Internet and social networks in how we make medical decisions. The fact that Americans are turning to the Internet and social networks for resources on some of our most deeply personal healthcare issues is a striking commentary on just how much our ideas about privacy are changing. If someone is willing to discuss their personal medical care in an open forum, it should give you pause to consider what else they might be open to discussing online, including, perhaps, confidential information about your company. With this in mind, the report "Peer to Peer Healthcare," released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, reveals that, while many of us continue to consult family and friends about health problems, the Web has taken on greater importance than ever as a source of information, particularly for those grappling with chronic illness. In addition, another Pew report, "The Social Life of Health Information," finds that 11% of adults, have followed their friends’ personal health experiences or updates on via social networking sites. Even so, the majority of health care conversations continue to happen offline: Just 5% of adults say they received online information, care, or support from a health professional, 13% say they had online contact with friends and family, and 5% say they interacted online with fellow patients. The "Peer to Peer Healthcare" report is based in part on a national telephone survey of 3,001 adults which captures an estimate of how widespread this activity is in the U.S. All numerical data included in the report is based on the telephone survey. The other part of the analysis is based on an online survey of 2,156 members of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) who wrote short essays about their use of the Internet in caring for themselves or for their loved ones. "The Social Life of Health Information" report is based on a national telephone survey conducted in August and September 2010 among 3,001 adults in the U.S.

Google, 3M, Apple and Intel are among the firms with the highest "reputation quotient," according to market research firm Harris Interactive. For the 12th year, Harris has released what it calls its “RQ Study,” which tracks the reputation quotient of the 60 most visible U.S. organizations, and ranks them based on public perception. The entire technology sector, in fact, is viewed most favorably of all industries ranked in the study. Companies ranking high on the list “should all be lauded for their focus and commitment to reputation management,” says Robert Fronk, senior vice president and global practice lead over reputation management at Harris Interactive. “These companies recognize that it is this behavioral commitment that earns them reputation equity, not tactics designed to help them score well on lists like these." More than 30,000 Americans were interviewed for the study from December 30, 2010 through February 22, 2011 to capture their perceptions of the most-visible corporations for the calendar year 2010.

If you could gather together in the same room 12 legendary leaders -- including the mayor of New York City, the world’s richest man, the superintendent of one of our nation’s most esteemed military institutions and several accomplished CEOs -- what would you do? If you’re like most of us, you’d want to pick their brains, right? Fortunately, the new book, No Fear of Failure: Real Stories of How Leaders Deal with Risk and Change (Jossey-Bass/available now) figuratively puts these very people in the same room for you. Authored by Gary Burnison, CEO of talent-management solutions firm Korn/Ferry, the book features one-on-one interviews with a dozen leaders to extract compelling nuggets of wisdom about failure, success and the many steps in between. As the book title implies, what may impress readers the most is not the tales of great accomplishments, but rather the perspectives on falling short of goals. “One of the amazing similarities these leaders share is a deep inner serenity that comes from accepting the inevitability of failure,” Burnison says. “Success instilled confidence in each of them, but their failures imparted wisdom. Unfortunately, humans cannot see the future; tragedies occur and failure happens. However, it’s not what you do at the moment of failure, it’s what you do after that counts.” Here are selected quotes from each interviewee, conveying 12 distinct takes on leadership:

With cloud computing at a critical crossroads, research from Gartner cautions CIOs to manage inherent risks and unexpected costs during what is expected to be a technology revolution. The research examines key issues driving cloud adoption, and seeks to separate reality from hyperbole with respect to cloud computing. In the end, Gartner concludes that cloud computing is, indeed, the future. “The hype around cloud computing services has increased interest, as well as caution, for CIOs trying to determine where, when and if cloud services can provide valuable outcomes for their businesses," says Frank Ridder, research vice president at Gartner. "Cloud computing is driving discontinuity that introduces exciting opportunities and costly challenges. Organizations need to understand these changes and develop realistic cloud sourcing strategies and contracts that can reduce risk." Here are highlights from Gartner's recent findings:

So, you think you know all there is to know about Paul Allen? Sure, he co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, owns major sports franchises, survived cancer, and donated more than $1 billion to philanthropy. Paul Allen’s experiences serve as testimony to a life fully lived. And now, with his new memoir, Idea Man (Portfolio Penguin/available now), the famously private Allen shares a wealth of colorful anecdotes and candid insights — including a look into the complexities of his relationship with Gates. Leaving Microsoft, he writes, “left a hole in my life. I missed the good times with Bill, when we’d spur each other on to bigger and better ideas, although the occasions had grown fewer toward the end. But I never felt tempted to reconsider my departure. It was like a failed romance ... I could not go back.” Take our quiz and test your knowledge about Allen’s career and life. We're working on the honor system here, trusting you to avoid using Google (or Bing) for the answers.

Personal finance problems among a few employees wouldn't typically be your concern. CIOs and other senior managers have often traditionally taken an “MYOB” position on the subject. But, the recent recession has hardly been typical, and it’s still impacting employees on and off the job, according to a survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Employees are struggling with debt -- not for big-ticket purchases but for day-to-day living needs. Many are dependent on credit cards because there’s simply no other way to pay the bills, and a significant share cannot meet even the minimum monthly payment on those cards. The upshot: Financial stress has emerged as a work distraction for some. And, while you may think that your higher-paid performers are immune from these circumstances, the survey reveals otherwise. Not surprisingly, retirement planning for many professionals is now on “on hold” for the indefinite future. "The results clearly show that retirement is not the most pressing financial concern weighing on employees' minds,” says Kent Allison, partner in PwC's financial education practice. “In addition, the financial distractions and resulting levels of stress may cause a loss of productivity and have an impact on employee health.” More than 1,600 adults making at least $30,000 a year took part in the research.

Video conferencing isn’t quite established yet as a standard technology for enterprises, even though it’s been around for a while. (The IP-based version of the technology goes back to the 1990s.) That won’t last for long, according to a survey from CDW. Within two years, the vast majority of companies will have some form of video conferencing in place. Consider this a lasting byproduct of the recent recession, as CEOs sought cost efficiencies in all areas of operations. If you've so far failed to sell your C-suite counterparts on the concept of video conferencing, you may find success in pushing the ROI benefits – especially when it comes to savings in travel costs and increases in productivity. Surprisingly, however, not all businesses that have bought in video conferencing have tracked these metrics. CIOs planning to launch a video-conferencing initiative may also want to know that the technology often requires a network change or upgrade, and that the majority of businesses farm out the oversight of video-conferencing technology and services, rather than handling these in-house. More than 630 U.S. executives took part in the research.

In too many cases, employees find themselves promoted to managerial positions without being given enough training or guidance to succeed at their new jobs. In fact, one-third of employers say they do not teach first-time bosses important skills such as budget oversight and project management, according to a survey from the Institute for Corporate Productivity. Nearly four of 10 employers say they spend two days or less each year training rookie managers , the survey reports. Being a boss means constantly attempting to grasp and master complexities involving industry shifts, organizational politics, personality clashes and conflicting expectations among senior leaders, customers and your teams. At the end of the day, many bosses wonder if they've ever accomplished anything of value, according to authors Linda Hill and Kent Lineback. In their book Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader (Harvard Business Review Press/Available now), Hill and Lineback explore the universal challenges that face first-time managers, and break things down into three core areas on which to focus: managing yourself, managing your network, and managing your team. Hill is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Lineback is a writer/collaborator with nearly three decades of experience in business and government.

The negative energy of a single team member can impact your entire organization. In the book “Fully Charged: How Great Leaders Boost Their Organization’s Energy and Ignite High Performance” (Harvard Business Review Press/Available now), authors Heike Bruch and Bernd Vogel contend that CIOs and other top executives must constantly monitor their department's energy level. One problem: Far too many senior managers invest in motivating the individual, rather than the whole group. Creating a lasting culture of energy requires constant watch for trouble signs and reinforcement of energy-sparking strategies, the authors say. Uncertainty within the ranks, for example, must be recognized and addressed with a sincere effort toward transparency. Bruch, a professor of leadership at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, is founder and research director of the Organizational Energy Program. Vogel is assistant professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the Henley Business School at the University of Reading in the U.K.

Less than one third of employees say they are engaged in their work, and the fallout may result in a mass exodus from companies, according to a survey conducted by BlessingWhite, a leadership-development/workplace-performance firm. Nearly 11,000 professionals worldwide took part in the survey, which reveals that layoffs, salary freezes and other cost-cutting measures have resulted in a sense of detachment within the cubicle ranks. Another contributing factor: The lack of any sense of career advancement among disengaged workers. Such sentiments are inspiring many to consider “jumping ship” within the year. For a significant share of survey participants, it’s not really about money -- simply having a job that presents energizing challenges would be enough for their employer to retain them. "Business leaders are right to be concerned about retention of top talent," says BlessingWhite CEO Christopher Rice. "And while raises may encourage some workers to stick around, our findings suggest that employees -- especially high performers -- will remain in jobs that challenge them, utilize their expertise and provide meaning."

Your IT teams are constantly under pressure to meet critical deadlines, absorb new information at warp speed and innovate to stay ahead of rapidly shifting market dynamics. That’s a pretty tall order, isn’t it? Which is why you need to know when it's time to break up familiar routines and present challenging activities that stimulate employees’ capacity for critical thinking, according to author/training consultant Marlene Caroselli. In her new book The Critical Thinking Tool Kit: Spark Your Team’s Creativity with 35 Problem-Solving Activities (Amacom/available now), Caroselli presents exercises that are designed to induce neither tears nor laughter among your employees. These are not to be confused with the kind of misguided team-building exercises that are the fodder of TV comedies such as "The Office." Rather, these are intellectual exercises that attempt to cultivate skills such as analytical thinking, problem solving and conflict management. Here are our six favorites from among the list of 35.

A report from security vendor BeyondTrust gives us an aggregated overview of the number and type of security vulnerabilities reported in 2010 by Microsoft and its partners. BeyondTrust's 2010 Microsoft Vulnerability Report indicates that removing administrator rights from employee PCs can go a long way toward securing your company from some of the most prevalent threats in the wild. BeyondTrust, a vendor of identity management solutions, explains the methodology behind its conclusions, which are based on the security vulnerabilities in Microsoft software that are regularly identified by Microsoft and its partners. According to BeyondTrust, in 2010 Microsoft published more than 100 security bulletins documenting and providing patches for 256 vulnerabilities. BeyondTrust analyzed all of the published Microsoft vulnerabilities in 2010. The report also examined all of the published Windows 7 vulnerabilities from the time that operating system was introduced in October 2009 through December 2010. This report uses information found in the Individual Security Bulletins to classify vulnerabilities by the following criteria: severity rating; vulnerability impact; and affected software. The report considers a vulnerability capable of being mitigated by removing administrator rights if the following sentence is located in the Security Bulletin’s Mitigating Factors section: “Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.”

As the corporate world becomes inundated with new technologies, including cloud services and personal devices, your job is getting more difficult. Nowadays, you not only need to worry about the products and services you give out to employees, but you also need to think about what they’re bringing into the workforce. And with all new solutions at your disposal, ensuring that the security of information is still a top priority is becoming more difficult. A survey conducted by ISACA, a global association serving more than 95,000 IT governance, assurance and security professionals, finds that regulatory compliance will be the top business issue affecting enterprise IT in the next 12 to 18 months. The ISACA member survey received 2,400 responses from professionals working in IT, security, and audit and assurance representing 126 countries. The survey reveals that the increase in regulations, data breaches and new technologies such as cloud computing--plus the rise of personal technology in the workplace--are accelerating complexity and risk. The top issues are identified through a weighting system based on survey responses. The weighted score is the average ranking received by each topic multiplied by the number of responses. The scoring gives weight to the degree of importance on which survey respondents ranked each issue. Higher scores indicate higher importance.

The Royal Wedding between the U.K.'s Prince William and Kate Middleton, which takes place April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey, is shaping up to be the event of the year. People around the globe are clamoring to see what the bride-to-be will wear, how the ceremony will go down, and what the future will look like for these two icons. It's only natural that some workers will be keeping up with the Royal Wedding on your enterprise devices. Sure, this raises productivity questions. But that's not the real issue here. According to a new survey conducted by Impulse Research for Symantec, security problems are already becoming a serious cause for concern as malicious hackers use Royal Wedding search terms to target unsuspecting Web surfers. Such threats could put your network in danger, and they could prove to cost your company an inordinate amount of cash. The survey received responses from 1,047 American men and women over age 18 who plan to follow news coverage of William and Kate's Royal Wedding. Read on to find out more about the threats affecting Royal Wedding seekers around the globe -- and what your company can do to limit the potential problems.

While the number of compromised records involved in data breaches dropped sharply in 2010, the number of breaches was the largest to date – 760 breaches – according to the “2011 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report.” The seeming disparity comes from a drop in large-scale breaches as cyber criminals instead focus on small, easy targets. Hacking and malware were the most prominent types of attacks, meaning CIOs still have to worry about the threats outside attacks pose to their enterprises. “This year, we witnessed highly automated and prolific external attacks, low and slow attacks, intricate internal fraud rings, countrywide device-tampering schemes, cunning social engineering plots and more. And yet, at the end of day, we found once again that the vast majority of breaches can be avoided without extremely difficult, expensive security measures,” said Peter Tippett, Verizon’s vice president of security and industry solutions. “A good offense remains the best defense. It is imperative to implement essential security measures broadly throughout your security infrastructure, whether that is a small home setup or an expansive enterprise infrastructure.” Verizon and the U.S. Secret Service collaborated on the report. Here are some of its key findings and recommendations to boost enterprise security.

We all know this is the age of the mobile worker. In fact, there will be more than 1 billion such employees by the end of 2011, according to IDC. How do CIOs and other senior executives really feel about this workplace dynamic? There are serious concerns about the management and oversight of these employees, and the costs of supporting them. However, the fifth annual Total Employee Mobility Benchmark Report from enterprise mobility vendor Runzheimer International reveals that many executives are comfortable with the structures they’ve put in place. At the same time, very few have actually come up with a program or system to effectively monitor and measure the success of their mobility policies. And, the associated costs of the professional mobile culture continue to rise. "It raises the question of whether or not organizations really understand the holistic nature of their mobile workforce programs," said Greg Harper, president of Runzheimer International. The need for formal assessment to measure results, from return-on-investment to employee satisfaction, has never been more important." About 100 executives took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

In the traditional sense, a great breakthrough happens when a product team comes up with something brand new and brings it to market with astonishing success. But breakthroughs don’t always have to be about launching The Next Big Thing. CIOs, for example, constantly depend upon innovation to keep their organizations ahead of competitors. We devised this quiz to test your knowledge of the kinds of breakthroughs that enabled companies across a wide range of industries to achieve success. We challenge you to identify the breakthrough concept with the company that put this innovation to good use. Questions and answers are based on the case studies featured in the book "Breaking Away: How Great Leaders Create Innovation That Drives Sustainable Growth – And Why Others Fail" (McGraw Hill/Available now). Authors Jane Stevenson and Bilal Kaafarani examine the stories behind a number of high-profile, corporate breakthroughs and extract lessons that you can apply to your IT organization. Stevenson is vice chairman of board and CEO services at Korn/Ferry International, a leading C-suite talent management firm. Kaafarani is a former SVP of global research and innovation at Coca-Cola.

What does it take to transform from a department head to a respected, company-wide leader? Apparently, much more than CIOs are currently delivering, according to a new survey from Chally Group. The performance-measurement firm recently surveyed top executives worldwide for its Global Leadership Research report, to come up with a better sense of what organizations need from leaders these days—as well as which departments typically serve as the farm-team for C-level executives. The bad news for IT? The most elite of the C-suite talent doesn’t generally come from the tech side. And, while CIOs are depended upon for overseeing the IT enterprise and serving critical business functions, when it comes to classic leadership roles—such as inspiring others and implementing a strategic vision—these are not considered core essentials for CIOs. On the positive side, the report also sheds insight on valued qualities of senior leadership to which any executive can aspire, as well as leadership-killing characteristics to avoid. Some 1,400 top-level executives worldwide responded to the survey.

Now that you've mastered how to speak CFO , a new study from accounting firm KPMG might help shed some light on your tumultuous relationship with your chief financial officer. According to the study "A New Role for New Times," which includes survey responses from 444 CFOs around the world, financial executives really do see value in technology. And they’re firm believers that the future will rely heavily upon technology. At the same time, they’re frustrated with “outdated” solutions that don’t live up to their expectations. Kind of ironic, considering they're the same folks who are probably telling you to curtail your spending. It seems most C-level executives really do want the latest and greatest technologies to improve their organization’s chances of competing more effectively with the competition. But what these non-tech execs don’t realize -- and you do -- is that actually bringing those technologies to the workforce isn’t always easy when budgets are tight and strategic considerations are taken into account. Read on to learn more about how financial executives really view you, and your job. You'll find ways to use this information to your advantage as you work alongside the CFO to improve your business.

Admit it: You may harbor some prejudices about Gen Y workers (b. 1980-2000) in your organization. Perhaps you perceive the so-called Millennial generation as a group of entitled upstarts with a superiority complex when it comes to command of technology. You might think that they’re too quick to dismiss input from your IT people. You could maintain reservations about their eagerness to use whatever personal tech tools they like for work – regardless of that technology’s impact on the overall enterprise. If this is the case, then allow a new survey from Forrester to shred certain, commonly accepted “givens” about Gen Y employees. The report, "What Gen Y Really Thinks About Your IT Department," reveals that these workers no longer can be collectively categorized as rookies. By now, many have compiled years of valuable and influential experience. They actually admire their company’s IT teams, and are generally satisfied with the technology provided to them. That said, Gen Y workers still want to make impact on corporate tech-buying decisions. And that may not be such a bad idea, according to T.J. Keitt, the report’s lead author. “Gen Yers are now entrenched in the business — almost a third hold a manager or executive role,” he says. “This means it’s time to stop looking at them as precocious know-it-alls, since their opinions on technology are based on experience, not youthful exuberance.” More than 5,500 Millennial-generation global tech end-users took part in the survey featured in Forrester's report. Here are the highlights:

Enterprises have spent millions of dollars on customer relationship management (CRM) systems since the late 1990s. Too often, though, companies have failed to get the value out of their CRM solutions that they’ve anticipated. This leads CEOs and CFOs to ask some hard questions about the ROI of their company's CRM choices. To head off the wrath of your top execs, CIOs need to ask their own probing questions before moving forward with any ambitious, CRM-driven proposal. In the book "Harvard Business Review on Increasing Customer Loyalty" (Harvard Business Review Press/available now), contributors Darrell K. Rigby and Dianne Ledingham weigh in on effective CRM planning, pinpointing the four questions that bring clarity to what otherwise could be a muddled process. In the end, it’s essential to ensure that much-hyped CRM tools deliver needed, measurable value to the organization, the authors contend. Rigby is a partner with Bain & Company, directing its global-retail practice. Ledingham is a partner in Bain’s technology and performance-improvement practice. Here are four questions to ask that will help you make sound decisions about CRM:

We know you're always thinking about ways in which you can best safeguard your company’s important data. Most likely, you’re wondering about the latest ways malicious hackers can break into your network. And, chances are, you're concerned that employees aren't engaging in the safest practices to ensure sensitive information isn’t leaked out. As we watch the fallout from Epsilon data breach we're all facing questions about what more can be done to safeguard sensitive information. Of course, strong enterprise security is an expensive proposition. A recent report from IBM reveals that many IT decision-makers are focusing on increasing their investments in endpoint security. The survey features responses from 300 IT decision-makers. Here are 10 highlights:

How much do you really know about the proliferation of mobile communications in the U.S.? Take this quiz and test your knowledge. The questions and answers here are based on the results of the December 2010 Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey conducted by CTIA-The Wireless Association. With more than 270 industry members, the association released the results of its latest survey on March 22, during its CTIA conference in Orlando, FL. Among the topics explored in the survey are: how many wireless connections we’re making; the number of texts we send and receive; and how much we pay every month to do these things. The figures paint a picture of rising, nearly insatiable demand, which speaks to a need for increased spectrum, according to CTIA. “In order to meet the demands by consumers and businesses, we need more spectrum so our wireless ecosystem can keep fueling the 'virtuous cycle' of innovation and competition," says Steve Largent, president and CEO. (Yes, he's the same Steve Largent who was a long-time wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, later inducted into the Hall of Fame. He then served with the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the state of Oklahoma.)

If you’re thinking seriously about migrating your enterprise network connectivity services, you’re not alone. A slew of companies have been examining connectivity options over the past couple years. A new study from the Yankee Group -- based on a survey of 400 IT decision-makers at small, midsized, and large companies, as well as government organizations -- explores the decision-making process when choosing a network provider. The organization’s findings reveal that the tried-and-true criteria of service and support continue to rule decision-making. Here's what you'll want to keep in mind as you shop for enterprise connectivity options.

Every day cybercriminals and hackers are launching increasingly sophisticated, targeted attacks. In its Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16, Symantec Corp. finds that, in addition to an increase in targeted enterprise attacks, mobile attacks are on the rise and hackers are increasingly using Java as a way into your network. Symantec identified more than 286 million new threats in its report, chronicling incidents between Jan. 1, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2010. “While we didn’t see the number of attacks this year really grow, what we did see was a 93% increase in the number of web-based attacks. People tend to think of attachments in email, and if you click on that attachment, you’re going to get infected, but the real growth area, where they’re moving, is into Web sites,” says Kevin Haley, director at Symantec Security Response. “It requires a shift in thinking for protecting yourself. It makes the need for protection really important beyond just an anti-virus product.” Smart CIOs, he says, need to keep their eyes on the network, and have policies in place to try and mitigate risk. USB keys in particular need to be monitored. “When you talk about USB keys, you should have a policy about it. You need to explain to your end users why you have this policy, because people are very good at getting around things that they feel slow them down. If you talk to [your employees] about why you’re doing something, then they get it and they’re going to help you out and follow these policies,” Haley says. Here we take a look at 10 trends you need to be aware of while protecting your data.

If fairness is the intent, then you strive to be gender blind when determining raises and promotions for female professionals in your IT department. That means the value of performance primarily drives the outcome. Those of you who have been able to achieve this are, apparently, in the minority. More than ever, women feel that they’re well behind male counterparts with respect to salary and opportunity for advancement, according to a survey from CareerBuilder. And salary figures and position-status standings reported by male and female workers back up this contention. The upshot: While we like to think we’ve progressed far beyond the old glass-ceiling dynamic that kept women from advancing professionally in the 20th Century, we still have a long way to go. "While many companies are working toward greater equality in all measures of the workplace, a significant disparity still exists," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "Workers in general are more vocal about shortcomings when it comes to their pay and title especially coming off of a recession when workloads and hours largely increased." More than 1,630 female workers and 2,270 males took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

The cloud is in and mainframes are out, according to a new study, “The State of the Data Center,” from data center association AFCOM. The association surveyed 358 data center managers from around the world to find out how data centers are adapting to the ever-evolving IT environment. Their top three concerns? Physical space, energy efficiency and security. “In an environment where change is an accepted part of day-to-day life, it is important to recognize how data center managers are adapting to the new technologies and directions emerging in the industry,” said Jill Eckhaus, CEO, AFCOM. “One of the most interesting changes our survey illustrates is the continued transition to the cloud. When we last did this survey in October 2009, very few data centers were even interested in the cloud, let alone actually adapting it. However, thanks to information such as the Data Center Institute’s ‘Guide to the Cloud’ report, now we see that data center managers are more familiar with the risks and concepts, and cloud computing is quickly becoming a new standard of operation.” Here, we take a look at the survey’s key findings.

Apple’s relationship with the corporate world has run hot and cold over the years. At times, the company shows that it fully understands what enterprise users require. At other times, it ignores what these users need and does whatever it likes. Hence, many CIOs have become all-out Apple-haters. But now, reports claim that Apple is starting to make some real progress in improving its relationship with corporate customers. Research points to the fact that the iPad has become a go-to tablet for many companies, while some firms are warming to the idea of bringing Macs into their operations. At first glance, one would think that all is rosy. Sure, Apple is undoubtedly doing a better job of appealing to the needs of IT staff. But, the company still has a long way to go for it to be crowned a true friend to the enterprise user. In fact, it’s still falling short in far too many ways.

So, you think you're the master of brainstorming? You believe you’re the diva of ideation? Take our quiz and see if you know the right questions that will lead your organization to successful, executable ideas. First, though, let’s debunk some myths about what makes for good brainstorming. Myth 1: There are no bad ideas. Well, yes, actually there are. Especially if they’re not rooted in connecting innovation with a clear customer need, either internally or externally. Myth 2: If you sit in a room with people and simply list every single idea that comes into participants’ minds, it will be productive because at least one great idea will emerge. No, not quite. This kind of scattershot approach too often clouds clear, focused thinking. In the book Brainsteering: A Better Approach to Breakthrough Ideas (HarperBusiness/available now), sibling authors Kevin P. Coyne and Shawn T. Coyne reveal a refined approach to the familiar concept of brainstorming. The authors are both former consultants with McKinsey and Company, and now run The Coyne Partnership, a business consultancy. The book demonstrates how powerful it can be to ask the right questions. We devised this quiz to test your brainstorming know-how based on examples from the book. See if you can match these six questions to the companies that really asked them—and how they were answered with great market success.

Distinguishing an organization is intensely competitive and fast-paced, turning up the pressure on CIOs and other top managers to constantly innovate. In the book, Jumping the S-Curve: How to Beat the Growth Cycle, Get On Top, And Stay There (Available now/Harvard Business Review Press), authors Paul Nunes and Tim Breene present strategies to guide business and technology leaders toward a steady string of peak performances. The highlights presented here include lessons learned from Apple, Nike and Procter & Gamble. The term S-curve gained ground in the early 1960s at Stanford University, then took hold during the Dot.com era to describe the rollout of new Web-based technologies. For the purposes of their book, Nunes and Breene define the S-curve as the modern cycle of innovation in today's rapidly shifting market: Performance starts slowly as a business is launched and a company experiments to find the right formula. It then accelerates as word of appeal spreads, until it peaks and then fades with saturation. By then, companies already should be fully involved with introducing new innovation. Many of the book's product-based lessons learned are highly transferable to any CIO seeking to maximize high performance for internal or external customers. Nunes is executive director of research at Accenture's Institute for High Performance. Breene is CEO of Accenture Interactive.

The workplace is changing. Gone are the days when people in your organization needed only a computer and a desk to do their jobs. Now, they may need that computer, but they don’t always need that desk. Instead, they need smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices that help them perform the day’s tasks wherever they are. This is particularly the case for small businesses, according to a study from wireless carrier AT&T. The Small Business Technology Poll, which surveyed 2,000 respondents, reveals how small business are making use of smartphone apps. While some organizations are readily embracing cloud-based and software-as-a-service mobile solutions, an equal number admit to having "no idea" what such solutions are all about. Guess which mobile app is most popular among small business users? Hint: It will get you where you need to go.

Are you a seasoned CIO overseeing a team of freshly-minted managers? Or, perhaps you're the one who's stepping into the CIO shoes for the very first time. Either way, you'll benefit from these five tips to avoid classic rookie management mistakes. The statistics are sobering: Within the first 18 months on the job, 40 percent of all management rookies fail by either getting fired, voluntarily bowing out of the position or receiving a bad review, according to the Center for Creative Leadership. It doesn’t have to be that way. In the book, "Harvard Business Review on Managing People" (Harvard Business Review Press/Available now), co-author Carol A. Walker explores the myriad factors that cause new supervisors to fail, and provides guidance you can use to help reverse these trends. Walker is president of Prepared to Lead, a management consulting firm in Weston, Mass. The book is part of the "Must Reads" series from Harvard Business Review Press. Here are selected highlights from Walker’s section, titled "Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves."

Is the management of applications on your enterprise in need of rational revision? Rationalization refers to the retiring of apps that are simply no longer needed by organizations. But guess what? Far too few companies are doing this, according to a survey from Capgemini, a consulting/technology/outsourced-services company. Co-produced with HP, the Capgemini report reveals that businesses in the U.S. and Europe maintain millions of applications that are obsolete and no longer deliver full business value. Sometimes, application convergence results from a merger or acquisition. In many case, though, it's the "let’s keep it just in case" mentality that is creating a virtual landfill of apps. The majority of CIOs and other top tech execs say many of these apps are simply not serving a valuable function. In these economic times, proving the ROI of IT investments is essential. Senior execs are under the gun more than ever to increase cost efficiencies of app management. But the sheer number of apps supported -- up to 10,000 for large, global enterprises, with average data growth of 5 percent per month -- means that tech departments clearly are facing an issue of potentially critical significance. "Our research reveals that key goals for CIOs are value creation, improving efficiencies and cutting costs," says Ron Tolido, CTO at Capgemini for application services in continental Europe. "Despite the fact that data archiving and application retirement can result in significant cost savings, process efficiencies and increased agility, it still does not rank high enough on the agenda." Capgemini surveyed approximately 100 CIOs and top-level IT managers in companies of various sizes within a wide range of industries. This included 14 in-depth interviews. Thirty-seven percent of the responding companies are US based, and 63% are located in Europe (Benelux, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom).

If you’re thinking seriously about migrating your enterprise network services, you’re not alone. A slew of companies have been examining connectivity options over the past couple years. Research firm Yankee Group surveyed IT decision-makers at 400 small, midsize, and large companies, as well as government organizations, to see what factors guide their decisions when choosing a connectivity provider. The organization’s findings reveal that two of the tried-and-true factors -- service and support -- ruled decision-making over the past year. If you’re thinking seriously about your enterprise connectivity options -- and whether or not you should change network services in the next 12 to 18 months -- take a look at the highlights from the Yankee Group study. Not only will you discover what your peers are after, but you'll also gain a solid understanding of what you should (and should not) be looking for as you shop around.

Identifying the emerging technologies that stand to disrupt, define and, ultimately, benefit your operation in the coming years is extremely difficult. For one, you’re faced with the immediate need to address issues with the technology you’re using now. You’re also bound by budgetary constraints, and trying to sift through loads of marketing hype and hyperbole to pinpoint those technologies that really matter. A new study from Deloitte Consulting, “Tech Trends 2011: The Natural Convergence of Business and IT" may help. The report identifies 10 technologies and trends that will play a crucial role in the enterprise in the next 18 months. Topics are chosen based on their potential business impact, with input from Deloitte Consulting clients, analysts, alliances and the company's network of academic leaders. This year, the report groups its trends into two distinct categories: (Re)Emerging Enablers and Disruptive Deployments. (Re)Emerging Enablers are trends that many CIOs have spent time, thought, and resources on in the past. This year, these familiar topics deserve another look due to factors in the technology or business environment, according to the report. Disruptive Deployments are trends that present opportunity – offering new business models or transformative ways to operate. The technologies themselves are not necessarily disruptive, but when deployed as discussed, they could disrupt the cost, capabilities, or even the core operating model of IT and the business, says Deloitte.

Do you really have what it takes to serve as an effective CIO? By now, it’s hardly news that, to successfully lead an organization’s technology strategy, you need to develop strengths in key business areas. In fact, Dice.com contributor Leslie Stevens recently came up with five absolute must-have skills for CIOs, along with action steps you can take to develop or hone these traits. Here's a hint: You need a strong sense of political savvy, and the ability to tell an engaging IT story doesn't hurt either. It also helps to sharpen your business IQ. With this in mind, here are the five skills you’ll need to succeed from Dice.com, a leading career hub for tech professionals:

What's in your IT governance plan? According to a recent survey from Forrester , the measurement and accountability of IT investments is clearly lacking. Indeed, many organizations are challenged with finding the ROI in technology investments. However, the pervasiveness of IT as essential to companies’ day-to-day business strategies -- along with financial constraints brought on by the global economic recession -- require organizations to become proactive in assessing whether they’re getting maximum results from their tech investments. How corporations leverage IT has emerged as a required core competency that further advances the need for effective governance policies. “Good IT governance ensures that consistent methodologies and practices are employed to deliver products on time, on budget, on scope, and with high quality,” according to the report. “It answers key governance questions ‘are we doing things the right way, and are we doing them well?’ ” Also notable from the survey findings: CIOs are the most called-upon executives within organizations to oversee the IT governance effort. Nearly 110 IT decision-makers took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

We already know you're worried about your mobile workers, particularly when it comes to managing them, their devices, and the information they're accessing at large. Here's another cause for concern: Your road warriors may very well be actively chatting or texting while driving. Employees who use their mobile devices while driving are a massive risk for companies. A recent study finds that the effects of texting while driving are worse than driving drunk. If an employee during work hours gets into an accident or, worse, hurts themselves or someone else because they're texting while driving, your company could potentially be at risk. Realizing that, we thought it would be a good time to give you a look at the latest research on the dangers of text messaging and mobile phone use while driving, as well as the latest on state rules and regulations.

Think you have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with your CFO in a jargon-filled smackdown? Take our quiz and see if you're really a master of financial doublespeak. If not, take heart, for you are far from alone. There's probably a lot your CFO is not telling you. And, many a head spins in meetings as the CFO intentionally tosses about obscure financial terms, and then acts as if anyone with half a brain should know what he means. In an unguarded moment, you may have even gotten your CEO to confess that he simply nods his head during such moments and pretends to know what’s going on. Fortunately, hundreds of CFO-isms has been compiled into one book, The Essentials of Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers (Amacom/Available now). Author Edward Fields demystifies the bewildering, universal language in which all finance types seem to take delight. Before long, you’ll have your CFO gasping at your knowledge of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and grooving to your command of OM (Operating Margin). Our quiz is based on the financial phrases, practices and concepts explored in the book.

Every year, basketball fans become obsessed with the NCAA March Madness tournament, accessing broadcasts and the latest stats via TVs, computers and mobile deices. How can you blame them? The annual event has the top college basketball teams in the country competing to be named the nation's best. Chances are, you're among those who are immersed in the 2011 NCAA right now. But, from a productivity standpoint, March Madness isn't so much fun, especially for CIOs who need to manage demand on corporate networks and appropriate use of corporate devices. Over the next three weeks -- and especially during the next week when games will be played during work hours -- you’ll be spending an inordinate amount of time ensuring employees are doing what they should be doing -- working -- and not what they shouldn’t be doing -- watching the games. In addition to online streaming of games, CBS Sports is also offering free NCAA mobile apps. Some of you may wonder whether trying to stop employees from watching NCAA March Madness at work is really worth the trouble. A recent study from outplacement agency Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, Inc., may well help you decide. The organization finds that productivity takes a big hit during March Madness.

By now, it’s hardly new that many indicators project that the economy is on the rebound. But many are watching the state of job growth closely, given that the overall employment picture’s lasting improvement will go a long way toward a sustained recovery. Fortunately, for the technology industry, these prospects continue to look positive, according to the quarterly hiring index from Robert Half Technology . There are more CIOs planning to hire IT talent than those who are preparing to reduce staffing, according to the survey. If you're one of the lucky ones to plan to hire, here are five can't-miss interview questions to ask job applicants. Many tech execs remain very confident in their organization’s growth prospects for 2011, which should translate into a higher degree of tech investment. "Companies recognize that moving ahead with formerly delayed upgrades and implementing new technologies can give them a competitive advantage," said John Reed, executive director of Robert Half Technology. "Firms are investing in projects designed to create business efficiencies and help improve service levels. They often need more IT personnel to support these initiatives, particularly if their teams have been understaffed in recent years." The Robert Half IT Hiring Index and Skills Report is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees. It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis.

At this stage of your career, you may have interviewed dozens -- or even hundreds -- of IT job applicants. And, let’s face it, sometimes you’ve strained to come up with fresh, insightful questions that help you truly gauge how a candidate will perform once they're on the job. In order to distinguish winning contenders from the rejects, you must present focused, intelligent inquiries designed to provoke compelling response. Valuable performers, after all, must deliver more than simply a printed resume listing tech degrees and certifications. Getting a sense of those critical intangible qualities, however, is a bit of a puzzle. If you stick to the script that HR distributes, you’ll never reveal the inner essence of a prospective job candidate. (How often have you hired someone who said all the right things to scripted questions and turned out to be a total dud?) What you need are open-ended conversational explorations that offer useful revelations into personality and skills. Exclusively for CIO Insight, Dice.com presents the five questions you should ask that will determine the true make-up of your job candidates. Take the quiz to see if you're asking the five right questions, and expecting the five right responses, in your interview process. These five questions and answers were provided by Alice Hill, managing director at Dice.com, after consultations with 16 professionals in the tech community. Dice.com is a leading career hub for tech professionals:

The growth of platforms like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android has been great for consumers who want to be able to do more with their smartphones. But for CIOs, it’s not all fun and games. Employee-owned, "backdoor" mobile devices entering the corporate network are a major source of concern. Indeed, in a recent report, research firm Forrester identified two types of "undocumented" mobile workers: the mobile mavericks and the mobile wannabes. Mobile device management provider Mformation Technologies commissioned research firm Vanson Bourne to survey 200 CIOs in the U.S. and 100 in the U.K. for a study on the state of mobile security in the corporate world. It found that, in addition to "backdoor" devices, the recent WikiLeaks issue has caused CIOs to worry more than ever about how to protect enterprise data.

When it comes to productivity in the enterprise, you’re probably thinking seriously about ways to improve it. And much of the time, you’re undoubtedly considering how public IT cloud services might be able to help you achieve that goal - particularly when cloud services are combined with enterprise mobility . But, the very fact that you’re thinking about cloud services speaks to the changes that continue to occur in the enterprise. Gone are the days when all of your solutions will sit on the desktop. Nowadays, your employees are all over the globe, they require many more devices to get their jobs done, and they need cloud services to help enhance their daily output. The enterprise has evolved in such a way that a one-size-fits-all solution just isn’t possible any longer. Perhaps that’s why enterprises are expected to increase their spending on IT cloud services, according to a study from IDC. In fact, between 2009 and 2014, spending by U.S. companies on cloud services is expected to more than double. Read on to find out how dollars will be flying in the clouds in the coming years.

With each passing day, the people working at your company are becoming bigger and bigger risks. They engage in activities that can potentially threaten the security of your corporate data, and they do so either without knowledge or without care. Our exclusive research on Enterprise Security Spending Trends reveals how much you're investing in security. But technology is only part of the solution. Realizing this, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the top things that your employees do with each passing day that might make you trust them just a little less. A growing interest in "bring your own technology" will likely further complicate your life. Most of the time, the infractions are non-malicious, often the result of human error. But in some cases, an employee’s actions are intentionally dangerous. Either way, the onus is on you to find solutions to protect your organization's most precious commodity: Its data.

In an increasingly international business environment, the vast majority of global CIOs and other senior IT executives rely upon the performance of managed service providers (MSPs). The perceived performance among MSPs is good, but could improve, according to a survey conducted by Virtela, a global managed network, security and cloud services company. MSPs must effectively communicate about project status updates and potential system problems, according to the survey. They need to deliver the value that's expected with the price. And they sometimes lack adequate response times, as well as understanding of an organization's needs. Global companies are looking for improved value in services – better and cheaper – in order to make their remote workers abroad function just as productively as employees at the home headquarters. More than 400 IT professionals worldwide took part in the survey.

So what makes you think you deserve to be a leader, anyway? Your educational background alone won't inspire your IT teams. Nor will your job title, or your lofty office digs. And it's not the suit that wins over employees, after all, but the person inside the suit. Part of a book series, HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership (Harvard Business Review Press/Available now), contains 10 extensive examinations of the topic by noted experts, including Daniel Goleman, Peter Drucker, Jim Collins and Deborah Ancona. In one section -- entitled “Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?” -- authors Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones present prototypes of successful leadership styles, as well as common myths versus realities. We challenge you to test your own command of leadership traits with this quiz. Questions and answers are based on information in Goffee and Jones' article:

We're betting that you encourage collaboration within your teams. You may even require your IT staff to get outside their comfy, cubicle confines and learn about the needs of internal users in other departments. But, how effective are you when it comes to collaborating with your fellow C-suite leaders and other senior executives? The best way to establish an organizational culture of collaboration is to practice what you preach. In the book Connecting Top Managers: Developing Executive Teams for Business Success(FT Press/available now), authors Jim Taylor and Lisa Haneberg provide a detailed gameplan on how to network in the upper reaches of your organization. They explain how differences in backgrounds and management approaches among leaders can be best exploited to deliver results for your company, as opposed to creating bottleneck-producing clashes. The book also presents a blueprint for running an efficient, effective meeting with your C-suite peers. Ultimately, in establishing a working leadership collaboration model, the authors contend that every interaction is important—from random hallway encounters to formal strategy sessions.

Business objectives, rather than the latest and greatest solutions, are driving tech decisions made by CIOs and CTOs, according to a report from Yankee Group. The research firm surveyed 100 CIOs and CTOs in enterprises ranging in size from 500 to 10,000 employees. The vast majority of respondents rank "improving customer experience" as their No. 1 corporate goal, according to the "2010 CIO FastView Survey: CIOs Make Business the Priority," released March 1, 2011.

Accenture recently published a report entitled Secrets of Success on the EMR Journey to Meaningful Use, which is based on interviews conducted with CIOs of health systems with advanced use of electronic medical records (EMRs). According to the report, less than 1 percent of health systems achieved mature use of EMRs in 2009, and approximately 50 percent of US hospitals are at risk of incurring penalties by 2015 for failing to meet federal requirements. Accenture estimates that an average 500-bed hospital would face annual reductions in Medicare reimbursement rates equivalent to $3 million to $6 million annually for failing to meet meaningful use requirements by 2015. What’s more, the survey finds that most major health systems underestimate the time and cost required to implement advanced EMR functions. “Meaningful use of EMRs is often wrongly characterized as a check-the-box qualification for stimulus monies,” says Mark Knickrehm, global managing director, Accenture Health Practice. “But, this survey shows that exemplary hospital CIOs and health systems are changing the way technology is used to deliver healthcare. From strategic planning, staffing and adoption, health systems are integrating technology at a previously unprecedented level, but many health systems are lagging and at risk of facing penalties.” The survey results are based on in-depth, in-person interviews conducted with 15 CIOs from select US health systems with advanced EMR use and annual revenues between $1 billion and $15 billion from April to August of 2010.

To borrow from an oft-repeated adage: When your CFO is having a bad day, you're likely in for a bad day as well. After all, CFOs not only control the budget strings, many CIOs report directly to their organization's CFO. So, you may be encouraged to learn that CFOs at technology companies are fairly optimistic about business this year. They harbor expectations of rising revenues, as well as increasing access to capital and credit, according to a survey by BDO USA LLP, an accounting and consulting organization. “With liquidity improving and revenue on the rise, technology companies are poised for a strong 2011,” said Aftab Jamil, partner and national leader of the tech/life sciences practice at BDO USA. “After scaling back on research and development and operational expenses, many technology companies are flush with cash and well-positioned to spend. Mergers and acquisitions will be a primary tool for companies looking to boost profitability through strategic growth and increased market share.” There's also good news for homegrown IT talent. Tech CFOs are changing their tune when it comes to outsourcing. Some 100 CFOs took part in BDO's survey.

A recent report from Forrester Research, “The Rise of Wannabe And Maverick Mobile Workers,” explores the changing mobility profile of today's workforce. We highlighted Forrester's profiles of two types of workers — Mobile Mavericks and Wannabes — in our report "Mobile Mavericks and Wannabes: A Workplace Invasion?" This time around, we’re going to explore Forrester's findings about what these employees are actually doing when they go mobile. Forrester defines "mobile mavericks" as those who purchase and use smartphones on their own for work purposes. "Mobile wannabes" are defined as those workers who are often at their desks and, therefore, are not considered by IT to be among the company's mobile workers.

In the world of IT, trying to find the best solutions at the most affordable prices is paramount. Each day, your CEO is looking for ways to maximize profits, and IT often gets targeted as a place to cut costs or find unique ways to get more out of employees. Simply put, the enterprise is a numbers game and you’re knee-deep in that game. When the call comes to reduce costs or find more efficient ways to handle IT needs at your company, many IT leaders consider the possibility of outsourcing. A study from the not-for-profit, IT Governance Institute, which polled 834 executives in 21 countries around the world, explores a wide array of factors influencing IT governance. Earlier this month, we parsed the results of the organization's Global Status Report on the Governance of Enterprise IT for insights into what your line-of-business colleagues really think about your IT operation. Here, we return to the same report to reveal findings on IT outsourcing.

Convergence can take many forms. It can be a result of a merger or acquisitions, or a byproduct of cross-industry collaboration. In any case, convergence requires executives to take a nimble approach to business models and structural transformations in order to succeed. A survey from consulting firm Egon Zehnder International reveals that many corporate leaders in IT and business are in danger of becoming overwhelmed by the complexities of convergence. And, the trend is gaining ground as a dominant catalyst for change in industries such as IT, energy, automotive and healthcare, according to the report. Executives who are vigorous and persistent, and offer a strong base of generalist knowledge, are emerging as most in-demand during periods of convergence. And the talent wars over IT managers and other professionals who offer such skills look to continue unabated for the indefinite future. A total of 515 executives took part in the global survey. Here are selected highlights:

The growth of the mobile workforce is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. In fact, a recent study from Forrester, called “The Rise of Wannabe And Maverick Mobile Workers,” reveals some startling new stats about the number of "undocumented" mobile workers in North America and Europe. Forrester defines "mobile wannabes" as those workers who are often at their desks and, therefore, are not considered by IT to be among the company's mobile workers. Forrester defines "mobile maverick" employees as those who use smartphones for work, but go outside of the corporate purchasing process by selecting and purchasing their smartphones and work-related mobile apps on their own. Combined, these two worker segments currently account for 22% of all employees; by 2015, they will grow significantly to 42% of all corporate employees, Forrester predicts. The report is based on data drawn from the Forrester Foresights Workforce Employee Survey, which had 5,519 respondents in the U.S. Canada France Germany and the UK

Trying to gain a clear picture of the U.S. economy of late has been like trying to change a diaper on a baby slathered in butter. Despite all the declarations that the economy is on the mend, it’s hard to join in on that optimistic refrain amid wildly mixed signals. One day the news is filled with reports of positive economic indicators, the next day a major U.S. company announces layoffs, and the day after that the stock market will go on a roller-coaster ride as political unrest unfolds on the other side of the globe. It appears, however, that IT executives have enough faith in the tepid economic recovery that many of them are loosening the purse strings just a bit when it comes to paying—and hiring—talent. A recent report from IT metrics firm Computer Economics provides a working barometer for CIOs looking to get a sense of what kinds of raises will keep their staffs happy, as well as what they can expect to pay for new talent. In assembling its “IT Salary Report 2011,” Computer Economics combined its own historical data with survey feedback from more than 100 IT organizations and statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, to project salaries for 65 IT roles in hundreds of U.S. markets. What follows is a snapshot of some of the highlights of the report.

Just two years ago, outsourcing seemed to be the magic solution for CFOs looking to scale down operational costs within their organizations. This meant that many CIOs were suddenly confronted with the reality of offloading essential enterprise needs or project-related tasks to unfamiliar workers in distant lands. The results? In some cases, there were internal and external customer-service gaps due to cultural, language or time-zone differences. Now, a new survey from accounting and consulting firm BDO USA reveals that a clear majority of CFOs at tech companies are tuning out outsourcing as part of their big-picture strategies. “Outsourcing can be looked at as a bellwether of the economy,” says Don Jones, partner in the technology and life sciences practice at BDO USA. “Tech companies turned to outsourcing in 2009 in order to reduce operating costs and ride out the recession. Since then, we’ve seen a marked decrease [in outsourcing] as companies recover and look to create jobs and growth close to home.” The survey also examines CFO perspectives on federal regulatory proposals, demonstrating positive support for a major initiative from the Obama administration. One-hundred CFOs representing tech companies took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

How much empowerment is too much for your IT employees? As reluctant as you may be to micromanage your teams, there are certain decisions that you simply can't leave to the troops. For Harvard Business Review, authors Jeanne W. Ross and Peter Weill have come up with the six IT decisions that your tech employees should never make. These six decisions will serve as part of a book, "Harvard Business Review on Aligning Technology with Strategy," due in April 2011. The book launches a series of 17 paperbacks all themed with the “Harvard Business Review on ...” tagline. Weill is a senior research scientist and chair of the Center for Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Ross is a principal research scientist with the Sloan School. Here's a preview of their work:

Throughout U.S. history, we've had presidents who were a former surveyor (Washington), a teacher (John Adams), an inventor/architect (Jefferson), a postmaster (Lincoln), a rancher (Theodore Roosevelt), a haberdasher (Truman), a sports team owner (George W. Bush) and even a sheriff (Grover Cleveland). The unifying factor among (hopefully) all presidents is that their skills are directly translatable to the business world. Which is why a consulting firm called Revenue Beast decided to have some fun with a survey that asks U.S. workers which presidents they think would excel in today's business environment. One interesting finding: Thomas Jefferson ranked high (but not the highest) among those presidents considered tech-savvy. “It was encouraging that Jefferson was chosen,” says Jeff Christian, CEO of Revenue Beast, which helps client companies discover and expand new revenue streams. “He was known as a 'technology buff' of his time, buying every new scientific instrument he could get his hands on." Take the quiz and see how your answers stack up against the 100 respondents who participated in the Revenue Beast survey.

Do you wonder what drives your best employees to push themselves above and beyond the call of duty? Are you struggling to understand why certain incentives seem to make the least amount of impact on worker performance? You may be surprised by the results of the report, Motivating IT Employees, Part 1, from Forrester Research Inc. Hint: For today's successful professional, reward is about more than simply making money. In fact, base compensation and bonuses rank below what are considered intangible rewards, such as work-life balance, autonomy and the 'cool' factor of a job itself. And even as the national unemployment level remains troublesome, job security ranked high but still outside of the top five factors. The report is based on a survey which also reveals that—of all motivators used in the office—the threat of disciplinary action is at the bottom of what motivates employees. (Only one third of respondents consider it to have any significant impact on performance.) The survey also sheds light on different perspectives for those aged 45 years and below and those aged 45 and older. More than 125 top IT professionals responded to the survey. Here are selected highlights:

Today's enterprises increasingly are adopting and adapting consumer technologies to meet their own needs, and no category of technology is positioned to drive that trend more rapidly than mobile applications. As a result, forward-looking IT executives will want to keep an eye on the future by staying apprised of mobile app trends among consumers. Research firm Gartner has provided a primer in this area with its recent report, Mobile Insight: Ten Consumer Mobile Applications to Watch in 2012 Gartner expects companies to increasingly shift their marketing budget to the mobile channel, and experiment with cutting-edge apps to capture marketing and sales opportunities. Companies, as well as technology and service providers, that stay abreast of the latest developments could make their products stand out from the pack, enhance brand image and retain user loyalty, according to the research firm. In other words, ignore these potential business-changing applications at your own peril. A full version of the report can be purchasedfrom Gartner. Here are highlights on the 10 mobile apps to watch.

Beginning Feb. 14, man matched wits with machine on Jeopardy! as the world watched IBM supercomputer Watson face off against the quiz show’s two most famous human champions. For three days the world tuned in to see how IBM’s Watson supercomputer fared in the two-game tournament. In the battle of man vs. machine, machine won. To achieve this victory, researchers fed Watson 200 million pages of text–about 1 million books–ranging from encyclopedias to movie scripts to newspapers to children’s book abstracts. With its ability to store all that data, Watson then mines it to formulate contextual relationships. Puns and wordplay? No problem. Obscure trivia? Combining random facts? Elementary, my dear….er, Watson. IBM says Watson’s Deep Q&A technology could be applied in diverse fields such as health care, legal, education and government. Now assuming you could afford the hardware and information resources, imagine if you had your own personal Watson to help make you healthy, fabulously wealthy, well-dressed, well-adjusted, a great conversationalist at parties and perhaps even happy. Here, we present 11 of our best ideas for personalized Watson apps.

The traditional regional powers of IT opportunity – Silicon Valley, Boston, Seattle and Washington, D.C. – are still among the highest on the list of metro areas with the greatest number of tech-job opportunities. But, if you're looking to hire tech talent in one of the Midwestern cities, then you already know how hot the IT job market is in this region. According to a report from Dice.com, the Midwest is the fastest growing region for IT job openings. In fact, Detroit is the fastest-growing tech metro area in the nation right now, according to the report. The number of IT jobs posted in Detroit in the 12 months ended Feb. 1, 2011 represent a 101% increase over the number posted in the same period a year earlier, according to Dice.com. Three cities in Ohio are trending close behind the Motor City, a town that is also getting lauded in Chrysler's "Made in Detroit" ad campaign, which debuted during this year's Super Bowl and features rapper Eminem. Nationwide, the number of full-time IT jobs is outpacing demand for contract and part-time positions.

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 14-17, 2011, has been one of the most product-packed and interesting events of the year so far. It has been home to major announcements, new product launches, and all kinds of interesting tidbits of information that will spark the fancy of many an enterprise user of mobile devices. As CIO, on the other hand, you probably have different concerns when it comes to Mobile World Congress. You’re likely wondering how these hot new devices will impact your company’s operation. And, you probably want to know how some of the most important mobile and wireless announcements of the year will factor into your decision-making in the coming months. Here, we break down the nine hottest topics from Mobile World Congress and give you perspective on what these trends will mean for the enterprise.

The CBS-TV series M*A*S*H, which aired from 1972-1983, was unconventionally innovative and transformational for its day, presenting a distinctive blend of black humor amid a sometimes graphic war setting. What does this have to do with being an IT leader? Well, we often hear the words “unconventional” and “transformational” used to describe that which is expected of technology departments every day. So, we decided to offer you a fresh perspective, courtesy of entrepreneur Wayne Rogers. He's best known, of course, for his acting work in the role of Trapper John in M*A*S*H. While Rogers has continued acting, he's primarily involved in his many business ventures, which include a vineyard, hotels, commercial real estate, film distribution, entertainment production and even the nation's largest bridal boutique. In his new book, Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success (Amacom/Available now), Rogers leavens his business-focused autobiography with lessons about the pursuit of unique products or services that make an organization valuable. “I have found that learning to be creative, challenging convention and seizing unexpected opportunities is not only liberating,” Rogers says, “but these traits can make all the difference in whether you are successful.” We think these 12 "Lessons From Hollywood" will serve you equally well in IT.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology unveiled a set of guidelines for managing security and privacy issues in cloud computing. While this effort is aimed at organizations operating in the public sector, NIST's guidelines offered up valuable tips for any enterprise CIO considering the use of public cloud computing services. The NIST's Guidelines on Security and Privacy in Public Cloud Computing (SP 800-144) provides an overview of the security and privacy challenges for public cloud computing and presents recommendations that organizations should consider when outsourcing data, applications and infrastructure to a public cloud environment. The agency also has set up a new NIST Cloud Computing Collaboration Web site to enable two-way communication among the cloud community and NIST cloud research working groups. NIST also recently posted A NIST Definition of Cloud Computing (NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-145). NIST scientists are seeking feedback on both documents. Comments regarding the guidelines should be emailed to 800-144comments@nist.gov ; comments on the definition document should be E-mailed to 800-145comments@nist.gov. Feedback on both documents must be received no later than Feb. 28, 2011. Here are 10 highlights from the NIST cloud computing guidelines:

If you’re thinking seriously about bringing cloud computing to your organization, you’re probably also considering how you will work with cloud service providers. You undoubtedly have very real concerns around cloud security and compliance. In fact, Gartner details these concerns in its manifesto on cloud computing rights. In an effort to alleviate some of these concerns, RSA, the security division of EMC, unveiled a new offering on Feb. 14 that it's calling the Cloud Trust Authority. RSA says it's a set of cloud-based services designed to facilitate secure and compliant relationships among organizations and cloud service providers. The goal is to help companies warm to the cloud, while still allowing them to feel comfortable with respective providers. According to RSA, organizations will be able to use its Cloud Trust Authority to manage relationships with multiple cloud service providers via a single console. The solution aims to eliminate the need for businesses to maintain multiple point-to-point cloud integrations that involve custom code, according to RSA. The offering includes a Compliance Profiling Service, which will be engineered to enable customers to view the trust profiles of various cloud providers against a set of common benchmarks developed by the Cloud Security Alliance, among other security frameworks.

Enterprises are increasingly activating mobile devices running the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms, according to a recent report from Good Technology. The company, which offers enterprise mobility management solutions, analyzes activations by month across its corporate and government user bases. It uses the data to compile quarterly reports on the top smartphone platforms among its customers. The latest report -- which covers 4Q 2010 -- dubs Apple's iOS as the most-activated smartphone platform in the enterprise for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2010. It's important to note that the report is reflective of mobile device activations undertaken by customers using Good's solutions, and therefore do not include activations of RIM's BlackBerry OS or Windows Phone 7. Even so, the increase in the number of enterprise activations for non-BlackBerry platforms -- particularly the iPad -- is striking. Apple said in mid-2010 that 80% of the Fortune 100 companies were testing or deploying iPhone. The Good Technology findings are also consistent with trends in smartphone market share reported earlier this month by research firm Gartner.

Anyone who's seen the movie, Talladega Nights, will recall the signature line, “If you ain't first, you're last.” While this philosophy may serve a racecar driver well, it doesn't necessarily translate to success in IT innovation. Front-runners run the risk of “canary in a coal mine” syndrome, serving as a test-market study for other organizations to follow, avoiding unforeseen trapdoors that the pioneers exposed through their failures. In the book, The Limits of Strategy: Lessons in Leadership from the Computer Industry (iUniverse/Available now), author Ernest von Simson presents the history of the computer age in nearly epic literary style, weaving it together with lessons learned in other eras from historic industry legends, such as Henry Ford. Ultimately, von Simson's examination of the failures of a number of technology companies is meant to foster a greater understanding of success. Von Simson is an IT-industry research veteran who has worked alongside Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Scott McNealy, von Simson co-founded the Research Board and is now senior partner at Osrtiker von Simson. Here are lessons learned from his book that pinpoint eight common organizational behaviors/philosophies/patterns that often lead to failure, along with von Simson’s take on the companies that stumbled and soared as the result of these business dynamics:

If many of those who left Microsoft the past year or two all banded together to form a single entity, it would be enough to scare the living daylights out of many a startup or even some established companies. Microsoft has see major major departures throughout its ranks -- from C-level executives to middle managers to evangelists and strategic engineers and architects. Throughout 2010, there were several key departures, and the brain drain spilled over into this year, with some big names leaving in January. Perhaps the highest-profile departure was Ray Ozzie, chief software architect of the company. The question for any organization facing such turnover is: How do you retain knowledge when top tech talent departs? The question will become even more pressing as we face a potential IT retirement crisis over the next decade. That said, Microsoft has a deep pool of talent to draw from. Moreover, as veterans hit the door, significant new hires find their way in. In any event, the list in this slide show is by no means exhaustive; there have been several others to leave Microsoft's ranks. But we thought this was at least representative of the talent to leave the software giant in recent memory.

On Valentine's Day, don't be surprised to see flowers and boxes of chocolate delivered to cubicles in your IT department—from fellow colleagues. That's right: Office romance is alive and well, judging from to the results of a recent survey on workplace liaisons from career Website Vault.com. More than 2,083 professionals took part in the research. While this topic may drop somewhat far down on your IT priority list —lower than tech integration projects and cloud initiatives, perhaps, but higher than deciding which kind of pizza to order in for your next department lunch meeting—CIOs and other senior managers can't ignore this issue. For starters, you should know whether organizational standards specifically address personal relationships between employees (and managers). If so, then you need to make sure that your lovestruck employees are aware of these policies. (Many aren't.) In absence of formal corporate guidelines, you have a legal responsibility to promote an environment where sexual harassment is not tolerated. Likewise, be sure you're not tolerating in-office relationships or behaviors in the workplace that make other workers uncomfortable.

If you're a CIO or other IT leader overseeing a team of software developers, then you're probably painfully aware of many steps within the process of development and deployment where things can go awry. Whether it's in the early exploration, coding, testing or launching stages, any lapse of attention to detail could lead to the introduction of bad data. These days, knowledge-worker teams are primarily responsible for the success of such projects. And, as managerial expert Peter Drucker once said, “Knowledge workers have to manage themselves.” In the book Leadership, Teamwork and Trust: Building a Competitive Software Company (Pearson/Addison-Wesley Professional/Available now) authors Watts S. Humphrey and James W. Over provide a comprehensive guide to overseeing the knowledge-worker teams that are directly responsible for your company's software initiatives. Their advice? Let go of outdated organizational cultures, concepts and traditions and embrace a new workplace dynamic in which the quality of work produced and the integrity of data drives the quest for excellence. Humphrey, who passed away in October 2010, was a National Medal of Technology award winner, past IBM executive and a senior fellow at the Software Engineering Institute. Over is a senior member of the institute's technical staff. Here are selected highlights for CIOs overseeing software teams:

An epic showdown of man vs. machine took place Feb. 14-16, 2011. That's when “Watson ,” a computing system from IBM, faced off against "Jeopardy!" superstars Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Turns out, an artificial intelligence-driven machine can overcome championship-level human minds. With Watson, the key challenge isn’t a command of statistics and factoids. It’s a matter of programming a computing system that can pick up the subtle nuances of the game show, including knowing how to bet. This requires understanding of language, including the puns and irony that provide the subtle clues hidden in the often-clever wording of the Jeopardy! answer-and-question trivia format. Ultimately, Watson is designed to help us determine the extent to which intelligent machines can be used to resolve problems related to technology, health care and a broad range of other topics. In the book Final Jeopardy: Man vs Machine and the Quest to Know Everything (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Available now), author Stephen Baker details the history of Watson leading up to the big event. Machines like Watson will eventually emerge as the norm in offices, factories and emergency rooms, Baker contends, as well as influencing our smartphones. “Each one of us will have to figure out how to leverage these smart systems for our own good -- and not be replaced by them,” he says. “Our brains are still the most intricate, complex and brilliant thinking machines on earth. But we have to figure out how to use them in concert with the machinery we’re building.” Looking to test your own knowledge? In honor of the Man Vs. Machine showdown, CIO Insight used information from Baker's book and other resources to create this Jeopardy!-styled quiz to test how much you really know about IBM's Watson.

Cloud computing ranks No. 1 on the CIO technology priority list for the year, according to a Gartner Research report, "Reimagining IT: The 2011 CIO Agenda." The report is based on survey responses from 2,014 CIOs in 50 countries, as well as interviews conducted by Gartner analysts with leading CIOs. In fact, Gartner predicts an enterprise boom in cloud computing adoption in the coming years. Mobile technologies and virtualization are also top priorities for CIOs. These solutions dovetail with the top three business drivers: Increasing enterprise growth; attracting and retaining new customers; and reducing enterprise costs. Read on for more highlights from the report:

Despite growing corporate adoption of cloud computing, many organizations are not fully leveraging the cloud infrastructure they have implemented, according to a survey of 100 senior-level IT professionals. The survey was conducted in December 2010 by Electric Cloud, a provider of cloud development products, and Osterman Research, an IT research firm. The results show that slightly more than half of respondents using private or public cloud computing have cloud infrastructure resources that are rarely or never used. Many respondents report some or lots of excess capacity. Even so, companies will continue to increase spending on cloud computing, according to the survey. Among respondents that have implemented cloud computing, spending on cloud-based infrastructure averaged $23.31 per employee in 2010, and that amount is expected to increase in the next 12 months. "Cloud computing is increasingly an essential component of many organizations' computing resources, and it will become more important in the future," says Michael Osterman, founder of Osterman Research. "However, a variety of barriers need to be overcome for use of the cloud in software development environments if the cloud is to reach its full potential and provide a better, faster and less expensive environment in which to develop and test software."

IT workers are gaining confidence about career prospects, the economy and their own company's future prospects, according to a survey released by Technisource. Conducted by Harris Interactive in 4Q 2010 and released Jan. 17, 2011, the survey results reveal that a significant percentage of tech professionals are feeling better than they were in 3Q 2010 on a number of key confidence points, including job security, the availability of positions and their ability to land those jobs. These results are supported by the day-to-day experiences of executives at Technisource, an IT staffing and services provider. "We're hearing from many companies anticipating a ramp-up in hiring as a direct result of increased corporate confidence and consumer demand,” says Michael Winwood, president of Technisource. However, there is one dynamic in the survey's numbers that sends a cautionary message: Male IT workers are considerably more encouraged on most of these key points than female IT employees. More than 250 IT workers took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

Agile development is considered a methodology by which solutions are produced through collaboration among self-organizing and multi-functional teams, according to commonly referenced definitions. However, within too many organizations, a lack of effective management of these teams is the biggest obstacle to successful agile development, according to the book Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders (Pearson/Addison-Wesley Professional/Available now). Author Jurgen Appelo, a leading agile manager/expert, contends that in order to succeed, today's organizations must perform as living, networked systems. The secret, he says, is to primarily focus on people and relationships, as opposed to technology. The book provides an insightful examination of the essence of agile development, as well as takeaway steps for managers to consider in overseeing such teams. Appelo recently served as CIO of ISM eCompany, one of the Netherlands' largest e-business solution providers. He also produces one of Europe's top agile development blogs. Here are 10 fundamental qualities needed to manage agile IT teams.

These days, you are likely so overwhelmed by the number of job applications from out-of-work IT employees that the last thing on your mind is a talent shortage. But two recent surveys, from CareerBuilder and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), reveal that this situation may very well surface within the next several years. That's because more members of the Baby Boomer generation say that they'll be ready to retire within that timeframe. The CareerBuilder survey indicates that, even as the recent Great Recession has forced a clear majority of older employees to put off retirement, such financial concerns are clearly on the decline. The NASCIO survey indicates that retirement-caused vacancies are on the radar of state CIOs, and many feel they can't offer the level of pay needed to fill those slots. More than 500 U.S. workers aged 60 or older took part in the CareerBuilder survey. CIOs from 40 states, the District of Columbia and a U.S. territory took part in the NASCIO survey. Here are highlights from both surveys:

Relationships can turn toxic within a company for many reasons, and an atmosphere of cultural intolerance is often a leading culprit. This can occur when workplace competition (either between departments or within one) intensifies to the point where office wars break out, leading to total mistrust within the organization. CIOs in particular must pay attention to these inter-personal workplace dynamics in today's technology-driven ecosystem of connectivity and collaboration. Solid intra/inter-departmental relationships are about more than simply “getting along” – they're essential to the day-to-day success of a company. In the book, Boundary Spanning Leadership (McGraw-Hill Professional/Available now), authors Chris Ernst and Donna Chrobot-Mason offer tactics to overcome any “clash of civilizations,” whether it's a conflict between two different teams that can't see eye to eye; a cluster of departments grinding up against each other like tectonic plates; or a level of incivility that's extreme enough to put projects -- and careers -- on the line. Ernst is a senior faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership. Chrobot-Mason is an associate professor in psychology at the University of Cincinnati and director of the Center for Organizational Leadership. Here are selected, “how to” highlights from the book:

When considering how to keep your workplace healthy during a cold or flu outbreak, it's important to realize many of your employees feel obligated to report to the office even when they're ill, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder. Part of this is due to the increased workloads and decreased job security of the recent economic downturn. Many professionals are simply too afraid to stay home, no matter how ill they feel. For a handful, such behavior may be an add-on to the 10 clues that you're a workaholic . No matter their motivation, as a manager you need to know that a flu outbreak can be caused by a single worker's illness. And, it could, conceivably, take down your entire crew. It's up to you to strongly encourage your teams to stay at home if they're under the weather -- and set an example by doing so yourself. Ultimately, a healthy workplace is a productive one. On the positive side, the survey finds that workers are taking proactive steps to stay healthy via sanitary practices and getting flu shots, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends. More than 3,700 workers took part in CareerBuilder's survey. Here are selected highlights:

Successful cyber crime often depends on the kindness of others – those good souls who believe that the Facebook message , LinkedIn request or Tweet they received is from someone they actually know and therefore trust. As a CIO, it's imperative that you know your employees’ weak spots, particularly when it comes to cyber crime perpetrated via social networking platforms. In its 2010 Annual Security Report, Cisco reveals the seven deadly human weaknesses that make your employees vulnerable to malicious attack. Chances are, your technology users are inherently good people, so their suspicions aren’t likely to be aroused when cyber criminals strike through social media venues populated with friends and acquaintances. This is especially the case when messages involve someone asking for help. “Compassion and urgency are common social engineering hooks for criminals," says Christopher Burgess, senior security advisor to Cisco. "The individual seeking information will attempt to trigger the target’s basic human need to be helpful. The individual will also infuse a sense of urgency in their quest for information or specific action, with the expectation that you won’t have sufficient time to verify their credentials.” Here we take a look at the seven human traits cyber criminals most frequently seek to exploit, and what you can do about them.

In the event of a disaster that threatens your enterprise’s data, how confident are you that your backup and recovery systems would function properly and be able to avert catastrophe? Factors that are likely to influence your answer include varying levels of executive buy-in to the disaster and recovery idea, IT resources, your company’s history of data-loss incidents and the challenges of managing hybrid data environments, according to a recent survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute. The survey, sponsored by backup and recovery vendor Acronis, asked more than 3,000 small- and medium-sized businesses in 12 countries about their backup and recovery environments. Businesses in some countries, the survey found, are far more prepared for data disasters than in others. The adoption of cloud-based solutions in the SMB, according to the survey, will nearly double this year. When the survey was conducted in October 2010, respondents said cloud-based services made up 16% of their IT infrastructure. By the end of 2011, that number is expected to rise to 30% of IT infrastructure across all regions. Acronis used Ponemon Research’s findings to create the Acronis Global Disaster Recovery Index.

The volume of spam decreased last year for the first time in the history of the Internet, according to Cisco’s 2010 Annual Security Report. And, while spam may be less of a menace than it used to be, cybercriminals and hackers have taken up new targets. They’ve shifted their focus from Windows PCs to other operating systems and mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets. In addition, incidences of “money muling” scams have grown. Users are also still vulnerable to the many ways these cybercriminals attempted to lure them into traps. This is creating new security challenges for CIOs struggling to adapt to the evolving security landscape while dealing with tight budgets. “Miscreants are continuing to find new and creative ways to exploit network, system, and even human vulnerabilities to steal information or do damage," says said John N. Stewart, vice president and chief security officer of Cisco. "The challenge is that we need to block their exploits 100 percent of the time if we are to protect our networks and information. They can be right once; we have to be right all of the time. We need to be ever-vigilant in our efforts to protect our assets, information, and ourselves online.” Here we take a look at key findings from Cisco’s report to reveal what you need to know about today’s security ecosystem.

How do you define your management style? There are myriad theories about leadership, but most of us tend to think of our employee-oversight techniques as falling into one of two broad categories: "command and control" or "warm and fuzzy." In the book, As One: Individual Action, Collective Power (Portfolio/Penguin/Available Feb. 3), authors Mehrdad Baghai and James Quigley debunk the myth that these are the only two management schools we have to choose from. Instead, they identify eight distinct leader/follower dynamics and illustrate more than 60 real-life examples of these — from Cirque du Soleil to Linux to Starbucks to FedEx to Amazon. Take our quiz, based on the findings of their book, to find out where your management style fits in, and learn which top executives and organizations follow the same model. Baghai is managing director of Alchemy Growth Partners. Quigley is CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.

If you're like most CIOs, you rarely engage with your company's Chief Marketing Officer outside of broad corporate meetings. And, chances are, any effort you may have made to collaborate with your CMO was met with a less-than-warm reception. But, the silos that exist between the offices of CMOs and CIOs must be dismantled. Here are five reasons why you need to work together for the good of your company's business strategy, and your own careers.

As CIO, you may appreciate the benefits of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) but it's not always so easy to explain to your business-side colleagues. Because of this, you need to “sell” your organizations on SOA as a business-focused enterprise innovation, rather than trying to explain its technical capabilities to corporate decision-makers, according to authors Kerrie Holley and Ali Arsanjani. Their book "100 SOA Questions: Asked and Answered" (Prentice Hall/Available now) decodes the many mysteries that muddle perspectives on what exactly SOA is. It also addresses how SOA can help organizations become nimble and responsive to rapidly changing market shifts. In a clear, conversational manner, the book provides a blueprint for how you can make the most of SOA in your organization. Holley is CTO of IBM's SOA Center of Excellence. Arsanjani is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and CTO for SOA and Emerging Technologies. Here are selected highlights:

What's your IT-business relationship like? Do you see yourself and your team playing the role of "order taker" responding to every business demand? Or is your operation functioning as a partnership with the business structure? Perhaps you're in the enviable position of playing a leadership role as a CIO who is charged with driving forward the business agenda in your enterprise. A recent survey of IT decision-makers, conducted by IT adoption consulting firm Neochange and sponsored by Datango, iRise and KNOA, reveals that those organizations in which IT plays a leadership role in business decision-making achieve the greatest return on their technology investments. Neochange worked with CIO Insight's research division, Ziff Davis Enterprise Research, to field the survey in winter 2010. A total of 204 IT and business leaders completed the survey, representing a variety of company sizes and industry verticals. The majority of respondents (59.3 percent) are experiencing positive IT ROI trends by working their existing IT investments for more value. One measure of IT ROI, according to the report, is the "effective usage rate" of a given solution among end users. In organizations in which IT is seen as an "order taker," IT deployments achieve an average effective usage rate of 48 percent. This contrasts sharply with the average effective usage rate of 58 percent for organizations where IT is considered a partner to business, and the average effective usage rate of 69 percent in operations where IT is considered to be a business leader. Survey respondents also share significant shortcomings in their companies' ability to build end-user capabilities through training and support.

As a hiring manager, you probably already think you've seen it all – from the wacky to the downright disrespectful job candidates. Chances are, you take into consideration the fact that even the most confident among us can be flustered by a job interview. But we're guessing that you've never encountered anything like the recruits in this rogue's gallery of the 10 worst-ever job candidates. In a survey conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder, more than 2,400 hiring managers shared the most atrocious mistakes job candidates made in interviews. "The good news is that the number of open jobs continues to improve month over month; however competition will remain high for some time to come," says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder. How candidates handle themselves in interviews can be your deciding factor between two otherwise equally qualified people. "The goal of any interview is to stand out from the other candidates and ultimately land the job, but make sure you stand out for the right reasons," Haefner says. See how these 10 outrageous blunders and interview gaffes stack up against what you've seen.

When Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced Jan. 20 that he was handing his CEO role to Google Co-founder Larry Page, we couldn’t help but be struck by the symmetry. After all, Page is the man for whom Schmidt took over in 2001. Back then, Google was at a crossroads. Page and Co-founder Sergey Brin were being hounded by their financial backers to install a leader with business savvy, even as Google’s traffic was growing steadily. Under Schmidt, Google became the undisputed leader in search and search ads. Even so, Google’s Android mobile operating system faces steep competition on the mobile Web front from Apple with the iPhone and iPad tablet computers. Another area where Google is significantly disadvantaged is in social networking, where Facebook is the dominant power. Google reportedly has big plans to infuse its Web applications with social services, but these have yet to materialize under Schmidt, which many see as a failing. In this slide show, CIO Insight takes a look at the potential impact of Schmidt turning over control of the multi-billion-dollar company he helped build with Page, who hasn’t led in years.

They may be your hospital workers tending to patients from room to room. Or, your sales executives meeting clients in multiple time zones throughout the week. Or, your modern IT employees, taking red-eye flights for organizations that are constantly expanding to new, global markets. These are just some of the professionals who make up the modern, mobile workforce. And CIOs and other senior executives must seek to embrace and accommodate their unique needs, according to the book "Managing the Mobile Workforce: Leading, Building, and Sustaining Virtual Teams" (McGraw-Hill Professional/Available now). In the book, authors David Clemons and Michael Kroth tap upon interviews conducted with top managers from companies such as Deloitte LLP, HP, Citrix and Samsung to come up with best practices for the oversight of these employees. It reveals how significantly the “rules have changed” in the 21st century, and why trust is the glue that binds managers and workers together – regardless of geographical distance. Clemons is CEO of Achieve Labs Inc. Kroth is an assistant professor at the University of Idaho in adult/organizational learning and leadership. Here are selected highlights:

According to a recent study commissioned by IBM and conducted by KS&R entitled "Inside the Midmarket: A 2011 Perspective", 53 percent of midsize companies (100-1,000 employees) are planning to increase their IT budgets over the next 12 to 18 months (in the spring 2009 Midmarket survey, only 20 percent of respondents planned to do so). As a result of that increase, 70 percent are actively pursuing business analytics solutions, and 66 percent are either planning or currently implementing cloud-based technologies. “The survey findings show that midsize firms are tackling a new set of opportunities to position themselves for success and tap into new sources of growth,” says Andy Monshaw, General Manager, IBM Midmarket. “When we spoke to midsize firms 18 months ago, most were focused on reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Today, the conversation is also about growth, connecting with customers and gaining greater insights. It’s a much different environment.” To advance these new priorities, more than 70 percent of midsize firms say they’re seeking a consultative, rather than purely transactional, relationship with their primary IT provider. The global survey of 2,112 business and information technology decision makers at midsize businesses was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2010 across several industries, including banking, retail, consumer products, wholesale, transportation, industrial products, and insurance. Respondents were located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Japan, China, Brazil, India, Russia, Australia, Mexico, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Poland, New Zealand and the Czech Republic.

When it comes to the enterprise, IT is a key component in just about every single company’s operation. One way or another, companies are dependent upon technology and the implementation of different products and services to compete. As a CIO, you might sometimes wonder if you and your team are really appreciated. You understand the value that technology brings to the corporate world, and chances are, your IT staff does, as well. But you undoubtedly want to know that the rest of your company sees that value. Luckily for you, it seems that the employees at your firm just might. A study from the not-for-profit, IT Governance Institute, which polled 834 executives in 21 countries around the world, reveals that the importance of IT in the enterprise is apparent across all levels of an organization. The study, "Global Status Report on the Governance of Enterprise IT," reveals how IT workers and business employees view their IT organization and its role in the overall strategy of the enterprise.

CIOs and other IT executives have a reason to be optimistic in 2011, according to a new salary survey released by Janco and eJobDescription.com. Overall, compensation levels are on the increase from 2009 and salaries are returning to levels not seen since before the Great Recession. Another encouraging sign: The number of part-timers and contractors getting hired for critical projects is increasing, which is an omen that IT hiring and salaries will continue to climb. Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis says the survey results indicate that the bad times have “bottomed out” for CIOs and other IT professionals. But organizations will still remain cautious for now when it comes to overall budgeting. “There still are a number of companies who concerned that the recovery will not be strong enough to support increased IT spending,” Janulaitis says. “Cost reduction is still the rule of the day.” Another key finding: IT professionals are getting bonuses more so for positive impact they've made on the enterprise, versus the accomplishment of individually focused goals. "This shift in bonuses a push to motivate employees to improve the company's bottom line over and above everything else,” Janulaitis says. Executives from more than 980 organizations took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

Oh, how the enterprise is changing. Just a few years ago, smartphones were just one small tool in a corporate world that hadn't quite realized the full potential of a mobile workforce. Nowadays, smartphones and other mobile devices have become an integral component in the financial health of a company. This was made abundantly clear in a new study conducted by Kelton Research and commissioned by Sybase. The study, based on survey responses from 250 IT managers, reveals that mobile enterprise applications (and mobility in general) are expected to become extremely important to IT decision-makers in 2011 and beyond.

Are you paying as much attention to your "EQ" score as you are to your IQ score? A high emotional intelligence quotient, or "EQ," is essential for any professional these days, according to the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (TalentSmart/Available now). Authors Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves use the results of a survey of more than 500,000 people to demonstrate how a high EQ equates to career success and high compensation. They found that 90 percent of top job performers have high EQ scores, and these high performers earn, on average, $28,000 more per year than their lower-scoring peers. Only 36 percent of professionals are able to identify their emotions as they happen, and 70 percent of professionals cannot effectively handle stress or conflict. Given that 83 percent of today's workforce considers E-mail to be critical to their success and productivity (more so than phone calls or audio conferences) our emotional shortcomings become glaring when we communicate without the added human benefits of body language, facial expression and tone of voice. Bradberry and Greaves are co-founders of TalentSmart, which provides tools/training to develop the talents of professionals at more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. Clients have included HP, Microsoft, Ernst and Young, Oracle, Capital One, GE, Nike and the U.S. Senate. Use these highlights from their book raise your E-mail EQ.

"Being powerful is like being a lady," former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said. "If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." Here's the point: You can't just stand up and announce to a room of colleagues and employees that you're powerful. Nor does this quality automatically come with your job title. Power, it seems, must be earned. And -- like a marathon runner training day-in, day-out -- cultivating power is a constant exercise. This is the contention of the book The Elements of Power: Lessons on Leadership and Influence(Amacom/Available now). Author Terry R. Bacon distinguishes 11 clearly defined elements of power and conveys how CIOs and other executives can effectively adapt behaviors and best practices to exude this characteristic. The critical components of power aren't really about money, job status or social standing. Bacon reveals that personal qualities are far more influential within an organization. Bacon is a leadership/management expert, coach and consultant and founder of the Lore International Institute, an executive development firm recently acquired by the Korn/Ferry Institute, where he now serves as a scholar in residence.

Apple's Steve Jobs may be the highest-profile executive to take a medical leave of absence in recent memory, but he's certainly not the only one to do so. (Editor's update: Steve Jobs died Oct. 5, 2011, at age 56). The first members of the Baby Boomer generation hit age 65 in 2011. Since Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964) make up 26 percent of the IT workforce, according to a 2010 report from staffing firm TekSystems, this means that potentially one quarter of your workforce could be nearing retirement age very soon. Are you making sure that valuable technical know-how and general institutional knowledge doesn't walk out the door with them? You'll be wise to launch a formal “technical talent management” program now in order to avoid the common, transitional mistakes that happen whenever your top tech talent departs, according to the book Invaluable Knowledge: Securing Your Company's Technical Expertise (Amacom/Available Now). Author William Rothwell explains that high-performing engineers, developers and other IT pros not only know all the details of the architecture, applications and processes that drive your company—oftentimes they invented these. A technical talent management program will enable you to capture as much institutional and operational information as possible from departing workers. Rothwell is a professor of learning and performance at Pennsylvania State University and president of Rothwell & Associates, a consultancy specializing in succession planning and talent management. Here's a how-to guide for starting a technical talent management program:

A general feeling of guarded hopefulness is returning to the workplace this year, according to a “2011 Trends” survey conducted by job-search service CareerBuilder. Encouraged that the worst of times have passed, organizations are looking to expand revenue streams and even shift core-business strategies. There will be some expansion of employment levels, the survey reports, but not a massive hiring binge. Similarly, raises will return, but not in across-the-board fashion. Instead, employers will seek to reward strong performers in non-monetary ways, such as through promotions and/or more flexible working arrangements. Meanwhile, a considerable majority of employees are open to the idea of leaving their companies in 2011 for other employers/opportunities – another sign of positive sentiment. “The recession produced fundamental shifts in how companies and workers view the market,” says Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America. “Businesses are becoming more agile and changing direction. They’re operating leaner and recruiting for opportunities in emerging areas. Workers are transitioning to new fields, are more open to relocation and are more apt to consider opportunities outside of their current employers.” More than 2,400 employers and 3,900 workers in the U.S. took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

In this era of globalization, merger/acquisitions and rapid market shifts, organizations are growing increasingly complex. A host of factors – multiple time zones, unique regional/office cultures, perceived differences in missions among departments – can create a corporate version of the Tower of Babel. As a result, executives and employees may have difficulty comprehending where and how all the various “parts” fit into a cohesive vision. In the book Business Architecture: The Art and Practice of Business Transformation (Meghan-Kiffer Press/available now), authors William Ulrich and Neal McWhorter explain how CIOs and other leaders can proactively launch a well-planned series of steps to provide greater clarity of their organizations' past and present to guide team members toward a unified future. The essential premise of a business-architecture initiative is that it does not fade away with the passage of time. Instead, companies must ensure that business-architecture practices remain constantly applied to emerge as a permanent, valued dynamic of the corporate culture. Ulrich is president of TSG Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in business and IT alignment. McWhorter is a principal with Enterprise Agility, a company that seeks to help organizations improve their abilities to deliver new business capabilities. They are also co-founders of the Business Architecture Guild and co-chair the OMG Business Architecture Special Interest Group.

Mobile apps will impact the enterprise more than ever in 2011 and beyond, according to a recent Mobile Applications Survey conducted by MicroStrategy, a business intelligence software vendor. Survey respondents indicate that whether their employees are using the RIM BlackBerry, Apple iPhone/iPad, Google Android or other devices, their organizations are gaining awareness of how mobility can improve productivity, customer service, sales, field-service automation and other critical needs. However, business-intelligence applications present the most appeal among tech decision-makers surveyed. These executives perceive mobility as the next “big step” when it comes to viewing dashboards, alerts, KPI monitoring, mapping visualization and data exploration/analysis, among other operational essentials. Oh, and if you're keeping track, the Apple iPad is quickly increasing in popularity for mobile platforms, gaining significant traction over smartphones such as Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry, according to MicroStrategy. More than 2,400 CIOs and other IT execs took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

Research firm Gartner, Inc. issued its top predictions for IT organizations and users over the next several years. The predictions were selected based on their relevance, impact and audience appeal, from more than 100 of the firm’s predictions across all research areas. “With costs still under pressure, growth opportunities limited and the tolerance to bear risk low, IT faces increased levels of scrutiny from stakeholders both internal and external,” says managing vice president and Gartner fellow Darryl Plummer. “As organizations plan for the years ahead, our predictions focus on the impact this scrutiny will have on outcomes, operations, users and reporting. All parties expect greater transparency, and meeting this demand will require that IT become more tightly coupled to the levers of business control.” Gartner analysts say the predictions highlight the significant changes in the roles played by technology and IT organizations in business, the global economy and the lives of individual users. “Gartner’s top predictions showcase the trends and disruptive events that will reshape the nature of business for the next year and beyond,” says vice president and Gartner fellow Brian Gammage. “Selected from across our research areas as the most compelling and critical predictions, the developments and topics they address this year focus on changes in the roles that technologies and IT organizations play: in the lives of workers, the performance of businesses and the wider world.”

Information security has become an increasingly important aspect of the job of CIO as concerns about corporate governance, regulatory compliance and risk assessment multiply in the enterprise. To give you the tools you need to get your company’s business leaders on board with a rigorous information-security plan, the ISACA, the Information Security Forum (ISF) and (ISC)2 have worked together to assemble this list ofinformation security principles. Their recommendations are a how-to guide for security management in an era in which rapidly evolving threats require you to stay steps ahead of the bad guys. In addition, coordinated efforts between IT and business teams are necessary to make sure that regulatory compliance is in line and data remains secure. These principles can help you promote a culture of security in your enterprise. Making security a part of daily operations throughout the business can lead to smart behavior on the part of your end users and an increased awareness of the threats and risks that you and your team face every day. Leveraging these principles, you can add value to your organization while helping protect its vital information.

Your job is getting harder every day when it comes to data security and protection of your IT assets. Malicious hackers and other cyber criminals lurk everywhere, ready to steal sensitive corporate information. Educating employees about the risks and ensuring that they're adhering to your use policies may feel like a full-time job. To help ease the burden, we put together this handy checklist of the 10 employee-related security issues your company will face in the next 12 months. While some of the items listed here may seem obvious to you, chances are some of your employees have never thought of these behaviors as risky. Even seemingly harmless activities can have a real and lasting impact on your company. Share this list with your employees, or use it to begin a dialog on setting and enforcing use policies.

CIO leadership requires more than strong skills in IT management. You must also cultivate relationships that enhance a sense of “followership” within your tech teams and internal/external business partners, according to the book, The CIO Edge: Seven Leadership Skills You Need to Drive Results (Harvard Business Review Press/Available now). Authors Graham Waller, George Hallenbeck and Karen Rubenstrunk shed light on how the pursuit of these relationships can be executed in the same, systemic approach as the administration of tech systems. “CIOs understand they need to manage IT processes in order to deliver results,” Waller says. “They also understand the need to lead people in order to deliver on these goals. However, what many don't understand is the incredibly important interplay between the two.” Waller is vice-president/executive partner with Gartner Executive Programs. Hallenbeck and Rubenstrunk are, respectively, current and former executives with Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting. Here are selected highlights:

With the International CES convention in full swing in Las Vegas, Jan. 6-9, 2011, we decided to give you a rundown of the eight hottest trends from the show floor. We know you're probably really interested in the latest HDTVs and camcorders, but for the purposes of this report we're narrowing our focus to those trends that are actually relevant for the enterprise. Of course, smartphones and tablets top the list, with many vendors vying this year for the title of "Apple iPad Killer." But, you may be surprised by some of the other product categories heating up the show floor. For example, strides in notebook design, printer functionality, and data storage solutions are all on display, which will appeal to business users and consumers alike.

We're guessing that you're as enthusiastic as we are about every new gadget and hot piece of software coming down the pike. But, chances are that your role as an IT leader doesn't give you the time you need to attend the annual International CES, Jan. 6-9, 2011, in Las Vegas. This Bacchanalia of all things tech is jam-packed with the latest and niftiest gadgets and applications, from videogames and smartphones to high-end audio and video products. While you're likely following the latest CES tech news, it's easy to dismiss the potential impact these new devices and applications will have on your enterprise. We advise, instead, that you brace for impact: What's happening in Vegas will not stay in Vegas. In fact, chances are that many of the hardware and software debuts here will be making their way into your enterprise forthwith. With that in mind, we've highlighted the 10 reasons why CES should matter to every CIO.

Security is a top concern for all IT practitioners, at every level. As a CIO, you’re responsible for making sure nothing gets in that will damage your network and data. Breaches can have a dramatic impact on productivity and profitability, and worries likely keep you up at night as new threats come forward almost daily. This year will be no different when it comes to the battle against malicious hackers. We’ll see security issues that could cause data loss, malware outbreaks and other types of threats--from both inside and out of your company--that will impact the way you and your team handle IT security. What do you need to keep in mind when you’re plotting your counter-attack and securing your corporate network against cybercriminals and malicious hackers? And it’s not just the threats that are trying to get in that you need to worry about. Employee mistakes, whether they click on links in spam, come across malicious content on social networking sites or are using an unprotected mobile device, can have lasting repercussions when it comes to security. Here we take a look at 10 things you need to keep in mind when you’re waging the war against cybercrime and hackers in the next 12 months.

CIOs today are busier than ever before, and the chances of the job slowing down any time soon are slim. With an increasing need to focus on security – from both inside and out – and dealing with issues that arise from your current IT deployments, little time is left to think about which products and technologies are coming to market that may benefit your enterprise. That’s why we’ve decided to help you out. As a follow-up to our recent slideshow discussing the Tech Toys That Mattered in 2010, we want to now take a look at the software and hardware products that will undoubtedly become factors in your decision-making in 2011. Mobility became more popular as end-user demanded more ways to work while on the go. And mobility will reign supreme in 2011. Many of the products featured here are mobile devices. These are 10 products that should catch your attention – and that you may want to seriously consider integrating into your ecosystem – in 2011.

There are a lot of reasons why you’ve been putting off making decisions about which new technologies to invest in. On the computing side, you watched the promise of Windows Vista turn into an enterprise nightmare as the product failed to meet the needs of corporate customers, leaving you in a state of perpetual Windows XP. And, even if you wanted to invest in new technology, times have been tough. Many companies are still digging their way out of the Great Recession, facing trimmed budgets and trying to find ways to make aging solutions last a little bit longer. But, things may be looking up. According to a recent survey from the CDW IT Monitor, the next 12 months will be different from the past year. You’ll have more money to spend on technology products and solutions. And where will you be spending that money? On new PCs and improved virtualization and mobility solutions, the survey finds. If 2010 was the year of tightening the belt and saving, 2011 is likely to see you loosening it up a little and bringing in new hardware and software to help your employees do a better job. Read on to find out what CDW IT Monitor found in its survey of more than 1,000 IT decision makers, conducted October 1 - 8, 2010.

A recent INPUT report, “Federal Information Security Market, 2010-2015,” predicts that federal investment in information security will rise from $8.6 billion in 2010 to $13.3 billion by 2015 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 percent, nearly twice the rate of overall federal IT spending. “There is a general consensus that the government has a lot of work to do to address weaknesses in its cyber security,” says INPUT principal analyst John Slye. “Over the last year, federal agencies have seen a 78 percent growth in cyber incidents. This demand for increased information security is greater than any other current technology, leaving it more immune to the recent federal budget cuts.” Key drivers for the expected increase in investment in information security include a 445 percent increase in cyber security incidents since 2006, a shortage of qualified security professionals, and an increasingly complex and interconnected technology environment. “While agencies continue to make incremental progress toward secure infrastructures, a lack of leadership, ambiguous roles, technical challenge, and workforce shortages inhibit the federal government from developing and implementing a cohesive, well-formed national cyber security strategy,” says INPUT principal analyst Angie Petty. “This creates a large opportunity for vendors to bring their combined agency knowledge and operational security expertise to the market.”

Our annual Emerging Technology Adoption Trends study, which looks at roughly 40 new technologies and strategies (this year it’s 42), provides insight into the hardware, software and infrastructure solutions being evaluated and deployed by your peers. You can view the complete Emerging Technology Adoption Trends report here, or access the complete report as a PDF here. This kind of objective, random surveying allows us to gauge activity levels for each kind of “hot” technology you may wish to consider. It also gives us a glimpse into the future, by comparing the level of active testing to overall usage. We split our list into five groupings, including computing technologies and strategies; networking and mobile; software (including application development); Web and collaboration; and security. Each has shown remarkable dynamism over the past year, as priorities and the business outlook have shifted, at times radically. For this report, we looked at both hot new technologies as well as more established, but still relatively new, solutions. We also asked survey respondents to evaluate technologies based on three key business drivers: improving business agility; creating cost savings or productivity enhancements; opening up new markets or opportunities for the enterprise. Ziff Davis Enterprise Research conducted the 2010 Emerging Technologies Study from Oct. 28-Nov. 23, 2010. A total of 188 qualified respondents completed the survey, which was conducted online.

The past year has been an exciting one in the mobile computing space. Smartphones, from BlackBerrys to iPhones to Android-based devices, grew in popularity, and Apple’s iPad gave life to the burgeoning tablet market. With all these new products competing for consumers’ and businesses’ cash, deciding which ones are worth it can be a challenge. For CIOs, it was a year to determine what was best and what wasn’t when it came to mobile technology and the enterprise. And unfortunately, while many products were consumer superstars, CIOs were presented with some less-ideal options that failed to deliver the kind of experience that they were looking for. Most companies decided to play safe, rather than risk getting caught up with the wrong carrier or device and wind up with an enterprise full of technology that left users wishing they had something else in hand. And standing aside and waiting for the market to mature was probably a smart move. The mobile technology market saw some major mistakes this year from big-name vendors. And not even the most reliable companies could keep themselves away from issues. Read on to find out what the worst mobile mistakes were this year.

As Q4 2010 draws to a close, CIOs may be breathing a little bit easier when it comes to the state of their budgets in the year ahead. The emphasis, though, is on “a little bit” here. A survey from Forrester Research Inc. of 2,800 global CIOs and other IT decision-makers reveals that enterprise technology budgets are trended upward, albeit every so slightly, in 2010 compared with 2009. That said, the vast majority of survey respondents say their budgets remained the same in 2010 as they were in 2009. Many of the dollars that are being spent are going towards supporting existing operations, as well as paying for staff. Which isn't to say that CIOs aren't investing a fair share of their budgets toward new IT initiatives/projects. But it's clear that, in times like these, the focus is on what Forrester dubs the “MOOSE” part of the budget – spending to Maintain and Operate the Organization, Systems and Equipment. At the very least, companies spent above what was planned in 2010, and this pattern should continue in 2011: a conservative formal budget that gives way to above-budget spending in practice. The full report may be purchased at www.forrester.com/go?docid=57508. Here are some of the survey's highlights:

Over the past year, you've been challenged to ramp up data security in an increasingly hostile environment, even as you attempt to determine which new products are worth allowing into your enterprise. Many of the most popular devices, such as the Apple iPhone 4 and Apple iPad, caught your attention for obvious reasons in 2010. But, the year also saw the introduction of a number of Android-based wireless devices, including the Motorola Droid Pro, while BlackBerry maker Research in Motion tried to up its game with the introduction of the BlackBerry Torch. The late fall also saw the debut of Windows Phone 7 smartphones, although it's too soon to tell what kind of impact these might have on winning over the hearts and minds of consumers and enterprise customers alike. Among the year's other notable debuts, which won't be on the market until 2011, are iPad-competing tablets from the likes of Cisco and RIM. Also of note: Google's new Chrome web browser, and the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Here's our rundown of the 10 tech toys that matter and whether or not you need to keep them on your radar in the year ahead.

The hiring forecast for IT talent is improving, according to a new survey from Dice.com, an online career hub for tech professionals. The vast majority of tech-hiring managers and recruiters say they're gearing up to increase staffing for the first half of 2011 compared to the second half of 2010, the survey reports. And many companies plan to increase hiring by 10 percent or more. It's another sign that the worst of the economic downturn may be over. In particular demand are employees with Java and .Net skills. The other good news? This positive trend doesn't seem restricted to any one U.S. region. "Technology recruitment activity has strengthened all year creating more career opportunities for professionals,” says Tom Silver, senior vice president at Dice. “The tech epicenter may be Silicon Valley. But the increase in recruitment activity is geographically broad – and the rumblings from the Valley will echo across the country.” More than 850 HR managers and recruiters took part in the survey. Here are highlights:

In holiday season 2010, employees were expected to spend less time shopping online while at work than in years past. The bad news? They were more likely to shop during company time using their mobile devices, which may present an increased security risk to their organizations, according to a > survey from the ISACA formally known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. Beyond security, the loss of productivity due to this activity will cost companies thousands of dollars, ISACA reports. “Digital natives are comfortable with blurring the lines between work and play, which poses new and interesting management challenges for their employers,” says Robert Stroud, international vice president of ISACA. Stroud is also a “service management and governance evangelist” at CA Technologies. “This generation is happy to use their own tablet computer at work or use a work-supplied smart phone for shopping or updating Facebook. So they need a new kind of IT security policy—one that balances access and control.” At the very least, CIOs and other managers must ensure that their employees keep “best practices” in mind as they click and shop, such as using a privacy-screen shield on mobile devices. Or, avoiding the opening an unfamiliar e-mail with a “too good to be true” offer. More than 2,800 U.S. consumers took part in the survey. Another related survey was conducted using results in which more than 830 ISACA members in the U.S. took part. Here are selected highlights from the research:

Do you oversee the holiday gift-giving traditions within your IT department? Fortunately, the level of generosity within organizations is seeing a significant increase this year, and CIOs don’t need to shy away from hosting holiday parties and/or providing gifts to employees to demonstrate appreciation for their hard work throughout the year. At least, this is the impression conveyed in a survey from CareerBuilder. The survey, which includes responses from 3,600 workers and 2,600 employers, reveals that the awarding of bonuses, staging of holiday parties and giving of gifts are all on the rise this season. "Many employers are financially in a better place this season [than they were in 2009] and recognize the positive impact holiday perks can have on office morale," says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder. "Companies are not only giving back to employees this holiday season, but 45 percent say their charitable donations will be the same or more than previous years." As a special survey “bonus,” CareerBuilder also reveals what can only be described as the most outrageous “oddball” gifts that employees have received over the years. Here are highlights from the findings:

You've been weathering what is generally considered the worst economic period of modern times, and have struggled with limited IT budgets as a result. Yet, you're still pursuing enterprise innovation to best serve your enterprise's internal and external customers. Sound familiar? These are among the top 10 CIO Priorities for 2011 according to a survey from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). Like their private industry counterparts, CIO who oversee IT for the 50 U.S. states, territories and the District of Columbia hope that 2011 brings about a turn of fiscal fortune. But, they're still carefully considering solutions that save day-to-day operating costs, while allowing government agencies to address citizen and individual agency needs. They also must continue to meet legislative mandates. "Clearly, the priorities for 2011 are a mirror image of the current challenges state government is facing," says Kyle Schafer, president of NASCIO and CTO of the state of West Virginia. “State government CIOs are collaborating across the country on innovative strategies, methods and technological solutions. Consolidation, optimization, budget and cost control and shared services are all focused on gaining efficiencies, economies of scale and effective IT investment.” Here is the final “top 10” ranking of state CIO priorities for strategies, management processes and solutions in 2011:

The end of a calendar year invariably brings with it a flurry of prognostications about the 12 months ahead. In 2011, the cloud, mobility and social media look to be the trio to watch. Most likely, you've got a healthy skepticism about how big an impact any of these will actually have on your enterprise. Market-research firm IDC, however, is extremely bullish on all three points. In its report "IDC Predictions 2011: Welcome to the New Mainstream," the firm predicts that cloud services, mobile computing, and social networking will mature and coalesce in 2011, creating a "new mainstream" for IT. The company predicts double-digit-percentage growth in enterprise spending in each of these key areas. With the cloud, mobile devices, and social networks gaining popularity, IDC senior vice president and chief analyst, Frank Gens, says that combined, “they are rapidly becoming the market itself and must be addressed accordingly.” If IDC’s estimates prove accurate, you can expect to be operating a vastly different organization in the years ahead, one that relies upon a variety of services that, at least right now, few firms have brought wholesale into their enterprises. Here are nine highlights from the report.

Which do you think is more important to career success: Academic pedigree or street smarts? Jay Barney and Trish Gorman Cliffor, authors of the book, What I Didn’t Learn in Business School: How Strategy Works in the Real World (Harvard Business Review Press/Available now), have provided an exclusive for CIO Insight: nine real-life “truths” from their book that are particularly important for every CIO to keep in mind. The book doesn't dismiss the value of an MBA. But the authors contend that learning continues long after a graduate has stepped from the educational environment into the real world. It's there that professionals must learn to navigate the personalities, skill sets and politics that are at the core of every enterprise. Barney is a professor of management at Ohio State University. Clifford is a former consultant and director of global strategy learning at McKinsey and Company. She now teaches strategy to executives. What I Didn't Learn in Business School is a fictionalized account of a character named Justin Campbell's journey toward discovering these lessons.

CIOs in the U.S. are feeling more optimistic about hiring prospects in Q1 2011, according to a quarterly hiring report from Robert Half Technology. The level of encouragement among CIOs with regard to increasing IT staff, in fact, is at its highest point in a year. Geographically speaking, tech execs in the East/North-Central part of the country as well as those in the West/South-Central region are expected to be the most active in hiring. The health-care industry remains a top sector for tech professionals who are seeking employment. The data appear to indicate that CIOs are feeling confident that the worst of the recession is over, and it's time to boost staffing to support the enterprise and the tech needs of their organizations. "CIOs are reinitiating previously deferred projects and are more willing to invest in augmenting their teams,” says John Reed, executive director of Robert Half Technology, a top provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis. More than 1,400 CIOs took part in the survey, conducted via telephone interviews. Here are selected highlights:

Technisource’s latest 2010 IT HIRE Intelligence Survey, conducted by Monster.com, has found that the majority of HR managers and recruiters responsible for recruiting technology staff are planning to hire IT workers in the next six months. “Economic conditions that led to hiring freezes, technology cuts and migration delays across the last 18 months are now starting to reverse and companies are beginning to increase spending to remain competitive or regain a lost competitive advantage,” says Technisource president Michael Winwood. “The most important factor in doing this still and will always remain a company’s internal staff. While it is difficult to make any definitive forecasts from a single survey, the data in this report seem to suggest that we can anticipate increased technology hiring and perceived strength in corporations – which bodes well for a strong and much anticipated rebound.” The Technisource IT HIRE Intelligence survey was conducted online within the United States by Monster Worldwide on Technisource’s behalf between September 27, 2010 and October 11, 2010, among a U.S. sample of 435 HR managers or recruiters who indicated they have specific responsibility to recruit for technology positions, either for their company or as an agent on behalf of another company. Of the 435 respondents, 41 percent work at organizations with fewer than 100 employees, 28 percent work at organizations with 101 to 500 employees, and 31 percent work at organizations with more than 501 employees.

The economy might be improving on some fronts, but serious job growth remains elusive and salaries are stagnant—and that includes technology jobs. Total employment in IT increased just 0.17% in November 2010, and salaries across all positions remained flat compared with the same month a year ago, according to Janco Associates Inc., a management consulting firm that focuses on IT. Janco says it bases its employment report on data from the December 2010 U.S. Department of Labor National Employment Report. The company also conducted a separate salary survey that received 278 responses from U.S. IT professionals. According to that survey, the average CIO working in the U.S. earned $159,574 in 2010. Meanwhile, the jobs report paints a grim picture of total IT employment: seasonally adjusted, there were about 2.8 million IT jobs in November, an increase of only 4,800 jobs from November 2009. Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco, says the nearly 3% growth in systems design jobs and related services "has not been enough to absorb the displaced employees from prior periods nor address the issue of recent entrants into the IT job market who cannot find work. With this anemic increase of jobs, there is little to no room for recent computer science graduates and existing unemployed IT professionals to find work.” Furthermore, he says, outsourcing has eliminated many of the entry-level positions that these individuals could take. Based on the data and interviews Janco has conducted, the firm predicts there will be more churn in IT staffs, as CIOs accelerate their moves to flexible staffing models. They are looking to hire IT people with business and analytical skills, such as risk management and project management.

Are you looking to unravel the mysteries of power within your organization? Do you need insight into how to foster innovation within your department? What do you know about the concept of “brainsteering” as a means to address project tasks and overcome bottlenecks? All of these leadership topics and more are addressed in the 11 best business books for CIOs to add to your reading list in winter and spring 2011. The authors behind these titles include a psychiatrist, a multimedia entertainment titan and current or former executives from Accenture, Deloitte, McKinsey and Verizon Communications, and other top organizations. More information about each book can often be found at referenced publishers' Web sites and/or the authors' personal pages. You'll also find these available for sale on bookseller sites such as Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, among others. Specific dates of publication were not available for all books; in these cases the month of publication has been provided. Publication dates are subject to change. These 11 business books are sure to boost your leadership IQ:

What happens when business tech and consumer tech collide? We're going to find out in the year ahead. We've long talked about the "consumerization" of IT in the enterprise, but in 2011 we're going to experience a perfect storm of technology advances and worker demand that will make this concept our reality. Enterprises that only a year ago were slamming the door shut on any discussion of personal mobile devices being allowed into the workplace are changing their views as they consider the productivity benefits these solutions can unleash. Enterprises that have previously taken a dim view of social networking are starting to consider how social media can enhance collaboration and team building across the operation. Enterprises that have been dismissing cloud computing as the latest vendor hype will put to good use the business agility that such options can enable. With these drivers in mind, we've created this list of 10 technology projects to embark on in 2011. These projects won’t cost you much money, and they might just help you change your company into a long-distance frontrunner.

The explosive growth in unstructured data, much of it coming from new sources like social networks and smart devices; more demanding user requirements for easy-to-use yet more sophisticated business analytics and visualization tools; and the need to support new deployment options, such as cloud and SaaS, are rapidly altering the business intelligence landscape. This slideshow looks at how IBM’s new Cognos 10 can help organizations support current and future business analytics strategies.

Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system appears to be enjoying unbridled success. In fact, the company reports that it has sold more than 240 million Windows 7 licenses around the world since the operating system launched in 2009. It's likely that Windows 7 will carry the banner that Windows XP has held for so long. Migrating your enterprise to Windows 7, though, remains a major under-taking. You may be opting to stick with Windows XP until Windows 7 has been put through its paces in the marketplace and they can be confident it will offer the functionality (and longevity) that enterprises truly require. At the same time, you're probably fully aware that your Windows XP machines are getting old and slow. Attempting to maintain them, rather than replace them with a new PC and operating system, becomes more painful with each passing month. The time has come to seriously consider opting for Windows 7. Before you take the plunge, here are 10 important factors to consider.

TechAmerica recently released its Cybercities 2010 report, which tracks key trends in high-tech employment, wages, establishments, payroll, employment concentration, and wage differential at the metropolitan level throughout the United States. “Most of the metro areas we examined lost tech jobs in 2009 as the full force of the economic downturn hit the industry,” says TechAmerica vice president Josh James. “These are the types of jobs every city wants. They are very well-paid, with 57 of the 60 cybercities having average tech industry wages that are 50 percent higher than the average private sector wage. Three of those cybercities – Colorado Springs, Austin, and San Diego – have average tech wages that are more than double those of the private sector.” The top 10 cybercities by high-tech employment in 2009 were New York, Washington, DC, San Jose/Silicon Valley, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Houston. But, 53 of the top 60 cybercities saw net job loss in 2009. “High-tech jobs make critical contributions to local economies in terms of innovation and high wages,” says TechAmerica chair Phillip J. Bond. “But how to attract and retain them is the key question all mayors, city council officials, and local business leaders grapple with.” All statistics in the report are based on data collected from all businesses in the United States by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics The data is for 2009, the most recent calendar year available at the time of publication.

Our behaviors essentially define who we are. How we choose to conduct ourselves when it comes to interacting with technology speaks volumes about who we are and where our priorities lie. Are you a classic early adopter or a technology Luddite? Are you constantly texting away on a tiny mobile gadget, or do you look to unplug as often as possible? Do you use technology as a way to connect with others, or as a shield to avoid real human interaction? To find out more about what these and many other tech traits communicate to others about who you really are, CIO Insight consulted with Melody Brooke, a Richardson, Texas-based licensed counselor to professionals. The author of the book "Oh Wow, This Changes Everything" (Changes Press/Available now), Brooke is also host of the radio program, Wake Up Call. We asked Brooke to come up with a dozen “tech behaviors,” and interpret for us what they say about who we are – not only in our personal lives, but in our professional lives as well.

CIOs and other senior IT managers say they expect demand for cloud-computing solutions to rise in their enterprises as an anticipated economic recovery takes hold. In some cases, these IT decision-makers expect to be the ones driving the cloud initiatives, while in other cases the movement toward the cloud is expected to be driven by other enterprise stakeholders, according to a new report released by Savvis Inc and based on a survey conducted by IDG Research Services and CIO Custom Solutions Group. Respondents say cloud computing is needed in the enterprise computing infrastructure to enhance flexibility, increase competitive advantage and drive innovation, among other perceived benefits. But the majority of respondents also feel it's difficult to find the “just right” cloud solution for their enterprise, according to the report "Enterprise-Grade Cloud Computing Adoption: Trends and Purchase Requirements." The report also indicates that organizations need cloud solutions that can be customized to go beyond the standard application level, as well as address security and service-level needs. More than 170 CIOs and IT managers worldwide took part in the survey, which can be accessed here. The following are selected highlights:

Cloud computing is the technology innovation du jour . Yet, this much-hyped storage and application delivery solution remains cloaked in mystery for many executives, particularly those on the business side of their organizations. Likewise, as CIO you likely understand the technology of cloud computing, but are you fully aware of the business process transformation that cloud technology can drive? Author Peter Fingar demystifies the cloud in his book, "Dot.Cloud: The 21st Century Business Platform" (Meghan-Kiffer/Available now). In the book, Fingar traces the origins of cloud computing and explains in practical fashion how it can be applied to day-to-day business operations. The cloud has democratized the process of computing for the masses, Fingar writes, and these masses are now gaining great influence in how technology is delivered. CIOs who grasp these and other key cloud concepts will have a great advantage over those who do not. Fingar is a business-strategy expert and former CIO. Here are 10 fundamental truths about the cloud from Fingar's book.

Getting a handle on potential legal and legislative changes can determine whether an organization ratchets down risk and steers clear of trouble or finds itself in the crosshairs of government and media scrutiny. Making matters worse, the global nature of today’s business environment means that it’s necessary to monitor legal and legislative trends around the world. Many countries—particularly those in Europe—are looking to toughen laws surrounding privacy and security. Many, too, are eyeing or pondering new stringent environmental laws—along with strict reporting requirements. To help us compile this list of the 10 legal/legislative trends that every CIO should watch, we turned to Clinton Smith, Manager of IT Risk and Compliance at Grant Thornton LLP, and Joseph Bugajski, Research VP at Gartner. Smith believes the situation won’t get easier anytime soon. Tracking legal and legislative developments is essential, and addressing these issues proactively is not only smart, it’s cost effective. These aren't topics reserved solely for your Governance Risk & Compliance brain trust to fret over: Since IT plays a central role in managing data and systems, these are your challenges, too.

As the holiday season approaches, your loved ones are probably asking "What do I get for the CIO who has everything?" At the same time, your enthusiasm for technology is likely leading you to consider which geeky gifts will be most appreciated by your friends and family. You know what the best products on the market are, you know how much they go for, and you know whether or not they would appeal to you or your loved ones. You have an advantage that so many holiday shoppers just don’t have. As a person with all the tech answers, you’re typically the party to consult with questions about which product to buy, not necessarily the party that people are trying to buy tech goodies for. Here, we've tried to make everyone's job a little easier this holiday season: In the next few slides, we’ve listed several different geeky products that you will probably want to get your hands on this year, as well as some great techie gift ideas for you to share with others.

It’s no bulletin that governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) issues are at the forefront of enterprise thinking and decision-making. It’s also clear that they are becoming increasingly nettlesome—particularly as the swath of information technology systems expands and reaches beyond the four walls of the enterprise. Virtualization, cloud computing, mobility initiatives, social networking and advances in data portability and storage are producing a spate of new challenges and concerns for CIOs. Running afoul of governance and compliance requirements—internal as well as those mandated by a government—can quickly translate into costly errors, fines and data loss, along with negative publicity, a tarnished brand name and, in the end, diminished revenues. Navigating this new digital order means addressing GRC risks up front. Unfortunately, the danger points aren't always as obvious as you might think. Sure, there are the no-brainers, such as PCI compliance for anyone dealing with customer data, but when was the last time you considered how much information is floating around your organization in lowly spreadsheets? These danger points that can undermine everything from records retention and data sharing to security and privacy. Here are eight time bombs that could contribute to compliance breakdowns and failures within your organization:

A significant number of IT professionals in a recent survey say that their companies are likely to be the target of a data breach over the next year, according to the report "Data in the Dark: Organizational Disconnect Hampers Information Security."The report, sponsored by security vendor Application Security Inc., is based on a survey conducted by Unisphere Research. The survey polled more than 760 members of the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS). The majority of respondents are database administrators; other respondents included IT managers and developers. Respondents attribute the shortcomings of overall data security to several factors, including budget limitations, a lack of understanding, and poor accountability and oversight. In fact, four of 10 respondents say they don't even know how much their company spends on IT security.

Strengthening information security has been a high priority for IT for years. And yet, despite all the efforts to protect data and systems via technology and policies, many organizations are still likely to be penetrated by cyber criminals who can bring down networks, steal valuable information assets and even put the business in jeopardy. That’s the conclusion of the 2nd Annual Network Forensics Survey, conducted by Trusted Strategies and commissioned by Solera Networks. The study surveyed 200 security and IT professionals from large organizations (at least 1,000 network nodes) based in the United States, in October 2010. The Web-based survey was followed by one-on-one in-depth interviews with a number of participants. Most of the survey respondents say they have had, or expect to have, what they consider to be a "significant security incident," according to the report. Among the biggest concerns of survey respondents are employee visits to malicious Web sites and the use of instant messaging (IM). As for the damages of a major incident, the biggest concerns are network downtime and lengthy recovery periods. According to the report, most companies are not prepared to handle major security incidents when they do occur. Many don’t have an up-to-date response plan, and are not ready to handle a significant security incident.

Do you sometimes get the feeling that you're NEVER completely “unplugged” from work? Even during the winter holiday season? Take heart: You're not alone. The vast majority of Americans say they check work-related e-mail accounts even during these special times of the year, according to a new survey from Xobni. Most employees check at least once a day. And here's a little secret – a number of us are choosing to look at work e-mails as a way of avoiding spending too much time with Mom, Dad, Uncle Louie, Aunt Ethel and the rest of the clan. But avoiding family members isn't the only reason we check our e-mail. The survey indicates that – in these shaky economic times – many professionals don't feel secure enough to disconnect entirely. Others actually view checking e-mail regularly during off-time as a way to reduce stress, as opposed to increasing it. These hardy souls figure that if they don't check e-mail during the break, they'll face a barrage of business-critical e-mails upon their return to the office. Harris Interactive conducted the research on behalf of Xobni, creator of an e-mail management tool for Microsoft Outlook. (The company name is “Inbox” spelled backward.) Nearly 2,200 adults took part in the survey. Here are selected highlights:

Allowing employees to work anytime/anywhere is more than simply a matter of convenience for organizations these days – it's critical to success, according to the "Next-Generation CIOs" report from business and technology consulting firm Cognizant. The report is based on a survey of CIOs, CEOs, VPs and director-level IT managers. More than 400 executives responded to the survey, which reveals that companies which stick to dated traditions that require “all the chickens to be present in the henhouse” for most of their working hours will inevitably lose out in the talent wars to those businesses that take a flexible approach. And collaborative, virtual tools are also considered vital for realizing needed improvements in productivity, efficiency and innovation, according to survey respondents. For the purpose of the survey, Cognizant defines a virtual-work environment as that in which human, physical and tech resources are located where they contribute most effectively to attaining business objectives. To make this kind of structure work, the CIO must stay highly involved and provide effective leadership vision, according to the report. “Working with global knowledge-based companies, we witness first-hand how virtual teams are more likely to take hold when the CIO is engaged in the process,” says Mark Livingston, senior vice president at Cognizant Business Consulting. “CIOs have the clout and the top-to-bottom perspective to enable business process change, weaving together collaborative business processes and platforms often based on cloud, social and mobile technologies to make work more productive and cost-effective.”

The Google Apps Marketplace is an absolutely necessary resource for any enterprise customers that use products or services in Google’s Apps suite. The marketplace boasts programs that are designed to enhance the usability of Google Apps, and features the kind of enterprise functionality that the vast majority of firms will be happy to see. Admittedly, Google Apps Marketplace is mostly useful to those business users that are Google customers. But, in many cases, the apps available in the marketplace have been adapted from services that are available to any other users on the Web. The result is a place where Google customers can go to dramatically expand the overall usability of their Google Business Apps installation. And it generally makes for a more viable experience for customers. So, if your company is using Google Business Apps, or if you’re thinking about deploying them, be sure to click through this slideshow. In the HTML field above each slide you'll find direct links to all of the apps profiled. We highlight apps available in the Google marketplace that will appeal to companies looking for more productivity, control, or simple ease-of-use. Take a look.

CORRECTED:: According to a report from global strategic advisory firm The Hackett Group, 158,000 IT jobs in North America and Europe were displaced due to outsourcing in 2010. (Editor's Note: due to an error by Hackett Group, a previous version of this article contained an incorrect number of IT jobs outsourced. This version contains the corrected information.) It's important to note that the report includes only jobs associated with the provisioning of IT services internal to American and European companies. IT jobs in the tech sector itself, such hardware, software, telecom and service providers, are not in scope of this analysis.) But, there is good news for IT workers: the pace of IT offshoring will slow through 2014, even as enterprises step up the pace of offshoring jobs in finance and procurement. In 2014, offshoring will account for 114,000 lost IT jobs in North America and Europe. The research is based on data garnered from more than 250 in-depth benchmarks performed annually by Hackett, and supplemented by data from more than 350 companies participating annually in Hackett’s online performance studies. Respondents are split evenly between the US and Europe, and about 20 percent of respondents are IT executives. The Hackett Group says the rapid growth of what it calls the Global Business Services (GBS) organization is driving much of the trend. The GBS typically has a global footprint and leverages offshore resources, enabling a realization of value via economies of scale, scope and skills. There’s still a place in this new model for onshore white-collar workers who have experience in change management, program and product management, and other skills appropriate to a globally distributed, multicultural and virtually integrated organization. As a result, The Hackett Group anticipates that large surpluses in some skill areas will go hand-in-hand with critical shortages in others, making enterprise talent management a key concern moving forward.

Many CIOs operate around an uneasy disconnect between “Big Picture” organizational strategy and day-to-day tasks. How can you focus on long-term goals when, say, a virus has just made a systems intrusion? How can you think about innovation when your IT team is knee-deep in a new systems-integration launch? The book, Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution (Harvard Business Review Press/Available now), provides a blueprint you can use to match long-term objectives with daily demands. In the book, author Robert Simons introduces seven key questions to ask yourself to ensure that you're practicing the very best “whole management” practices for your teams, supervisors, customers and partners. Knowing how to effectively implement core values, performance variables and even creative tension are all part of the mix. Ultimately, Simons writes, it's about “tightening your business thinking” and avoiding “unstated assumptions that, if poorly conceived, can sap your business of its energy and potential.” Simons is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Here are his seven questions, as well as ways to pursue the answers:

Let's face it: When you officially oversee “the geek department,” there are many perceptions – and misperceptions – about the kind of senior manager and person you are. This level of stereotyping may extend to the kind of education you obtained; whether or not you can fix a frozen computer; and even how much money you make. With this in mind, we set out to debunk seven of the most deeply entrenched “myths” about the CIO personality. To help us, we turned to Carol Fawcett, CIO of Quest Software; and Wade Wright, chief technology officer of RemitDATA, who also offer real-world counterpoints to these common myths. As with any broad generalizations, it's important to keep in mind that no two individual CIOs are the same, so your personal experiences may vary. But, most of us can probably agree that there are some commonly held beliefs about the executives who perform the role of CIO that are clearly not based upon reality. In real life, you likely find yourself to be much more well-rounded than many of these false characterizations would imply.

A November report from the Leadership Council for Information Advantage identifies four emerging conditions that can complicate the flow and value of information in hybrid (private/public) and public clouds. The report, titled “Creating Information Advantage in a Cloudy World: Intelligent Governance Strategies for Cloud Agility,” provides seven governance best practices for organizations looking to offset some of the risks in enterprise cloud computing. These include: unchecked proliferation of incompatible cloud platforms and services; fragmentation of an enterprise’s information architecture through isolated data and content within the clouds; escalating potential for vendor lock-in; and complex chains of custody for information management and security. The Leadership Council for Information Advantage is an advisory group convened in January 2010 by EMC, a developer and provider of information infrastructure and technology solutions. Council members include: William Awad Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, The Hartford Financial Services Group; Dave Blue Senior Manager, Enterprise Data Services, The Boeing Company; Guy Chiarello CIO, JPMorgan Chase; John Chickering Vice President, Fidelity Investments; Dimitris Mavroyiannis General Manager – Group CIO, Eurobank EFG Group; Sanjay Mirchandani Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, EMC Corporation; Joe Solimando Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Technology, CIO, Disney Consumer Products; and Deirdre Woods Associate Dean and CIO, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Here are the highlights of their recommendations for sound information governance practices in cloud environments.

Large disparities still exist in the way men and women view employment within the technology field, according to the 2010 Technisource Women in Information Technology Report, conducted by Monster.com. Differences in viewpoints revealed in the study are concentrated in areas such as compensation, mentors and role models, and challenges faced, according to Technisource, a provider of technology services and talent. The study “demonstrates that while some lagging societal issues remain unchanged across the board, such as equal compensation, some perceived differences may be the result of specific choices and priorities between genders,” the firm says. Among the key findings: Nearly 80% of women don’t think compensation is equal between men and women, while nearly half of the male respondents perceive that there is equality. And, when asked about most important factors to men and women for career satisfaction, men cite compensation level and women choose being challenged and job flexibility. More than half of the women working in IT think there’s a glass ceiling that restricts their employment growth. Both genders agree about the most important factors for career success over the next five years: Technology experience and skills.

What are the top technology trends that are sure to have the biggest impact when the calendar flips to 2011? CIO Insight's Eric Lundquist breaks it down for us, presenting a view of the year ahead as one that will see significant shifts in the IT organization as well as major developments in cloud, virtualization and mobility. Lundquist is also predicting that 2011 is the year that enterprises will move off the sidelines and actively begin using and promoting consumer technologies in the corporate environment. We also offer a glimpse of what to expect from the big tech companies – Apple, Google, IBM, Oracle and Microsoft. Still, the world of technology changes all the time. Just because a company is on top right now doesn’t mean it can stay there forever. Like Wall Street investors, IT executives need to know which tech trends to follow to get a better idea of which vendor offers the best products at the best prices. The takeaway? If you think the pace of change in IT was unprecedented in 2010, just wait until the New Year rolls around.

Whether you went to management school or not, there are many “truths” about leadership that rarely are discussed in the classroom, according to the book, Management? It's Not What You Think! (Amacom/Available now). Authors Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel deliver hundreds of “leadership realities” that are often overlooked or undervalued in organizations these days. Whether it's the technology you depend upon, how you deliver information or the ways in which you adapt IT solutions/systems for your enterprise, it's important to know that much of what you accept as a “given” when it comes to management practices may actually be, well, wrong. The book challenges CIOs and other executives to ask tough questions. Example: can you tell the difference between effective strategic planning and planning that amounts to nothing more than time-consuming “nonsense”? Mintzberg is a professor of management studies at McGill University. Ahlstrand is a professor of management at Trent University, and Lampel is a professor of strategy at City University London. Here are selected highlights:

During Apple’s last reported fiscal quarter, the company says it sold a whopping 4.1 million iPad units. Although competitors such as the BlackBerry PlayBook, Samsung Galaxy Tab and others may give it a fair fight in 2011, right now iPad owns the "media tablet" space, with a 95.5 percent worldwide market share, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. While some enterprises have already embraced the device, many have been ambivalent about it. Even as CIOs and other C-suite executives have embrace iPad for their own work, they debate whether the device makes sense on an enterprise-wide scale. Among the issues? Secure configuration and deployment, preparing helpdesk support for users, and the possibility of opening up the corporate network to "rogue" devices. Such very real concerns notwithstanding, a survey of 1,200 IT professionals conducted by mobility management solutions vendor BoxTone indicates that iPad adoption is on the rise. Read on to find out why iPad is becoming an enterprise favorite.

Top-performing enterprises are increasingly depending upon analytics tools to shape future direction and address day-to-day needs, according to a report, "Analytics: The New Path to Value," from the IBM Institute for Business Value and the MIT Sloan Management Review. Unfortunately, CIOs and other top executives who are attempting to leverage such tools often face pushback due to company culture. There's a lack of understanding about how to use analytics , and, too often, departments are discouraged from sharing information. These obstacles, however, are not stopping CIOs and other key decision-makers from pursuing the increased use of analytics throughout all levels of their organizations. “The correlation between performance and analytics-driven management has important implications for organizations whether they are seeking growth, efficiency or competitive differentiation,” says Fred Balboni, global leader of business analytics and optimization services for IBM. “When organizations use analytics to tackle their biggest challenges, they are able to overcome seemingly intractable challenges.” Nearly 3,000 executives and business analysts from 108 countries and 30 industries took part in the survey that forms the basis of this report. Here are selected highlights:

According to the October 2010 edition of the bimonthly CDW IT Monitor which tracks the direction and momentum of information technology spending in the US, the vast majority of companies and government organizations surveyed anticipate an increase in IT spending on both software and hardware in the coming year. Confidence is strongest in the local government sector, with 84 percent of local government IT decision makers planning to replace or install hardware within the next six months. Thomas E. Richards, CDW’s president and chief operating officer, says state and local government IT decision makers seem to understand the importance of spending money now in order to save money in the long run. “New technologies can help government agencies accomplish more even with reduced staff and reduce costs in key areas such as energy consumption,” he says. And while confidence among IT decision makers at large companies has shifted downwards over the past six months, the opposite is true for decision makers at small and medium sized businesses – 19 percent of small-business IT decision makers plan to replace or install software for a significant part of the organization within the next six months, a record high since the CDW IT Monitor’s launch in December of 2007. “Developments such as the recent passage of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 – with its tax benefits and provisions – could also be contributing to this stabilizing effect,” Richards says. The information in the October 2010 CDW IT Monitor comes from a survey of 1,079 IT decision makers conducted by independent polling firm Richard Day Research between October 1 and October 8, 2010.

Since the launch of the groundbreaking Second Life in 2003, “virtual world” training and collaboration tools have become increasingly popular in the modern workplace. These are not simply exercises with “cute” avatars that provide an enjoyable but meaningless distraction for employees. These tools can help you, your senior managers and your work teams to recruit and retain talent, address customer needs, enhance collaboration and perform other “mission-critical” functions. Organizations such as IBM, Cisco, Intel, Michelin, Microsoft and the World Bank are successfully deploying these virtual efforts and getting results, according to the book Training and Collaboration with Virtual Worlds: How to Create Cost-Saving, Efficient, and Engaging Programs (McGraw-Hill Professional/Available now) by Alex Heiphetz and Gary Woodill. Heiphetz is founder / president of AHG Inc., a software solutions company specializing in providing business services to training companies and educational institutions. Woodill is director of research at Brandon Hall, a leading research firm that tracks emerging learning technologies. Here are the highlights:

Ever wonder why it seems your employees aren't following your acceptable use policies when it comes to personal computers, smartphones and other personal devices in the workplace? It's quite possible they don't even know such policies exist, according to Cisco's Connected World Report. Earlier this week, we examined the report for perspective on how IT decision-makers worldwide view employee adherence to the acceptable-use policies for tools such as social media, mobile devices, and video. We also examined how IT decision-makers view their relationship with employees; a fifth of respondents described that relationship as "strained and dysfunctional." Here, we take a look at the other side of the coin: We examine Cisco’s findings on how employees view and respond to IT use policies – and their overall relationship with IT. The results reveal how your employees really feel about video, social media, and security The report is based on online surveys of 1,303 U.S.-based enterprise end users and 1,309 U.S.-based enterprise IT decision makers, plus additional responses from these two groups in 12 other countries, including Brazil, France, U.K., Russia, China and Japan. Here are the highlights.

In case you need another reason to avoid the hospital, here it is: Data about you and your treatment might not be adequately protected, and your privacy could be at risk. According to a research report conducted by Ponemon Institute (a privacy and information management research firm) and sponsored by ID Experts (a security products provider), many healthcare facilities are not adequately protecting patient data. In addition, the healthcare industry is lagging in implementing the standards set by the HITECH Act of 2009, which widen the scope of privacy and security protections under HIPAA to provide strong safeguards for patient data. And the insufficient security is proving costly to the healthcare industry, as hospitals are collectively losing an estimated $6 billion a year due to data breaches, according to the study. Because many breaches go undetected, the losses might be considerably higher than that, according to Ponemon. The research shows that protecting patient data is a low priority for hospitals, and many healthcare organizations have little confidence in their ability to secure patient records. This puts individuals at great risk for medical identity theft, financial theft and embarrassment of exposure of private information, the report says.

It may be time for you to tap into your "female" side in order to succeed in today's business environment, according to the book, Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business (Wiley/Available now). Author Barry Libert contends that the profound cultural shift that's taking place as social networks grow in popularity will raise the value of executives whose management style includes traits that have been traditionally considered "female." Libert's premise depends, of course, upon your face-value acceptance of broad gender generalizations. Fair warning: Your individual life experiences may vary. Nonetheless, he claims that all of his conclusions are backed by scientific research. “There have been countless studies on gender differences,” Libert says. “And no matter how you interpret them, they conclude that women are collaborative, communicative and community-centered.” So, before you cry foul, stop and consider these eight "female traits" from Social Nation ocialnationbook.com that you can turn into leadership action items in your enterprise, regardless of your actual gender.

As IT vendors come out with new products and technologies over the coming years, you’ll have a lot on your plate as CIO. At its Symposium/IT Expo 2010 in Cannes, France, research firm Gartner identified seven major IT projects that CIOs should consider tackling in the next three years to make sure they stay ahead of the game as technology decision-making moves beyond the confines of the IT organization. (Think cloud computing, enterprise mobility and social networking.) “We’re increasingly living, playing and working in a digital world where people will have no alternatives but to become ‘more digital’ with the assets they have available,” says Stephen Prentice, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “Device and data proliferation is also a reality that cannot be escaped.” What will set successful CIOs apart from the competition will be their ability to innovate , to manage risk and compliance and to get the most bang for the company’s buck when leveraging new technologies, from cloud computing to pattern-based data analysis. Keeping an eye on cost savings related to environmental compliance and IT will also be a differentiator.

Three of the top tech trends of the 21st Century workplace – mobility, cloud computing and social networks – are posing significant threats to organizations' information security programs, according to an information security survey from Ernst & Young. For certain, CIOs and other senior decision-makers no longer feel that information security management programs should serve as insurance policies to be used only in the event of a disaster. Which means these managers are starting to take pro-active measures to prevent intrusions, data-theft and other security breaches, the survey reveals. "Organizations are operating in a world that requires borderless security,” says Bernie Wedge, leader of Ernst & Young's Americas information technology risk and assurance practice. “The trend toward anywhere/anytime access to information has significantly changed today's business environment. Information access by employees using mobile devices – or items that are maintained and accessed by customers, vendors or other business partners – are considered outside traditional borders. Therefore, companies must think about security beyond their employees, data centers and firewalls." More than 1,600 senior executives in 56 nations took part in the survey. Here are some of the highlights:

A report on executive leadership from public relations firm MWW Group reveals that conveying a great sense of vision – as well as the knack to anticipate business developments and respond to them in nimble fashion—will be the most critical qualities for executives to cultivate through 2025. Leadership traits that served executives well in the past, such as a talent for boosterism or an ability to get everyone “on the same page,” are now taking a backseat, the report indicates. These conclusions arrive after a decade in which the speed and volume of information has skyrocketed, while a rocky economy and globalization have presented a host of unique challenges, demanding an overhaul in the skills needed to meet them. “Gone are the days where people are seeking a leader who simply embodies great salesmanship and builds consensus among followers," said Michael W. Kempner, president and CEO of MWW Group. "In today's global world—and due to the perfect storm of economic crisis, unprecedented competition and limited access to capital that we've all experienced in recent years – people are longing for leaders who can anticipate, rather than react." More than 130 executives took part in the survey. Here are the highlights:

Does your enterprise have acceptable-use policies in place for employee computers, cell phones and smartphones? Do you know whether your employees are actually complying with these policies? An eye-opening study conducted by Cisco reveals a startling disconnect in the perceptions of IT and end-users when it comes to the acceptable use of technology in the workplace. Dubbed "The Connected World Report," the results compare the views of IT decision makers with those of enterprise end users on such issues as compliance with IT policies, using social media in the workplace, and the importance of video communication. The report is based on online surveys of 1,303 U.S.-based enterprise end users and 1,309 U.S.-based enterprise IT decision makers, plus additional responses from these two groups in 12 other countries, including Brazil, France, U.K., Russia, China and Japan. The results show just how disconnected the average enterprise really is. Here, we highlight the views of IT decision-makers. In the next installment , we take a look at how enterprise end users around the world view their relationship with IT professionals at their respective organizations.

The business rewards of using Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking are offset by great security risks, according to a global survey commissioned by McAfee and authored by Purdue University faculty affiliated with school's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS). The authors evaluated the results of a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne that captured responses from 1,000 organizational decision-makers in 17 countries. The results reveal that employee use of social media is one of the main sources of enterprise security risk. A third (33 percent) of respondents restrict employee access to social media tools, 25 percent monitor use, and 13 percent block these tools entirely. At the same time, three out of four respondents say their organization uses Web 2.0 for a variety of business functions, including IT (54 percent), marketing and sales (34 percent), customer relations (29 percent) advertising and public relations (28 percent) and human resources (22 percent). "Web 2.0 and social-networking technologies can be used effectively for some business purposes," says Eugene H. Spafford, founder and executive director of CERIAS. "But to reap the benefits of Web 2.0, organizations [have to] put the right policies in place, and deploy the technology that can enforce those policies."

When it comes to “big data,” CIOs are caught in a trap of “can't live with it/can't live without it,” according to a survey conducted by business technology services vendor Avanade. While the modern-day crush of information generated by e-mail, word docs, spreadsheets and other content sources is difficult for CIOs to manage, it's also considered mission-critical for organizations. The complexity of this data overload is only projected to increase. In fact, the world’s volume of data doubles every 18 months, and enterprise data in all forms will grow 650 percent over the next five years, according to industry forecasts. All of this is leaving organizations overwhelmed, according to the survey, with too much of the data being irrelevant, outdated or otherwise “bad.” Survey respondents also say it's difficult for them to find the right people who can provide the right information at the right time. In fact, more than one quarter of respondents report that they’ve lost business because they couldn't access key information when needed. Yet, when asked, these same execs say they only want more – not less – data to work with. More than 540 CIOs, IT decision-makers and C-level executives took part in the Avanade survey.

Finding, hiring and deploying the most qualified people is a key aspect of talent management for organizations, and many are working to improve the process. It’s not just a matter of making the hiring function faster, easier and cheaper than it's ever been, but delivering the best-quality candidates to fill various jobs. The emergence of automated recruitment technology is helping organizations take huge strides toward this goal, according to recent research from Aberdeen. Based on more than 400 survey respondents to the firm’s August 2010 Talent Acquisition Strategies study, automation is having an impact on both the quality of hires and the quality of the hiring process. According to Aberdeen, quality of hire was rated the most valuable overall metric when assessing the effectiveness of talent acquisition. Since quality can be a nebulous concept, the firm says, respondents were also asked which elements define quality of hire. Hiring manager satisfaction and time to productivity are at the top of the list, according to the findings. Those organizations that either fully or partially automated their recruitment process had more new hires reach their first productivity milestones than did organizations using only manual processes.

Love it or hate it, negotiation is probably intrinsic to your daily life. It’s a given part of the recruitment process when you hire IT employees. Most likely you've negotiated your own employment contracts, salary increases, raise and other benefits. And, of course, your arrangements with vendors are often all about getting the best possible deal. But, for many of us, negotiation does not come naturally, and as a result we fail to come to the bargaining table with the best possible strategies. So say the authors of the book, The One Minute Negotiator: Simple Steps to Reach Better Agreements. (Berrett-Koehler/Available now). Among the behaviors that signal weak negotiating skills is a tendency to “avoid at all costs” out of fear that you will get into arguments. Or, you may be reluctant to play the part of designated “haggler.” Equally damaging is the tendency toward the opposite extreme: aggressively drawing a “take it or leave it” line in the sand. Don Hutson and George Lucas, authors of The One Minute Negotiator, contend that learning the right negotiating tactics will be time-efficient and beneficial to all parties. Using an illustrative narrative, they present “action steps” you can use to achieve the best results and even encourage future productive business down the road. Hutson is chairman/CEO of U.S. Learning and chairman of the board of Executive Books. Lucas is executive vice president for U.S. Learning.

Do you feel as if it's a challenge to find entry-level IT hires who can enter your workplace with the basic level of professionalism that the job requires? You're not alone. York College of Pennsylvania surveyed 520 HR professionals and other hiring managers to find out what they're looking for in the college graduates they hire. While a level of technical prowess is assumed, it's the intangible qualities that can influence a hiring manager's decision. Respondents define professionalism as: showing courtesy and respect, having the ability to communicate, exhibiting good listening skills, and having an appropriate appearance and grooming. Sounds like pretty basic stuff for those of us who have been in the game for a while. But you'll be surprised to learn just how many hiring managers find these basic levels of professionalism lacking. And, be sure to check back later this week when we take a look at more opinions employers have on today’s entry-level IT workforce.

While more than eight in 10 CIOs and other IT executives say they have solid plans to keep their enterprise infrastructure running in the event of a major network disruption, these plans fall short when an actual outage occurs. This according to the CDW Business Continuity Report. The report is based on a survey of some 200 IT managers in the U.S. conducted by technology solutions provider CDW. The report reveals that enterprises polled are routinely experiencing network outages lasting more than four hours. The study estimates that U.S. businesses, collectively, lost $1.7 billion in profits last year as a result of network disruptions that lasted four hours or more. “The data and communications network is the foundation of most businesses today,” says Jeff Godlewski, a CDW technology specialist who helped compile the report. “Damage it, and the business is temporarily crippled — or worse. Most businesses take measures to protect themselves from a network outage but still face disruptions for myriad reasons — loss of power, loss of telecom services, cyber-security attacks, natural disasters and more.” And, even while a large majority of senior IT managers feel that improving their business continuity/disaster recovery resources would improve the situation, only a clear minority actually plan to launch such an effort. Here are more revealing findings:

Lying on a resume. Being deceitful to a boss. Stealing proprietary data/intellectual property. Embezzling company funds. All of these behaviors are, unfortunately, a workplace reality. In fact, many employees have no reservation about stealing electronic assets when they leave a job. Even more scary, data theft now outpaces the stealing of tangible assets in the workplace. Wouldn't it be great if you could prevent such incidents simply by hiring the most honest job candidates you can find? With the right tactics, this is possible, according to Denis Collins, author of Essentials of Business Ethics (Wiley/Available now). In his book, Collins outlines an extensive series of steps that CIOs and other managers can take to spot potential resume fibs and other character weaknesses that raise red flags. Managers need to “redesign the hiring process to help screen for employees who suffer from 'selective integrity,' ” Collins says. “After an employer fires someone for theft, the natural question they ask is, 'How'd we even hire that guy?' Well, by changing your hiring practices, you can reduce the number of times you ever have to ask yourself that question again.” Collins is a tenured professor of business at Edgewood College in Madison, WI, specializing in business ethics. Here are revealing statistics and advice for CIOs from his book:

CIOs and other tech managers harbor significant reservations about their ability to ensure enterprise security when it comes to the use of social networking, mobile platforms and cloud computing, according to a new survey from IBM. Most of the perceived risks have to do with the accessibility, use and control of data, especially regarding social networking and the potential danger of having unauthorized access to confidential, proprietary information. The 2010 IBM Global IT Risk Study reveals that, of these three areas of concern, it is the risk/reward equation of cloud computing that is being most carefully evaluated by CIOs today. These findings are consistent with a recent CompTIA study, which found that 2011 promises to be a year of trial-and-error for cloud solutions in the enterprise. However, as the IBM Risk Study reveals, IT leaders are grappling with how to take advantage of the benefits that all of these solutions have to offer without risking their organization's business continuity, jeopardizing compliance or diminishing brand strength. More than 550 senior IT executives, including 110 CIOs, responded to the IBM Risk Study survey. Respondents represent industries such as finance, healthcare, biotech, IT, government and manufacturing. Executives participating in the survey reported that they work for enterprises that see annual revenues ranging from $500 million to more than $10 billion. Here are highlights:

It's probably no surprise that former HP CEO Carly Fiorina (R-California) was named one of the top three most Web-savvy candidates running for a U.S. Senate seat on Election Day, Nov. 2. But, you may be shocked to learn that John McCain (R-Arizona) scores a perfect "10," making him the No. 1 most Web-savvy Senate candidate, according to a recent study from PeekYou. Tech generation gap be damned. PeekYou is a people search engine that aggregates online information from individuals around the globe. The study ranks the Web presence of this season's Senate candidates on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest). The rating, called a PeekScore, measures each candidate’s “digital footprint and online social presence.” Only 23 Senate candidates receive a PeekScore of 7 or higher. This list is not a ranking by ability, endorsements or popularity, according to PeekYou.

It's a classic corporate scene: A CIO presents a well-researched IT initiative to other department heads and senior managers. While the idea arrives with risks, the CIO is confident that all “deal killer” arguments can be addressed. But, the push-back is even more fierce than anticipated. Your CFO argues that there's no cost justification for making any changes. Your senior marketing folks bring up several frightening “what if” scenarios that would surely derail their department's mission. Your CEO listens to it all and shakes his head, crushing your confidence without saying a word. If your initiative isn't dead after this, it's certainly on life support. If all of this sounds familiar, take heart. The new book, Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down (Harvard Business Review Press/available now), presents effective strategies to win over those who want to slay your great ideas and derail your objectives. Authors John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead explore obstacles such as fear mongering, character assassination and “death by delay.” The authors also offer tactics that can showcase your skills as an IT leader. Kotter is a professor of leadership at Harvard Business School. Whitehead is leader of education innovation at the University of British Columbia, where he is also a chairperson in the department of physics and astronomy. Here are highlights from their book:

CIOs and other senior managers are turning to contract and temporary hires more than ever now in light of continuing economic challenges. In fact, the pace of hiring temp workers is growing three times faster than during the last recovery, according to analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics by tech jobs site Dice.com, which augmented the analysis with data from its own site. The findings demonstrate that full-time IT jobs are also on the rebound. Indeed, the unemployment rate for tech professionals (4.3 percent) is far lower than the overall national average (9.6 percent). The wealth of temporary and contractual IT work being created demonstrates the growing emphasis on flexibility among CIOs, who want to make sure that enough talent is available to get the job done while keeping their options open with respect to staffing levels. Hiring a full-time worker, after all, is a long-term commitment that often requires the provision of costly benefits. A contractual/temp “hired gun” requires no benefits and can be brought on board for a single, demanding IT project.

Whenever anyone talks about enterprise computing, the discussion typically shifts to Microsoft and Windows. After all, the software giant’s operating system has long been the dominant force in the corporate world. And, aside from Windows Vista, each new version of the software has proven to be extremely successful on a corporate level. When Apple products get discussed in the enterprise at all, the conversation usually centers around the popular iPhone smartphone and iPad tablet, not the relatively prosaic Mac desktops and notebooks. However, a new study from the Enterprise Desktop Alliance could drastically change the conversation. The organization recently released results from a survey showing that, while the Mac's share of enterprise computing remains very small, there has been a dramatic rise in business deployments since 2009. (Despite the organization's name, the study looks at desktop and notebook computers). Some 460 IT administrators from business and government organizations with hundreds of system disclosed their expectations in an online survey conducted in May and June 2010. Respondents represent a total of 3.2 million computers in 2009, growing to 3.5 million in 2011. The median respondent had 400 desktops and 200 laptops in their organization in 2010.

Microsoft Office 365, the follow-up to the company’s Business Productivity Online Suite, is now available for beta testing. A full commercial launch is expected in 2011. With this release, Microsoft is betting big on the enterprise’s desire for suite of products that combines the power and productivity options of the desktop with the convenience of the cloud. However, the flexibility that is the hallmark of the new solution also makes it confusing when it comes time to figure out which option you need. Microsoft is offering a slew of different Office 365 versions for small businesses, larger options, and educational institutions. In addition, the enterprise version features a range of pricing and service options designed for different groups of workers. Trying to figure out which of the many options make the most sense for your enterprise can be tricky. We’ve pored over the various details and plans, and assembled them into a readily understandable package to give you an overview of what you need to know about Office 365. Read on to learn key details surrounding Microsoft’s latest productivity suite.

Outstanding coaches get the best results most often because of the work they do when the games aren't being played. The secret may be in studying the competition better than anyone else. Or, it could be that a top coach can innovate at a sport's highest level. All elite-level team leaders seem to “get it” when it comes knowing how to encourage team members to discover and utilize strengths they didn't even know they had. Sound familiar? Yes, many of the very best qualities of great coaches translate directly to what's needed from top CIOs. To illustrate the point, CIO Insight collaborated with two experts to come up with this list to all-time great coaches who'd likely make great CIOs. Our experts are Chris Spivey, who provides leadership consulting for corporate tech departments and executives; and Damian Vaughn, a former NFL player who now leads workshops on cognitive development for CIOs and other C-level business leaders. Here are their picks for “top CIO coaching candidates,” as well as quote-able words of wisdom from these sports legends:

Many of you may reflexively take a dim view of social networks. Perhaps you view the sites as unnecessary time wasters and productivity drainers or, worse, potential security threats. Chances are, Facebook, the world’s top social network, and Twitter are especially viewed in that light. True, some CIOs cite Twitter as a valuable career tool. Still, you're more likely at this point to find your peers on, LinkedIn, the professionally oriented social network. For CIOs, LinkedIn offers a wealth of opportunity. Not only is it a place to mingle, it’s a place to share best practices and stay up to date on important news. The site is rife with hundreds of networking groups made up of CIOs, CISOs, CTOs and other IT leaders. There are robust and meaningful discussions underway at any given time, while the site's Twitter interface enables members to make the best of both tools. You can search LinkedIn for groups built around just about any given topic or discipline. Here, we've highlighted the eight that have the broadest profile for a social CIO. If you want to investigate further, you'll find a link to each group in the HTML field that appears above each slide. However, please note that you have to be a LinkedIn member in order to join the site's networking groups. In addition, while some groups have open membership policies, others will require that your membership request be approved by group moderators.

The U.S. Government is having a serious problem with its IT data infrastructure. In fact, it loses billions of dollars each year due to its inability to manage data, train employees, and provide workers the information they need to be the most productive in their jobs, according to a study conducted by MeriTalk, an online network for the government IT community. The report, "Uncle Sam's Lost and Found," was sponsored by Google and DLT Solutions, a value-added reseller of government IT services and solutions. The report is based on an online survey of 300 Federal employees conducted by MeriTalk in July 2010. The study estimates that the U.S. government loses $15.4 billion annually due to what MeriTalk calls "ineffective IT." Survey respondents site inefficient searches for documents in internal databases, poor cataloging of data, and ad hoc search tools as contributors to the ongoing problem. As with many private enterprises, the government is also faced with budget restrictions that may be hampering the ability to solve these issues. According to the report, only about one fifth of respondents say improving enterprise search functionality is a priority for their agency.

While worldwide enterprise IT spending will grow over the next several years, the “happy times” of the pre-recession era won't return anytime soon. Instead, Gartner Inc. is projecting a slow-growth period that may very well last into the year 2014. Even so, the research firm predicts that some areas of IT that will see considerable investment in that period. The use of cloud computing, social media as business tools and what's called “context-aware computing” will all be areas of increased focus during this period, Gartner predicts. And CIOs who succeed will understand that it's the consumer who will drive technology – versus technology driving the consumer. This dynamic should be a game-definer for decades, as opposed to the next couple years. "At the heart of the change, the next 20 years will be intelligence drawn from information," says Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of research. "Information will be the 'oil of the 21st century.' It will be the resource running our economy in ways not possible in the past." Gartner's presentations on tech trends are available via Webcast here. These are highlights from the IT spending forecast:

Cloud computing appears poised to further increase its profile among enterprise users over the next year, according to a survey conducted by CompTIA, www.CompTIA.org which is a member association for IT vendors and solution providers. CIOs and other tech decision-makers are interested in expanding their use of the cloud, and IT vendors/solution providers surveyed are increasing their ability to meet this demand. The report, “Cloud Computing: Pulling Back the Curtain,” is the result of an online survey of more than 540 U.S.-based tech-purchasing decision-makers as well as IT solution providers. “Clearly there is growing momentum behind cloud computing, evidenced by climbing adoption rates and greater awareness,” said Carolyn April, director of industry analysis for CompTIA. “But cloud-computing adoption is still nascent. The year ahead will be one of evaluation, trial and error and, most importantly, opportunity. The market will sort through the role IT channel companies will play, as well as best business models, sales and marketing strategies and most relevant technologies.” Here are highlights from the association's report:

CIO Insight recently tapped upon the expertise of Stanford University's Bob Sutton to find out more about how you can take command of a room full of hotshots and assert your authority. With his latest book, Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best . . . and Learn from the Worst (Business Plus/Available now), Sutton reveals a wealth of detail about how bosses win – and lose – respect among their teams. In many cases, it's about the personal style of a senior manager. In others, it's about taking control of a moment, even when that moment threatens to turn into a crisis. Sutton also presents a convincing case that being a “bully” boss isn't just a foolproof way to alienate your employees – it also results in a stressful work environment that is counter-productive and can cause excessive absenteeism. This doesn't mean you should unleash your “inner wimp” in tough situations with employees. Here's more from Sutton – who is a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford – on how to sort out the “bad” and “good” within your own managerial instincts and steer yourself in the right direction.

For most CIOs, trying to determine the value of Twitter can be difficult. After all, it’s a social network that started, arguably, as a place for consumers to share seemingly useless information with others. But, CIOs who Tweet experience career benefits and help their corporations in the process, according to a study from Diamond Management & Technology Consultants. Diamond's survey of 75 CIOs spanning several vertical industries reveals that 78 percent are Tweeting at least once per week. Nearly three quarters (70 percent) of respondents say the tool has helped them build new working relationships. Still not convinced? Here are some additional facts from the survey about how CIOs rank Twitter against other tools, such as LinkedIn and Facebook. The results also show that most enterprises are allowing employees to have virtually unfettered access to Twitters. Here are 10 fast facts about how your peers view Twitter, and which perception hurdles the site needs to overcome in order to cement its place as a professional networking tool for CIOs.

CIOs and other senior tech managers are hardly immune from the impact of the recent recession. Even as economists declare that the recession "officially" ended in 2009, the vast majority of CIOs continue to struggle with shrinking or stagnant budgets, according to a recent survey commissioned by the Society for Information Management (SIM). Business productivity, agility/speed to market, IT-business alignment, IT reliability/efficiency and business process re-engineering all remain top priorities. Many CIOs find themselves challenged to address these needs with shrinking resources. At the same time, leveraging IT to reduce overall business expense is now a top priority. “Although the recession has been declared over this past summer, the economic downturn continues to cause a significant shift in IT priorities,” says Jerry Luftman, a former SIM executive vice-president. Luftman is now executive director of graduation-information systems programs and a distinguished professor of information systems at the Stevens Institute of Technology, which conducted the research for SIM. “It is essential to recognize how organizations are leveraging IT during this economic conundrum, as well as preparing for when the economy will improve.” On the positive side, survey respondents do anticipate an improving picture in 2011. CIOs, CTOs and senior IT execs from 172 U.S. companies took part in the survey. Here are some of the findings:

It wasn’t long ago that most CIOs would scoff at a peer's decision to deploy the iPhone in their operations. The reasoning was that Apple’s devices weren’t designed with corporate users in mind. And, if increased productivity was central to a company’s goals in the future, the iPhone and its virtual keyboard would only hurt the firm’s chances of achieving its mission. How times have changed. A recent study from mobile solution vendor Good Technology, which tallied “thousands of corporate and government” mobile phone activations to its service in 3Q 2010, found that enterprise adoption of Android OS and iOS devices is on the rise. (It's important to note that RIM’s BlackBerry OS wasn’t included in the study, since it doesn’t support Good’s service). It’s clear that companies are realizing that it is possible to bring an iPhone or an Android alternative to employees. Read on to find out which devices and operating systems are most attractive to enterprise customers right now.

Information security threats are striking networks with more sophistication than ever, according to a recent report from HP. Many incidents are related to the growing employee use of Web-based business applications and social-networking sites while on the corporate network. While these tools help build brand awareness, increase customer sales/interaction and improve productivity, the applications often open up the enterprise to serious security threats. The report urges CIOs and other senior tech managers to reduce risk by studying PDF flaws; shutting down attacks faster by identifying new, covert techniques of attack; and preventing older threats from recurring by recognizing their pervasiveness. “By understanding the increased risk these applications pose to the corporate network,” says Mike Dausin, manager of advanced security intelligence for HP TippingPoint DVLabs, which produced the report, “organizations can implement remediation strategies to ensure that business processes – as well as data – remain secure.” The reporttracks incidents for first-half 2010; here are some of the statistical highlights:

Those of you with kids in your lives will not be surprised by this: A recent study from Forrester Research reveals that the technology generation gap among Americans is growing. For its latest report, “The State Of Consumers And Technology Benchmark 2010,” Forrester surveyed 43,000 American and Canadian adults by mail in 2Q 2010. Survey results were segmented by Gen Y (age 18 - 30), Gen X (age 31 - 44), Younger Boomers (age 45 - 54), Older Boomers (age 55 - 65), and Seniors (age 66 and older). While everyone's adoption of a digital lifestyle continues, Gen Y and Gen X outpace Baby Boomers and Seniors on almost everything technology related. Chances are your multigenerational IT team is universally tech savvy, regardless of age. However, Forrester's findings are worth bearing in mind as you consider the technology solutions you'll be deploying and supporting for all the many workers across your enterprise. For example, a Baby Boomer is approximately half as likely as a member of Generation Y or Generation X to own a smartphone. Only eight percent of younger Baby Boomers and six percent of older Baby Boomers say they use a mobile device for work E-mail, compared with 12 percent of Gen Xers. Understanding how different generations interact with technology will help you tailor your implementation and training strategies so that all employees can make the most of your initiatives.

Latin America is emerging as a top growth region for U.S. companies looking to outsource jobs, including positions that require considerable technology skills, according to a new survey from Capgemini. The region is No. 3 overall for jobs outsourced from the U.S., the survey reveals, and several factors are creating a rapidly expanding level of interest. including Latin America's proximity to the U.S., the relative lack of language barriers and the overall education and skill levels of the population. Clearly, executives are looking far beyond the far-flung “usual suspects” for job destinations, and are finding appealing options closer to home. “As the economy rebounds, companies are looking to use outsourcing more strategically as a tool to increase efficiency, yield significant cost savings and drive growth,” says David Poole, vice president and head of Americas business process outsourcing for Capgemini. “This includes considering locations beyond India.” Harris Interactive conducted the survey on behalf of Capgemini, interviewing 300 U.S. senior executives at Fortune 1000 companies.

When Twitter first started, it was tossed aside by cynics who said the social network did little but allow people to indulge themselves in their own boring lives. The Twitterati would tell the world what they had for lunch that day, critics said, but they wouldn’t provide real value to the rest of the community. Since those early days, Twitter has transitioned from a place to share boring information with others into a place that has become useful for consumers and brands that want to get their products or services into the zeitgeist. It has become a water cooler of sorts where consumers around the world share news, ideas, and, yes, lunch-box contents, with one another. The corporate world is starting to take notice. In fact, savvy companies that are trying to drive business are finding unique ways to leverage the social network for their own gain. But, those efforts are not (and should not) be limited to the function of marketing. Diamond Management & Technology Consultants recently polled CIOs about their twitter habits. The 75 respondents, who represent various industries, reveal that Twitter is a powerful professional networking tool. The CIO who tweets is the CIO who will inevitably help drive new business. It’s a valuable tool you can use to help your company, and leverage your own career profile in the process.

Your CEO is probably already pushing you to find effective ways to increase revenue through the services or solutions you already employ. Doing so is getting harder with each passing month as data piles up, products falter, and you’re forced spend your time putting out fires. A recent study commissioned by Sybase and conducted by the University of Texas reveals that improving the overall intelligence and accessibility of data in your operation could do wonders for your bottom line. In fact, it’s possible that you could generate millions of dollars in additional revenue simply by improving the way your data works for you. The University of Texas study has found that a 10% improvement in data effectiveness can deliver significant ROI. The study was conducted by the university's McCombs School of Business in conjunction with the Indian School of Business. More than 150 respondents from Fortune 1000 firms completed the survey. Financial and some operational performance data on the firms represented by the survey respondents was collected from archived sources. The empirical analysis involved two steps: Factor analysis to determine distinct attributes of data, and multiple regression analysis to test the relationships between data attributes, controls and performance measures.

Social-media sites are considered by most enterprises only in terms of their potential as a marketing tool. It's obvious that Twitter, Facebook and other social networking outlets are channels through which your enterprise can deliver information and engage customers with an unprecedented level of reach and creativity. What is often overlooked is the power of social media when it comes to employee training, institutional learning and knowledge sharing, according to the book The New Social Learning: A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media (ASTD Press and Berrett-Koehler/Available now). In the book, authors Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner provide real-world case studies and supportive research to demonstrate how social networking is helping employees learn, innovate, share knowledge and engage peers, business partners, and customers. The authors call it a “knowledge-building ecosystem with people at its core.” In such an ecosystem, information-transfer becomes a form of valuable currency. “We need new ways to filter content, save information and learn from each other and our trusted sources,” the authors write. The book is co-published by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), for which Bingham serves as president/CEO.

They read like a bowl of alphabet soup -- "PMP," "MCSE," "CISSP," "ITIL." How do you know which of these many advanced certifications will best prepare your IT organization to meet today's evolving enterprise information needs? A workforce that's properly trained and certified on the very latest in technology will turn your organization into an IT powerhouse. These certifications can complement the most in-demand university degrees that are shaping tomorrow's IT leaders. No time for school? Here's our fall reading list of books to boost your CIO IQ. With the right skill sets, you and your teams can improve security, develop applications and manage top-priority projects, among many other complex tasks. Recent reports predict that, after a stagnant IT jobs market during the Great Recession, some organizations are ready to hire again. Whether you're looking to hire, or want to provide new educational opportunities for your existing staff, these are the 10 certifications that matter. To compile this list, CIO Insight consulted with two industry experts: Evan Lesser, director of Dice Learning, a tech-training/certification service; and Dan Pollock, managing director of Modis, an IT staffing/solutions company. Here are their picks -- and why these certifications are proving so valuable in the modern IT organization.

Which university and vocational degrees should you look for when you make your next new hire? What are the best higher education options for your existing staff? Are you thinking about advancing your own education by pursuing a degree? The right education can help round out much-needed business skills, groom an employee to act as a "global thinker," or cultivate niche talents in booming industries such as health care. Higher education prepares a graduate to handle leadership and business roles in a rapidly changing IT environment. To compile this list of the 10 hottest university and vocational school degrees, CIO Insight worked with two experts: George Colhmia, president/CEO of LeaderQuest, a learning-solutions company that provides corporate training and industry certifications; and Brian Barnier, a principal at ValueBridge Advisors who has provided consultation/education for groups such as the Center for CIO Leadership. Here's their list of the degrees that matter.

Security continues to be one of the biggest issues facing CIOs today. Attacks come in via smartphones, E-mail, or the desktop, and there is a constant concern in the workplace that malicious hackers will compromise sensitive information. It would be nice to tell you that you shouldn’t worry. It would be nice to say that the threats enterprises face today aren’t as troublesome as those of years past. Providing such reassurance would mask the truth: enterprises face an inordinate number of threats that put entire operations at risk. Symantec’s MessageLabs Intelligence report for September 2010 illustrates that point. With spam, viruses, phishing scams, and malicious Web sites wreaking havoc on companies around the world, the latest report from the security solutions vendor shows that CIOs must do everything they can to try and stay ahead of malicious hackers. Read on to see some of the highlights from Symantec’s most recent security report, and learn about the issues you will face going forward.

Are you having difficulty dodging the political (and personal) "landmines" that exist in every corporate culture? Do you need to brush up on your negotiating skills so you can ensure C-level sign-off on the tech initiatives that you know will benefit your organization? Are you a CIO who must manage a scattered mobile IT team? If so, our baker's dozen fall 2010 reading list can help. A number of books from highly respected authors address these and other essential career topics, and they're hitting the shelves in fall 2010. Some are already for sale, others are due out later in the year. (We've provided the publication dates for you.) There's an array of topic points -- from virtual-technology tools to cloud computing to software development to the absurdities of "management-speak" -- that can meet all your leadership, strategy and tech needs.

Why do so many ideas that seem so right at first go so wrong? It's not necessarily because they're bad ideas. It could be that the decision-making process at your organization is badly in need of a tune-up, according to the new book, "Decide & Deliver: 5 Steps to Breakthrough Performance in Your Organization"(Harvard Business Review Press/Sept. 27). Authors Marcia W. Blenko, Michael C. Mankins and Paul Rogers of Bain & Company Inc., a global management consulting firm, present a compelling case for CIOs and other top managers to come up with a systemic model for decision-making. The goals are to minimize risks and increase those factors that most often lead to success. For example, too often, organizations seek 100 percent agreement among a large number of decision-makers before launching implementation. That's a big mistake, the authors contend, as such efforts stall or compromise a great idea, and can lead to failure. By keeping only essential decision-makers/executors involved in the process, organizations can come up with a playbook for idea implementation that can be used over and over again. Here's more on how to do it.

You made it to the position of CIO because, in part, you excelled as a hotshot performer on the way up. Now that you're a senior manager, you'll need to effectively lead an entire department full of potential hotshots to ensure success. The very moment that you first step into a room as the “new boss” sends a clear message to your employees – either you “have it” or you don't. And that “it” is the ability to take command – whether it is taking charge of a room, or a crisis, or a great potential growth opportunity. In an article for the McKinsey Quarterly, Stanford University's Bob Sutton says that CIOs and other top managers need this quality to effectively lead. Sometimes, he writes, it's a matter of confidence. Other times, there's a bit of smoke and mirrors involved. Here's more from Sutton – a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford, and author of the book "Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best . . . and Learn from the Worst" (Business Plus/September 2010).

There's a lot of bad data out there when it comes to valuable customer-contact information. Maybe it's a database in which 23 percent of the home addresses aren't valid anymore. Or one with outdated area codes. And, of course, let's not forget good, old-fashioned data-entry errors caused when busy call-center employees input typos. Whatever the source of data dysfunction, it often falls to you and your IT team to fix it. A new survey from Experian QAS reveals that organizations realize that data problems exist, and are taking systemic steps to take corrective action. Still, given the economy, progress is sometimes stalled. "While contact-data quality is becoming a priority as businesses focus on customer loyalty and retention, stakeholders are finding difficulty implementing projects due to cost constraints," says Joel Curry, chief operating officer, Experian QAS. "To overcome this obstacle, organizations should review common-quality issues with data and prioritize projects based on their positive return on investment." An estimated 300 organizations participated in the Experian QAS Data Quality survey, with CIOs, IT managers/directors and other top executives taking part.

The past few years have been wreaking havoc on IT budgets across every industry. Because of this, companies have been loath to spend on new technologies and on new hires. A recent CDW survey finds that the future might not be as worrisome as the past has been. Small businesses, large corporations, and government organizations have shifted to a more positive outlook. This means your company could soon be opening up the coffers to invest in at least some of the new technologies that you've been waiting for. CDW’s findings are based on surveys the company conducted with 1,052 IT decision makers between July 26 and August 2, 2010. Here's what they have to say about how the next six months will shape up in terms of spending, employment plans, and IT effectiveness.

CEOs and CFOs are most concerned about the impact of increasing taxes, regulation and legislation on your organization’s revenues, according to a recent survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The upshot: CIOs will need to align their own IT spending/oversight plans with the cautious perspectives of their CEOs and CFOs. Experts have declared that the recession “officially” ended last year, but the economy is hardly out of the woods yet. C-level executives present a mixed picture when it comes to business prospects for the next 12 months, according to the “Private Company Trendsetter Barometer,” based on a 2Q 2010 survey of some 250 CEOs and CFOs by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Optimism is declining even as many are anticipating that revenues will increase. The majority of those surveyed say they plan to hire. Yet, only a minority have capital expenditure increases planned. "Although we continue to emerge from the downturn, political and economic uncertainty may linger for some time," says Ken Esch, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Private Company Services practice. "That uncertainty isn't keeping companies from pursuing growth opportunities. But it does reinforce the need to carefully manage against ongoing market and regulatory risks." Here are some of the key findings by PwC.

Apple’s iPad is capturing the allure of consumers around the world. In fact, ABI Research said in July that it expects Apple to sell around 11 million iPad units by year's end. A recent poll of 2,100 American adults conducted by Zogby International on behalf of Sybase finds that one in four expect their employer to provide access to tablets in the enterprise. Most likely, you see considerable potential in Apple’s tablet as a way to make employees more productive while roaming. You may even see it as a way for your firm to save some cash, since the $500 price of an iPad is much less than a comparably equipped laptop. In fact, your CEO may well be the biggest obstacle to allowing your corporation to welcome the iPad. As you know all too well, CEOs are loath to spend right now as they worry about the short-term future of the economy. Trying to get them to adopt a new form factor that’s seen as a consumer-focused product could be a tall order. But, in today’s tech space, where staying ahead of the curve helps a company thrive, convincing your CEO to adopt the iPad should be near the top of your list for things to accomplish by year’s end. Read on to find some quick tips on building the business case for iPad in your enterprise.

We're betting that you see managed file transfer (MFT) simply as a management tool. It's certainly a reliable way to ensure and control mass data transfers. However, as the September 2010 eWEEK Executive Strategy Planner shows, security risks are very real when it comes to mass data transfers -- and such activity does not have the same risk profile as E-mail does. MFT is an effective solution to resolve security and compliance issues for many organizations, according to the eWeek report. And, by integrating these risk-management features at the source, MFT provides the benefits of security and compliance solutions without the unwanted byproducts of standalone security solutions, which can sometimes hamper employee communications or hurt productivity. eWEEK's Executive Strategy Planner, 'Managed File Transfer: The Unsung Security and Compliance Solution,' is based on a survey conducted by Ziff Davis Enterprise Research. The study features the results of a survey, fielded in June and July 2010. The survey had 516 respondents involved in file-transfer systems at organizations of all sizes.

Chances are, you're one of those companies that skipped a Windows Vista upgrade due to compatibility and security issues. That means many of the laptops and desktops in your operation are probably in desperate need of replacement. With Windows 7 here, the time has finally come for you to deploy new computers. Since the last time you bought laptops, the computing space has changed drastically. And the issues that governed your buying decisions years ago might not apply today. If it's time to update your laptops —or if you're considering replacing legacy desktops with a mobile alternative—here's what you need to know before you buy for your employees. From operating system choice to graphics capabilities, read on for a quick checklist on what to consider before your next laptop buying decision.

Four of 10 sales of the iPhone are made to enterprise users, according to AT&T Business Solutions CEO Ron Spears. Some of you may be surprised at Spears’ comments, made at the Barclays Capital Communications, Media, and Technology conference in New York in May. After all, the iPhone has yet to penetrate the corporate world the way that BlackBerry has, and there are many sound business and technology reasons for why this is the case. It lacks the deep enterprise control and security capabilities of the BlackBerry and its accompanying BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and Apple's still not going out of its way to make things easy for the enterprise. At the same time, Apple’s efforts at making Exchange more usable and giving IT managers a tad more control over the iPhone than they originally had have helped move toward becoming a valid alternative to RIM’s offering for some enterprises. And, it looks like a security powerhouse compared with Android OS. Chances are, you and your fellow C-Suite executives are already using the device, even if you aren't officially welcoming it into your enterprise. If you're looking to follow in the footsteps of enterprises such as Kraft Foods, Trek Bicycles, pharmaceutical company Novartis and security firm Unisys, then you have already decided that the iPhone is a fit for your enterprise. The challenge now is to sell your CEO on it. Here are some pointers to help you build your business pitch and sell your CEO on the iPhone.

It's easy to view your Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as a one-person "Department of No." While you're busy brainstorming with your teams to come up with innovative ways to use technology and improve your organization, your CFO is zeroed-in on budgets and fiscal accountability. The CIO often pursues the unknown, while the CFO's job is all about determining what IS known. With that in mind, CIO Insight has worked with two CFOs to develop this list of seven things your CFO is not telling you, plus three pointers on how you can improve your working relationship. Contributing to this effort are: Tom Crawford, a former CFO who is now senior vice president overseeing North American operations for Microgen; and Greg Baker, CFO at Logicalis. Microgen is a software company that produces business-process platform technology for companies in finance, digital media, energy and other sectors. Logicalis is an international provider of integrated information and communications technology (ICT) solutions.

Join us for a walk on the lighter side today as we talk about the lifestyle choices that can, ultimately, help elevate your job performance and increase your potential for long-term success. These have nothing to do with technology trends, management challenges or leadership skills. And here's a secret: You'll likely find that making such adjustments in your life is actually fun. That's because researchers say you'll improve your health and intellectual capability by increasing the amount of laughter, music and overall "play time" in your life. It's highly recommended that you set aside enough "up close and personal" time with your significant other. Here's another secret: If you're one of those "Type A" managers who brags about getting by on only four hours of sleep a night, you may be surprised to learn that you actually may be hurting – not helping – your ability to lead. Here's more on what you can do to improve your personal life and enhance your "professional game." Information for this feature is aggregated from experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), WebMd, and the Mayo Clinic, among other top health authorities.

CIOs and other IT managers are singing about the business benefits of virtualized applications. They can save on power/cooling by consolidating servers. They're known to assist greatly with disaster recovery. And they'll increase an organization's ability to remain nimble in light of rapid shifts in the business environment. So why aren't more of the most critical, "Tier 1" enterprise applications being virtualized? Barriers include performance and design concerns, as well as "people issues," according to a survey from AppDynamics, a vendor of application performance management solutions. Clearly, CIOs and their IT teams must demonstrate that virtualization won't impact their organization’s ability to achieve business objectives, says Jyoti Bansal, CEO of AppDynamics. CIOs and top IT decision-makers at more than 100 companies participated in the survey. Here's what they reported.

Face it: Most CEOs typically have a different background than their CIOs. The classic CEO is the stuff of the Wharton School of Business. The CIO is often more comfy with folks from MIT. While your skill sets are most often complementary, let’s admit that there are certain CIO characteristics that may be driving your CEO, well, a bit crazy. To find out which traits are most common to the CIO personality, and what CEOs think of them, we consulted with a pair of experts: former CIO Derek Fournier, who is now principal/founder of Plain Sight Strategy Group, a consultancy firm for Fortune 100 companies; and Honorio Padron, a former Fortune 500 CIO who oversees IT global advisory practices for The Hackett Group, an international strategic advisory/operations improvement consulting firm. Here are eight ways you may be making your CEO crazy, and what you can do to modify your behavior:

Each year, we poll CIOs and other leading IT decision-makers about the value of their IT vendors. This year, nearly 700 qualified respondents participated in our survey, rating the top 40 IT vendors on a range of metrics, including value, reliability and loyalty. After identifying the vendors with which their enterprise has had a business relationship in the past 12 months, respondents were asked to rate those vendors on seven criteria. The ratings are derived for each vendor from the average percent of "good" or "excellent" responses they received for each criterion. In addition, respondents were asked whether, given a choice, they would continue to use each vendor with which they currently work – a telling testament to which companies can boast the best customer loyalty. Check out which vendors were ranked tops in each of these categories. For more, read the complete report, CIO Insight 2010 Vendor Value Ratings.

You've attained your current career status because you've worked hard all of your professional life to get there, right? Congrats. But in today's 24/7 business environment, it's easier than ever to immerse yourself in all work, all the time. If you're at the point where your responsibilities consume you, then you know what we're talking about. Sure, there are obvious trouble signs, starting with the number of hours that you spend at work. But there are other, more subtle behavioral traits that are equally important to examine when it comes to evaluating whether your dedication to work is leading you down to path to long-term mental, emotional and even physical damage. CIO Insight consulted with author/executive coach David Krueger, M.D., a former clinical professor of psychiatry. Dr. Krueger now serves as CEO of MentorPath, which specializes in career enhancement for CIOs and other senior executives. Here are 10 “trouble signs” to be wary of in yourself and your employees. Want more? Check out these lifestyle changes that can help break the cycle, and improve your professional performance in the process.

Call it the “half full/half empty” perspective. CIOs are projecting modest increases when it comes to adding IT staff between now and the end of the year, according to the latest survey from recruitment firm Robert Half Technology. While the overall picture is more positive than it was a year ago, the numbers demonstrate a notable decline in hiring sentiments from the 3Q 2010 forecast. Still, given that fears of a double-dip recession linger, the fact that the numbers are trending upward at all is an encouraging sign, and there are certain IT skills that will remain in high demand. More than 1,400 CIOs from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees took part in the survey. See what their outlook is, and which IT skills are getting the most interest from CIOs:

Isn't E-mail supposed to make communications much faster and more efficient than, say, a good old-fashioned phone conversation or, Heaven forbid, a fax? Then why are we trapped in the non-stop grind of keeping up with our in-boxes? Most American professionals routinely check work-related E-mail outside of office hours, according to 2,200 adults surveyed by Harris Interactive on behalf of E-mail solutions vendor Xobni. Respondents say they receive/send E-mail while sick, on vacation and even in bed. We must note that Xobni has a vested interest in this topic, as it produces a Microsoft Outlook add-in designed to help professionals manage E-mail with its usage/search tools. (The company's name is "inbox" spelled backwards.) Nonetheless, we think you'll find the survey results revealing and trust you'll benefit from the vendor-netural "best practices" to help you, and your IT employees ride the daily E-mail tidal wave, rather than drowning in it.

Autumn is not only back-to-school time for kids and colleges, it is also a time for CIOs to consider where capabilities and educational needs should be bolstered within their IT organization. It’s not a bad idea to check on your own skill set to determine your own opportunities for growth and advancement. Some of the knowledge you need is available through educational institutions, certificate programs and other traditional learning environments. However, schools often cannot keep up with the onrush of new technologies. Don’t overlook non-traditional opportunities for learning. For some, all it takes is getting out of the office and into the field to see how your enterprise operates at the ground level. For others, it really does require a return to business school. As the economy struggles toward recovery, it’s more important than ever to make sure you are not scrimping on learning opportunities. Here’s our lesson plan.

You’re well-versed in all the jargon that surrounds the technology industry. You’re living and breathing cloud computing, virtualization, servers and blades. You’re always learning about the next new “game changing technology” coming on the market. You already know that you have to keep tech-speak to a minimum if you want to sell your ideas to your C-level colleagues on the business side. But, sometimes it's challenging to make the transition between the different languages of IT and business world. When it comes time to talk things over with your company’s CEO or CFO, remember that there are some words that will make their eyes glaze over, other phrases that will bog you down in endless explanations, and some that are guaranteed to cause panic. Before your next discussion with a C-level counterpart, review our list of overused tech jargon. These are phrases to avoid at all costs when meeting in the C-suite.

In some major enterprises, CIOs are working closely with their Chief Marketing Officers to make the most of their respective skill sets. But many may overlook an essential company asset to help them with this need: their own IT employees, according to Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler, senior executives at Forrester Research. Bernoff and Schadler are authors of the new book, Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business (Harvard Business Review Press/Available Sept. 14). It's your IT employees, after all, who are most connected via mobile devices and social-network sites. They're the ones who know what works and what doesn't with respect to pleasing the very critical "influencers" out there – consumers who shape mass impressions of an organization's reputation. Learn how they can help your organization to influence the influencers.

Part of your job is to encourage all employees to buy into the technology strategies and process changes you have implemented. It's not just about the four generations of workers in your own IT department. And, it's not just about how you engage Millennial Generation IT workers within your own team ranks. You've got to deal with tech-savvy workers entering your enterprise across all lines of business. They're bringing with them different expectations about workplace technology than their more senior colleagues. We're not saying that all Gen X or Baby Boomers are tech averse. Quite the opposite – many readily embrace solutions that help improve their job performance. Still, in today's multi-generational workforce, you're likely finding that some workers are having trouble adjusting to this new normal. Here are the can't-miss strategies to help you make tech-averse workers comfortable with new technologies, new processes, and agile thinking.

Many employees have no reservations about stealing electronic assets when they leave a job, according to a survey of more than 3,500 adults in the United States and the United Kingdom. The survey was conducted in June and July 2010 by research firm Harris Interactive on behalf of identity-governance solutions vendor SailPoint. Among those surveyed were 1,594 employees with access to their employer's/client's IT systems. Nearly half of the workers surveyed said they would take some form of company property with them when leaving a position; these workers are more likely to steal e-data than a stapler. In fact, more than a quarter say that they would take customer data, including contact information. The upshot: CIOs have to re-examine the way they balance business risk with the need for access to sensitive data and applications.

In Part One of our Enterprise Security Risks feature, CIO Insight presented the results of a remarkably detailed report on enterprise security from IBM. The stats aren’t encouraging: There were nearly 4,400 new vulnerabilities disclosed in first-half 2010, a 36 percent increase over the same time period in 2009. More than half of these incidents had no vendor-supplied patch. Nearly 95 percent of the vulnerabilities can be exploited remotely, with no local system access required. Numbers, however, do not tell the entire story. The research document, titled the IBM X-Force 2010 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report , goes into significant depth with respect to the "why" behind the numbers – the emerging trends and future developments that could result in an even greater degree of risks for enterprises. For CIOs, the research can serve as a blueprint for the current and future nature of system violations. The report is the result of ongoing, in-depth research by IBM's 3,500-member skilled security services team.

In this first installment of our two-part series we look at enterprise security risks for which CIOs should be increasingly on guard. In Part Two , we look at the trends behind the numbers. These figures are excerpted from a mid-year enterprise risk report from IBM, which shows that vulnerability disclosures are up significantly compared to last year. Many of these incidents cannot be mitigated with a patch because none is available. Remote attacks – those which can be launched without prior access to an enterprise system – are now the most popular option for hackers. The complete research document, the IBM Security X-Force 2010 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report , is the result of ongoing, in-depth analysis by the X-Force Research team. The researchers cull facts from a database of more than 50,000 computer-security vulnerabilities and millions of intrusion events on tens of thousands of managed network sensors worldwide, as well as their Web crawler, spam collectors and other intelligence sources.

The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas recently conducted a survey, which was sponsored by Sybase, to explore how investments in data management and information technology affect the financial performance of a company. University researchers, working in conjunction with the Indian School of Business, surveyed 150 Fortune 1000 firms across several industries in an effort to quantify the relationship between effective data and key performance metrics. The study examined how 10% improvements to one of five distinct attributes of data impacts the metrics commonly reported for assessing the financial performance of businesses. For example, the median Fortune 1000 business in the study's sample would increase annual revenue by $2.01 billion as a result of increasing the usability of its data by 10%, according to the survey. This is driven by a strong correlation between data usability and sales per employee, which correspondingly increases 14.4%.

Toyota. BP. Goldman Sachs. All three are huge, traditionally respected brands that have undergone significant crises. Many companies that suffer a devastating turn of fortune don't survive, according to Priscilla Nelson and Ed Cohen, authors of the new book, Riding the Tiger: Leading Through Learning in Turbulent Times (ASTD Press/now available). In the book, Nelson and Cohen provide CIOs and other senior executives with a step-by-step process for getting through a storm with the corporate ship intact. It isn't about “battening down the hatches,” as some leaders instinctively would do. Instead, it's about opening up lines of communications – even more so than when business is going well. The authors speak from experience: both worked for Satyam Computer Services, a company that found itself in the midst of a major accounting-fraud scandal in 2009. At the time, Nelson was global director of people leadership and Cohen was chief learning officer.

Did you walk out of your office yesterday and suddenly realize that everyone working for you looks as if they are about 12 years old? Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation (born 1980-2000), now makes up 21 percent of the IT workforce according to a recent study from IT staffing firm TEKsystems. OK, so that makes them a little older than 12, but they're still pretty darn young. Gen Y is also identified by the less flattering sobriquet "The Entitlement Generation." If you're thinking "and with good reason," then you know that the expectations and work ethics of this generation differ greatly from those of their older colleagues. If you're a Millennial yourself, don't be offended: Your cohort is also known as "Digital Natives," and your agility and comfort level with technology is just what the workplace needs. The management challenge is in knowing how to engage and motivate Millennials and be sure they're interacting productively with senior colleagues.

You can't avoid your CEO. For CIOs and other senior executives, engaging the CEO is part of your job description. Unfortunately, the CEO has the power to make your life miserable. Bad CEOs lapse into behavioral patterns that are petty, arrogant, short-sighted, inept, impersonal -- or all of the above. Stealing ideas, asking you to work insane hours, never making decisions when good decisions are needed most -- these traits and more can add up to a highly toxic professional relationship. To come up with our "dirty dozen" list of CEOs from Hell, CIO Insight got together with the Business Research Lab, a Houston, Texas-based firm that produces EmployeeSurveys.com. Business Research Lab fields surveys relating to corporate ethics, health/safety, diversity, culture, productivity and bad bosses. It even posts hair-raising stories from employees about their all-time "worst boss". Here's a lineup of the 12 worst types of CEOs, we're betting you've encountered at least one of these at some point in your own career.

Ironically, at this economic turning point, when companies need innovation more than ever to survive, too many lack the infrastructure to do so. While creativity may be there, these organizations are simply not structured to execute on innovative ideas. In the new book, The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge (Harvard Business Review Press/September 2010), co-authors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble provide a blueprint to execute on innovation within existing infrastructures. They liken innovation to ascending to the top of Mount Rainier: Too many climbers focus all their energy on getting to the peak, leaving few resources for the less glamorous but equally dangerous descent. Similarly, organizations focus too much energy on brainstorming and not enough on effective execution of a winning idea. And so, good innovation goes bad.

As we head into 4Q 2010, the year in technology is already defined by high-profile vendor mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, HP (which is on an acquisition binge this year) kicked up a bidding war with Dell over virtual storage company 3PAR, while Intel scooped up anti-virus software vendor McAfee. When it comes to making sound technology decisions for your enterprise, you have to consider how much a recent buyout or merger should influence your plans. Are you weighing a new tech purchase, building a business case, or already a longtime customer of a vendor involved in one of these recent M&As? Here, we examine what the 10 most important vendor acquisitions of the year (so far) mean for your enterprise tech decisions, and your vendor relationships.

Smartphones and other mobile devices are proliferating at a remarkable rate, raising a host of challenges that CIOs haven't had to handle with other computing platforms. A commissioned technology adoption profile conducted by Boston-based research firm Forrester on behalf of Mobility-as-a-Service vendor Fiberlink, in Blue Bell, PA, focuses exclusively upon CIOs/IT decision-makers in the finance/insurance industry. But the issues these enterprises face will ring true for CIOs across the board. More than 130 CIOs and other IT purchase decision-makers from finance/insurance companies took part in the survey Managing and Securing Corporate and Personal Devices in Financial Services

CIOs and other top IT decision-makers are often at the forefront of "green" initiatives within their organizations. But a revealing study, Sense and Sustainability, from global communications firm, Gibbs & Soell, and research firm Harris Interactive, indicates that only a minority of IT managers and other executives surveyed indicate that businesses today are committed to “green” advancements and practices. An even smaller percentage of the general public feels this way. More than 300 Fortune 1000 executives were interviewed for the survey. Findings run counter to a report earlier this year from the U.N. Global Compact and Accenture, which found that many CEOs see clear business value in sustainable practices.

Since so many companies now employ teams to overcome issues and perform tasks, managing collaboration is one of the biggest challenges that many CIOs are facing. To some extent, getting employees to collaborate effectively means communicating ideas, and giving them the guidance they need to complete a task. But, CIOs are quickly finding that there are plenty of tools that can help employees work together in new ways, and perhaps complete a task more efficiently than they would have in the past. Choosing the right collaboration tools for your teams can be difficult. There are a bevy of options, from free to pricey, and it’s easy to get wowed by the bells and whistles. In fact, there are times when a CIO might opt to buy a costly collaboration solution that doesn’t actually work as well as a less expensive, or even free, alternative. We’ve highlighted the 10 best collaboration tools available – both free and paid – that you can provide to help your teams achieve effective collaboration.

As CIO, you are expected to innovate and build the business, while at the same time you're responsible for the nitty-gritty work of making sure that systems are running, hardware is kept up-to-date, long-term architecture strategy is being developed and executed, transformation programs are being rolled out, and proper governance around security and risk is being ensured. Whew! It's easy to fall into the trap of becoming the reactive CIO, digging deeply into every urgent IT issue that eats up your time and prevents you from doing the kind of "big picture" thinking that career success requires. You've probably tried some (or all) of these tricks of the trade: hiring a chief of staff; asking your executive assistant to schedule "think time" in your calendar; taking leadership training courses; starting lists; working late; canceling meetings. Read on for the 10 steps you can take to end this vicious cycle. Want to learn more? View the full feature article, A 10-Step Playbook For CIO Success. Don Desiderato is a principal at Novarica and a former CIO of Prudential Annuities.

Remember the days when each staff member was expected to perform tasks on their own and get them done within a set timeframe? Those days are gone. We live in the era of workplace collaboration. Our rapidly changing work environment, coupled with the demands of a difficult economy, requires a team of professionals working together to get projects done quickly and effectively. The responsibility for ensuring that your teams are working to their greatest capacity falls squarely on the CIO's shoulders. Of course, your CEO turns to you to decide which tools the teams should be using and depends on you to make sure the tools are used properly. But as a CIO, your responsibility for managing collaboration goes well beyond choosing technology solutions. You’re also required to come up with techniques and unique ideas to get results out of your teams. We've compiled the nine best tactics and technology solutions that will enable you to manage your collaborative teams with optimal results.

Belt-tightening driven by a long-running recession has restricted tech budgets and frozen IT hiring at many enterprises. The good news: A survey of 1,070 IT decision makers in the private- and public-sector level (including those at federal, state and local government agencies) indicates that CIOs are optimistic about IT hiring and technology spending for the rest of 2010. The survey results are detailed in the CDW IT Monitor, an ongoing study that has been tracking IT sentiment since the beginning of the recession. "Despite recent economic volatility, many IT decision makers have remained cautiously optimistic about budgets and anticipated IT investment," said Thomas E. Richards, president and COO of CDW. "As we head into the second half of the year, that optimism is beginning to extend to IT hiring expectations in some sectors. While this positive IT job outlook is still emerging and hasn’t yet translated across all sectors of the IT marketplace, it remains an encouraging indicator of future growth."

Do you feel you need to compromise your values as you climb the corporate ladder? This doesn't have to be the case, according to Stan Slap, author of the book, "Bury My Heart at Conference Room B: The Unbeatable Impact of Truly Committed Managers" (Portfolio/now available). Slap contends that managers can succeed while practicing the same values that shaped their upbringing and which continue to guide them at home. The new CIO taking his first steps may find Slap's advice especially useful. In fact, Slap finds that values-driven executives experience a high level of long-term rewards in personal satisfaction and professional achievement. Slap is founder of an eponymous international consulting company that specializes in cultivating 100 percent engagement among managers, employees and customers. His clients have included Microsoft, HP, Viacom, Time Warner and eBay. Here are the key revelations from "Bury My Heart at Conference Room B" that you can put into use today to advance your own values-driven career.

The BlackBerry Torch smartphone hit AT&T stores in the U.S. for $199 on August 12, 2010, the same day that Gartner revealed that sales of devices using Google's Android OS outpaced those of iPhone and even BlackBerry in 2Q 2010. Less than a week later, the price of the BlackBerry Torch was slashed to $99. You're probably wondering whether or not the new smartphone and its accompanying BlackBerry OS6 platform, will make much sense in your operation. That's why it's time to dig into the specs of the Torch (and accompanying BlackBerry OS 6) to find out what will work for the enterprise. When the Torch and the new OS were announced, RIM was quick to point out that the corporate world would like what it finds. Whether or not the Torch and OS6 strikes your fancy wholly depends upon your corporate needs and your desire for a device that is much different from competing smartphones.

We idolize athletes who can chuck that game-ending TD pass, hit the three-pointer to force overtime or strike out the opposing side in the ninth inning. There is a consistent quality among the winners who routinely perform such feats; a type of "clutch" mindset that can benefit any CIO. We're talking about intellectual strength, emotional resolve and work ethic, according to Paul Sullivan, author of the upcoming book "Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't" (Portfolio/September 2, 2010). With a rich retelling of classic "clutch" performances in sports and corporate American history, Sullivan uncovers the shared characteristics of those who have achieved milestones on the field and in the boardroom. He provides a blueprint for CIOs and other top executives to evaluate and cultivate their own abilities and successfully face day-to-day challenges. The secret, he writes, is that clutch performers behave no differently in high-stress circumstances than they do in ordinary situations.

Securing your enterprise data against a potential breach is becoming increasingly difficult as your employees become more mobile, your IT solutions become more sophisticated, and resourceful hackers find new ways to target your company. The 2010 Data Breach Investigations Report, a study conducted by the Verizon RISK team in cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service, reveals that companies are facing more threats from more sources than ever before. And the chances of that changing anytime soon are unlikely, unless enterprises take drastic action. The ongoing Data Breach Investigations Report series now includes in-depth studies of 900 breaches involving more than 900 million compromised records over a span of six years. Just contemplating this will propel you to seek out new ways in which you can protect your company’s data from the many threats out there. You can also view the accompanying article 10 Tactics For Securing Enterprise Data .

Even in a bad economy, there is a rising premium value being placed on IT talent. Certified systems administrators/engineers, security professionals, and applications developers are getting higher-than-average increases in pay premiums for certain in-demand skills. While many of these quarter-on-quarter increases in market value are by no means astronomical, anything better than flat is worth noting these days. Even non-certified systems/networking workers and applications developers are seeing salary increases for certain skills, according to Foote Partners' latest quarterly edition of its long-running IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index (ITSCPI). The index measures market values for 449 certified and noncertified IT skills. Some 2,000 U.S. and Canada employers participate in the research, covering 99,400 IT professionals. All figures reflect 2Q 2010, which ended on June 30.

Remember the days when a CIO could simply dash off a memo to the entire workforce and say, "We are buying Macs for everybody and that is that ..."? Well, that era may be coming to an end, according to research from IDG Research Services and RSA, which is the security division of EMC. Today, employee users of technology have a great degree of influence on which laptops, desktops, smart phones, tablets and other tech tools are used on the job. And – even though companies hardly encourage the practice – many workers use personal gadgets to tap into enterprise networks, email and business applications. This practice presents considerable security issues, as the research shows breaches being reported by large enterprises. The survey was commissioned from IDG Research Services by RSA. The report featured responses from nearly 40 CIOs and security/IT managers surveyed. Read on to learn how this employee-driven tech wave is reshaping IT decisions.

Now more than ever, companies are allowing their employees to use smartphones to connect to enterprise email and business intelligence so they can be productive while on the go. From a productivity perspective, smartphones have revolutionized the corporate world. Yet, there is a dark side to smartphones in the corporate computing environment that every CIO and IT staff worry about: Security. Some employees don't have the level of knowledge about security that the CIO does, and when these workers decide to browse the Web, they generally don't consider the ramifications of their actions. Now is the time to discuss mobile-security techniques designed to keep the company safe. If you follow these 10 simple steps, you should be well on your way to ensuring that all the sensitive data that malicious hackers want will not slip out while your employees are on the road.

Workplace trust appears to be yet another casualty of this period of ongoing global economic turmoil, according to a new survey from Deloitte LLP. To put it bluntly: U.S. workers don't feel that CIOs and other top corporate executives/managers provide enough transparency. Given this, many employees plan to leave their jobs once the economy rebounds. Despair not: "Deloitte Ethics and Workplace Survey." contains some positive news. Employees do feel their managers care about work-life balance. Workers also feel that technology is helping managers become more transparent than in previous years. The survey, launched in 2007, measures how workplace trends and issues affect employee behavior and attitudes. The study was conducted via telephone interviews within the U.S. by Harris Interactive, and more than 750 adults took part. Additional interviews were conducted online involving 300 Fortune 1000 executives at the VP level or higher.

Outsourcing key business functions to offshore providers is more popular than ever among United States enterprises, driven by low labor costs overseas, and the ongoing uncertainty of the economy. Offshoring provides cost savings and, when executed properly, it can help a company focus its domestic resources on developing new business opportunities, addressing strategic business needs, and increasing profits. Yet, it is precisely the challenges inherent in engaging in proper and efficient offshoring that might scare off some CIOs. As you know, running a business is difficult. Finding good talent can be even more difficult. Offshoring takes those two issues to a whole new level. It can be so rife with pitfalls that you might be tempted to stick with conventional business methods. However, if you are intent on achieving value by outsourcing some of your key functions overseas, there are tactics you can follow to do it right every time.

Whether or not you are a state CIO, we think you'll relate to these revealing findings about trends, spending and IT oversight. Throughout the U.S., state government IT budgets are expected to be reduced through the year 2013, according to a new report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). As with many organizations struggling in the private sector, state CIOs are considering tactics such as staff reductions, IT consolidation, shared services and "green IT" among the remedies to lower costs. What is most remarkable about the survey results is the similarity between tactics being considered by state CIOs and those we hear about from private-sector CIOs. There are also similarities in shortcomings. For example, the survey finds that even though CIOs are mindful of the expense of IT, many are not being proactive when it comes to tech-portfolio management or the measurement of the effectiveness of their IT resources. One silver lining that is, indeed, unique to government agencies is the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which is providing extra funding for states when it comes to health-care IT. Three of four CIOs now say their offices receive some form of ARRA funding. NASCIO, TechAmerica and Grant Thornton worked together on the report, which was developed from a 39-question survey/interview conducted with 40 state CIOs, deputy CIOs or those at equivalent positions. Read on for 14 important insights from the report. You can also download the full report, "The 2010 State CIO Survey: Perspectives and Trends from State Government IT Leaders."

As you plan your IT spending for 2011, it's worth a look at which budget areas saw the greatest increases in 2010 over the prior calendar year. This exclusive CIO Insight research shows that large enterprises and midrange enterprises differ widely on where they are spending IT dollars this year. There are also notable differences based on enterprise size when it comes to which IT categories have the greatest spending velocity. If you're weighing any IT purchases for 2011 (and we'll bet you are) you won't want to miss this report. This material is excerpted from CIO Insight's 2010 IT Investment Patterns study, designed and fielded by Ziff Davis Enterprise research. The survey, fielded in May 2010, received a total of 695 responses, 295 of which are from large enterprises with more than 500 employees, 173 from mid-sized companies with 50 to 499 employees and 127 from small businesses of less than 50 employees. (Note: responses from the small business segment are not included in this report). If you want to see which business apps are consuming the biggest chunk of budget pie, check out Budget-Busting Business Apps. If you're interested in where the security dollars are being spent, read 12 Security Budget Drainers. You can also view the complete computing report.)

CIOs and other managers may be forcing their employees to push the pedal a bit too hard when it comes to being tethered to work 24/7. Because of the economy, many workers feel that they cannot disconnect – ever – from their smart phones and/or mobile devices, according to a revealing survey from Careerbuilder. These professionals answer calls or check in with the office while attending church and while at their own child's event. Workers will talk and text away while in bed, and even while in the bathroom (Now, there's an image that will stick with you). As for dating? Well, lingering moments spent staring deeply into the eyes of a potential significant other are now interrupted by the inevitable, "Honey, I need to take this call." In some cases, behavior can be downright dangerous: Using mobile devices while driving is standard operating procedure for many workers these days. This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of Careerbuilder. More than 5,200 employees took part. Read on for results you may find astonishing. Then again, maybe not, if you are the kind of CIO who practices -- and expects -- this level of work/life dedication:

As a shaky recovery tries desperately to hang on, CIOs are being asked by management to find ways to put a leash on costs. The fear is that the economy will turn sour again, causing a double-dip recession that could have a profound effect on company bottom lines. In fact, Gartner is strongly advising CIOs to prepare now for the next economic downturn. For CIOs, cutting costs is a dangerous game. On one hand, it is quite easy to remove expenses from the books. You can remove applications, ditch hardware, or -- the last resort -- lay off employees. But none of these cost-savings methods are preferred. All will effect productivity, and could potentially have a negative impact on your company's net income. With that in mind, CIOs need to consider the best ways of controlling costs while simultaneously maintaining, or even increasing, profitability. In our competitive worldwide marketplace, that is no mean feat. To help you along, we have compiled the 10 best techniques to control costs through technology initiatives that can also boost revenues.

The spectre of change can spread uncertainty and fear within an organization, resulting in knee-jerk reactions, ill-conceived strategies and/or a lack of unified corporate response. Organizations that welcome change as a constant, lasting part of business are best positioned to survive and succeed, according to Pat Durbin and Terry Doerscher, co-authors of the new book, "Taming Change with Portfolio Management: Unify Your Organization, Sharpen Your Strategy, and Create Measurable Value" (Greenleaf Book Group/now available). Do not let the title fool you: "Portfolio" here does not refer to your personal investment assets. It refers to the "portfolio" of valued assets within a company: finances, inventory, equipment, and people. Durbin and Doerscher contend that organizations need to constantly evaluate these assets within the context of anticipating and successfully navigating change. Durbin is CEO and co-founder of Planview Inc., which provides software, training and consultation for these portfolio-management solutions, working with companies such as Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and Farmer's Insurance. Doerscher is Chief Process Architect for Planview. He is an 18-year veteran of the commercial nuclear industry, having held a number of engineering, project-management and planning positions.

With the announcement of Android 2.2, Google made it clear that the new version of its mobile operating system would be the first to target the corporate world. The latest iteration of the platform includes robust Exchange support, plus far better security features than previous versions. All of these features are aimed specifically at pleasing corporate BlackBerry converts. For the first time, Google is showing that it has its sights set on attracting enterprise users. While issues remain when it comes to welcoming Android devices wholeheartedly into the enterprise, the devices can be attractive for a CIO. We've highlighted the available applications that will help CIOs extend the functionality of their Android devices, with the goal of achieving maximum productivity while away from the office. Android apps that are primed for today's busy CIOs include communication solutions as well as products that improve the usability of the operating system. These nine are worth downloading if you are a CIO who wants to get more out of your Android smartphone. Compare them with our 9 favorite CIO-worthy iPhone apps

CIOs are considered a critical part of an organization's overall business structure. Technology, after all, serves the goals of marketing, sales, etc. -- not the other way around. So how do you go from being the designated "top tech guru" to being a well-rounded business leader? Many CIOs turn to their local university's business school for guidance. Maybe you went to business school so long ago that you forgot about the "time-tested givens" that were taught there. Or, perhaps you never went to business school at all and simply do not have the time to schedule it around your current demands. Either way, you are in luck: Author Michael W. Preis (with Matthew Frederick) has come out with the recent book, "101 Things I Learned in Business School" (Grand Central Publishing/now available). Preis covers the entire range of topics that make for the stuff of a Wharton-styled education -- managerial style, finance, marketing, organizational structure and more. The result is a work that you can read during a couple hours on a train, and turn into action afterward for the indefinite future. Read on for our 10 favorite proven "truths" as revealed in the book:

In her first post as Editor In Chief of CIO Insight, Susan Nunziata made no bones about her bullishness for the future of mobile computing in the enterprise. We'll go one step further here, skipping right over laptops and tablets, and offer you a future where smartphones are the computing platform of choice. Few people would argue with the fact that today's smartphones are powerful enough to deliver 95 percent of the functionality a typical information worker needs during the course of a workday. Devices such as the iPhone or BlackBerry, or any of those powered by Google's Android operating system, make it a snap to manage email, communicate via text message, check the latest posts on social media sites, browse the latest news, or even prepare documents. As cloud providers such as Salesforce.com and NetSuite and Google and Amazon refine access to their services from mobile devices, traditional IT vendors such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP will follow suit with improved mobile apps for their growing array of cloud-based applications. The need to be tethered to a PC could become a thing of the past sooner than you think. Here are the nine business drivers that will push corporate IT departments toward adopting mobile computing-focused strategies:

Business Performance Management (BPM) is how IT supports managerial/analytics processes that allow organizations to define, measure and oversee performance goals. BPM can impact financial operations, consolidations, performance indicators and a host of other company needs. And the vast majority of organizations now indicate that effective BPM is critical to their success, according to a survey from advisory services firm BPM Partners, Stamford, CT. While the economy has certainly made an impact on the acceleration of these initiatives, commitment to BPM remains strong: Nearly three-quarters of organizations have been involved in some way with such a project this year, according to the survey. They are looking to use these tools to improve management reporting, enhance planning, increase operational analytics and "fix painful processes," according to respondents. Nearly 545 companies took part in the Internet-based survey, representing financial-services, energy, health-care, consumer-products and a host of other industries. Organizations represented included those from North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Find out how big the demand is for BPM really is, and how companies are going about pursuing it:

Although Apple’s iPhone 4 is experiencing antenna issues that could turn some enterprise customers away, the company’s devices are host to some of the best smartphone applications available for CIOs. Currently, Apple offers more than 240,000 applications in its App Store. Many of these are games and other titles designed for consumers, but there are several that focus squarely on the enterprise space. Even better, there are several programs available for Apple’s smartphone that are ideal for the typical CIO who needs to not only be productive while running a company, but also be able to perform basic work functions while away from a computer. Whether it is the ability to send a fax from the device, or to simply edit some documents sent from employees, CIOs must be productive no matter where they are. Staying productive is not always easy with a smartphone, but with the right iPhone apps, and a willingness to drop a few bucks, it is at least possible. Read on to take a look at some outstanding iPhone apps that would come in handy on any CIO’s iPhone. Compare these with our 9 favorite CIO-ready Droid apps.

Are you are a C-level executive looking to build a solid executive management team yet having trouble finding employees who have what it takes to advance to the upper reaches of your organization? Or, are you a talented management executive who has delivered proven, measurable results for your organization year after year, yet you still do not have a clear sense of what separates you from the top-level, C-suite executives? In either case, you are hardly alone. Organizations as a whole need to do a much better job of cultivating C-suite candidates from within, according to the upcoming book, "The Unwritten Rules: The 6 Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level " by John Beeson (Jossey-Bass, October 2010). Even in companies committed to talent development, guidance to aspiring executives is often vague and contradictory, Beeson contends. Those employees who "get it" when it comes to these unspoken pathways to success are the ones who end up with the most senior-level roles. Beeson lends authority to this subject with an extensive background: Prior to launching his firm, Beeson Consulting Inc., he was a top executive at Harbridge House, Frito-Lay and Hallmark Cards. He is a Wharton graduate, and his articles on talent development have appeared in Harvard Business Review and other top publications. If you are already in the C-suite, Beeson's insights will give you the tools you need to cultivate a culture of advancement for your direct reports. If you are looking to build your own career, his tips will empower you to get to the next level.

A new kind of IT organization has emerged in the wake of the recession -- one that has reduced fixed costs by using on-demand strategies, according to a new study from The Hackett Group. This degree of "IT agility" helps organizations better capitalize on business opportunities and minimize risks today. It is no longer about zeroing in on "cutting IT costs" (although that is certainly part of the equation). It is about taking better advantage of new, available Service Delivery Models to match IT initiatives with business performance. This approach is needed now more than ever here in North America, where economic growth is projected to lag dramatically behind that of Asia, putting at risk our ability to remain globally competitive. Hackett's research distinguished the IT practices of "top performer" organizations -- as defined by those that achieve the best results across more than 20 relevant IT agility metrics -- from those that experience more typical performance results. More than 30 companies took part in Hackett's study. Here's what the resulting research reveals:

"Meaning making" is as valued as "money making" for your work teams today, according to University of Michigan business professor Dave Ulrich, who is also co-founder of business consultance The RBL Group. While corporate money-making has obvious ROI, Ulrich identifies key performance indicators that can help every CIO determine the value of engaging employees with meaningful work. These include very tangible measures, such as stock gains for top-ranking workplaces, as well as a direct impact on factors such as employee willingness to recommend your company's products or services to others. According to Ulrich, "investment in employees" too often translates to fancy lunches or performance-based bonus plans without addressing the value of the work itself. Find out more about the pain disengaged employees can cause your organization, and how CIOs can effectively inspire workers by helping them understand the big picture. These highlights are excerpted from Ulrich's book, "The Why of Work" (McGraw-Hill/available now), which is co-written by his spouse, psychologist Wendy Ulrich.

What kind of CIO are you? A Gatekeeper? A Beancounter's Apprentice? The Chief Widgeteer? Most likely you're already saying "all of the above…and so much more." While the day-to-day functions of the CIO can vary based on organizational structure, industry vertical and size of enterprise - among other factors - we've identified 10 CIO archetypes, and what you need to know about them.

Large enterprises are spending "mucho dinero" when it comes to key business applications for their employees. These companies spent an average of $363 per employee on various biz apps, according to an exclusive CIO Insight survey of 295 executives responsible for budget decisions at organizations with more than 500 employees. See which apps took the biggest bite of budget pie in 2009. The results are part of our 2010 IT Investment Patterns study, designed and fielded by Ziff Davis Enterprise Research. The IT Investment Patterns study was conducted online between May 5 and June 1, 2010. A total of 695 respondents familiar with their organizations' budgetary and spending levels completed the survey. In addition to the 295 large-enterprise respondents, we also tallied results from 173 mid-sized businesses (50-499 employees). Results from the remaining small businesses, which have 49 employees or fewer, are not included in the study. You'll find the full IT Investment Trends report here.

Who are the “iWorkers”? They're those gadget-juggling, multi-tasking employees who rely upon a host of consumer electronics devices for both work and play. A Unisys-sponsored study of 2,820 tech-savvy workers in 10 countries found that these so-called iWorkers frequently use blogs and social-networking sites for work. CIOs and other top managers are relatively “in the dark” when it comes to their workers' dependence upon these devices and online resources – which it could hurt them when it comes to recruitment, retention and efficiency.

The vast majority of CEOs say that IT solutions are needed to improve sustainable business practices, according to a study from United Nations Global Compact and Accenture. Accenture surveyed 766 CEOs worldwide on behalf of the UN Global Compact, an initiative launched in 2000 to encourage businesses to voluntarily adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies. It's not just a "feel good thing." It's a survival measure, in light of the vast amount of energy-cost reduction benefits and the uncertainty of the current economy. Nonetheless, another survey shows that you may have to contend with a "green credibility gap" between your CEO's vision and corporate reality. a revealing study, Sense and Sustainability, from the global communications firm, Gibbs & Soell, and research firm Harris Interactive, indicates that much of the talk about corporations seriously pursuing sustainability as a prime business objective has been, well, a bunch of talk. Only a minority of IT managers and other executives surveyed indicate that businesses today are committed to “green” advancements and practices -- and an even smaller percentage of the general public feels this way.

There's a big difference between "invention" and "innovation," according to David Croslin. He should know. He holds 25 patents and served as chief technologist within HP's communications, media and entertainment division. In his new book, Innovate the Future (Prentice Hall), Croslin offers these ten steps to ensure the success of new products - wisdom that translates from consumer markets to enterprise IT.

Large enterprises (500+ employees) overspent on IT security budgets in 2009, according to a new study from CIO Insight. They laid out an average of $61 per employee for various security solutions. Check out where those security dollars are going. Check out the complete IT spending report here.

Looking for a "CIO edge”? How about tips to tune up your team management skills? Add these popular titles to your summer reading list, and get ready for a noteworthy collection of new releases on the way this fall. You'll gain management secrets and IT insight about a wide range of timely topics.

With the worst of the recession hopefully behind us, recruiters are gunning to boost their IT talent base, according to a new survey from Monster.com and Technisource.

As the recovery struggles to take wing, IT salaries in 2010 are rising just slightly over last year's. At the same time, a number of benefits are on the decline. Some benefits, though, such as flex-work schedules, are increasing in popularity as employers attempt to keep valuable IT staffers, according to a new survey from Janco.

"What we have here ... is a failure to communicate," went the famous line from Cool Hand Luke. All too often, the same can be said for teams that work virtually throughout the world. Employees at multinational corporations report an assortment of communications-based bottlenecks that keep them from reaching their goals, according a new survey from RW3 CultureWizard.

A clear majority of IT and business-decision makers no longer understand why their organizations are running infrastructure operations in-house, according to a new report from Savvis Inc. So what's stopping them from getting out of this aspect of the IT business right now? In many cases, it's a “business as usual” mentality, Savvis reports.

While few CIOs are planning staffing cuts, the vast majority aren't looking to add staff either, according to a new survey from Robert Half Technology.

Mike Theriault, CEO of B2B Computer Products LLC, offers these tips. The goal is a quick, but considered response. Gather the facts as quickly as you can and act as soon as you have enough information to respond correctly. Don’t take any action until you can accurately define the problem (not necessarily the cause) and know its scope.

The CIO Executive Council, an IDG project involving over 1,400 IT leaders at some 750 global enterprises, has released its "Future-State CIO" initiative, which attempts to define the CIO role in the years ahead. The promise: "Strategies and tactics for CIOs to grow their competencies from a function head role, to a business strategist position within their organization, and gain a seat at the executive table."

It's an uncertain business environment at best, and your vendors and partners -- not mention your employer -- must navigate a host of dangers. BDO's RiskFactor report looks at threats and challenges facing technology companies. How well will the companies that matter most to you fare in his climate, and what can you do to make sure things turn out in your best interest?

The failure rate for IT projects, long a concern for both business and technology managers, seems to be on the rise as recession-era budgets pare needed preparation and support. The costs of failed projects, in terms of time, money, opportunity, and morale, can be huge. What causes so many projects to go awry?

Even as state and local government spending continues to get squeezed by the Great Recession and its aftermath, demand for information technology is growing in the public sector. Among the top priorities for state and local IT decision-makers are justice, public safety, and education, according to INPUT, a top government-focused IT industry tracker.

With Father’s Day bearing down on us, a device-obsessed nation once again struggles with what to get the geek dad who has everything. The thing is, they don’t have everything, because there’s always a steady string of new geeky toys hitting the market. Here are 9 gifts your geek dad probably doesn’t have—yet. (And if you’re the geek dad, you might want to share this with your kids.)

Telecommuting—workers like it, the environment benefits from it, but a lot of bosses still disdain it. In a tight economy, though, it is harder than ever to argue with the bottom-line numbers. Allowing employees to work outside the office provides a great cost savings for organizations, according to new findings from Citrix Online and the Telework Research Network. See also: Support for Telecommuting Lags Demand.

Stalking recruiters! Deceiving co-workers! Stealing credit! For some tech workers, it's "anything goes" in getting a job, promotion or raise, according to a new survey from the IT Job Board.

A SenSage survey of IT security staffers says management of IT security is ineffective and processes are inadequate.

As the economy heals, IT strategies are shifting from cost-cutting mode toward innovation. Forrester Research predicts that IT spending will rise 6.6 percent during 2010, a compared with a drop of 8.8 percent in 2009. Forrester names seven technologies that business users want next, which IT sourcing professionals will have to analyze for risks and benefits.

Pay freezes and budget cuts have been economic survival realities for CIOs, according to revealing survey from PA Consulting Group and Harvey Nash.

Outside magazine picked the top 50 companies to work for in terms of healthy/active-lifestyle perks. A non-tech company, Natural Habitat Adventures, was #1, but here are ten IT/tech-related companies that made the list. No reason your company can't cop some of these ideas.

Worldwide IT spending is on the upswing, according to reports by IDC and Gartner. After last year's recessionary dip, technology spending looks to be recovering strongly on the back of overdue capital spending on hardware equipment. Previously, Variable Forecasts, Aging Gear Requires Spending.

With the NBA playoffs in full swing, these quotes from all-time great players, coaches reveal valuable lessons for tech pros.

A new survey from Technisource says moods are lifting in the IT shop. After a rough 2009, workers feel more confident about their own company's prospects. And even though they feel better equipped to find a new job, most want to stay put—for now.

Attendees at the annual Network Instruments conference used the meet-up to discuss the challenges and opportunities of virtualization and cloud deployments. A survey of 105 IT decision makers at the event yielded the following results.

With its SPSS Modeler software, IBM aims to help enterprises make better customer decisions based upon what's being posted on social-media sites.

Office buildings fall short when it comes to taking advantage of smart technology to reduce power and water consumption, along with other ways of supporting green policies, according to new survey findings from IBM.

The risk of politically and economically motivated cyberespionage is growing, as governments and criminals are unleashing digital assaults on businesses and other governments.

How mature is your IT organization in planning for capacity management? If you're like many organizations, probably not very. "A majority of IT organizations - nearly 60 percent - are in a reactive state," says Per Bauer, technical account manager for the IT optimization firm TeamQuest, citing a survey conducted by Forrester Research on TeamQuest's behalf. "That becomes an interesting challenge when you start getting into virtualization and cloud computing." Thus TeamQuest's five-stage Capacity Management Maturity Model.

CIOs interested in leaner operations -- and that's pretty much everyone these days -- can learn from decades-old concepts that worked for Toyota, according to Informatica's John Schmidt and David Lyle. Find out how with these guidelines from their book, Lean Integration, and Schmidt's Informatica blog.

New research from Gartner indicates that the CFO - not the CIO or CEO - often calls the shots when it comes to organizational IT decisions.

A Senior Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, Watts Humphrey is a National Medal of Technology winner who is known as the "Father of Software Quality." He pioneered concepts such as the Capability Maturity Model in 1988, which overhauled software-project management. In his new book, Reflections on Management, Humphrey provides these insights that reveal to software pros that they need to manage their teams and - above all - themselves, as much as their code

Where does your boss see the company headed in the next 12 months? Where do technology and the IT department figures into those plans? PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently conducted a survey of nearly 1,200 senior executives at enterprises around the globe. Here are some of the study's highlights, as they relate to employment, IT spending and more.

The amount of information in the enterprise is growing rapidly—and IT needs to ensure that companies are making the best use of it. That's the message from an EMC Corp-produced report based on a "Dream Team" of star CIOs and IT leaders from JPMorgan Chase, Fidelity, Bank of America, Wharton School, ESPN and other top organizations.

Health-care reform will require billions in IT investment by government agencies to achieve legislative mandates, according to a new report from INPUT.

Many of today's workers are always plugged in, and some are afraid to exist any other way, according to a new survey from InterCall.

Like bacteria in a petri dish of warm sugar water, malware thrives in a computing environment full of unsecured P2P networking, remotely exploitable vulnerabilities, and free-flowing e-mail attachments. According to Symantec's recent Global Internet Security Threat Report, the following means of propagation are most popular amongst malicious hackers. Because hackers usually use more than one means of propagation, the percentages add up to over 100 percent.

Managers say workers have too much access to information they don't need, according to a new report from Ponemon and Aveksa. But whose fault is that?

A recent survey of small businesses shows a moderate increase in IT spending ahead. Conducted by Spiceworks, the survey questioned the IT spending habits and budget plans of 1,250 small businesses. The modest gains are driven in part by a need to refresh long-held hardware.

HR departments view SaaS as a way to stay on top of recruitment and other company goals, according to a new survey from Saugatuck Technologies and Plateau Systems. But CIOs must make sure that support comes with the package.

PGi commissioned a study to find out what people like - and don't like - about meetings. PGi specializes in meeting, conferencing and collaboration solutions for businesses.

"The IT function of 2015 will bear little resemblance to its current state," says a research report from the Corporate Executive Board. The outlook is for "fundamental changes in how the function is organized and managed." Some predictions on trends, and outcomes for the IT shop.

As CIO of Coca-Cola, Jack Bergstrand helped turn around a company that was losing $1 million a week. During his tenure, Coke's stock soared from $3 to $22. Now CEO of Brand Velocity, Bergstrand is out with the new book, Reinvent Your Enterprise. Here are some snippets of wisdom from the book, and Bergstrand's blog.

CIOs and other IT decision-makers at large enterprises are much more confident about the future than their smaller-scale counterparts, according to the latest findings from CDW IT Monitor.

They're looking for IT tools to keep budgets from going out of control. They want consolidation solutions. And a whole lot more. Every year, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) surveys state CIOs on the biggest priorities for the year ahead. Here's a countdown of agenda items.

One-quarter of IT workers say they are late to work at least once a week, according to a survey from CareerBuilder.com, with 11% showing up late at least twice a week. Hiring managers contacted by the company gave some of the excuses offered by workers -- from the legitimate and to the outrageous. See also: Worst Job References.

Americans are more connected than ever to the Web, social networks, mobile phones, etc. But survey numbers from a new Arbitron/Edison Research report show just how massive the popularity of these tech tools has become. What are the implications for your business?

You gotta root for the little guy. But when it comes to IT leaders at small and medium businesses, you gotta root even harder. Janco Associates found that IT executives and directors have suffered significantly over the last few years in terms of compensation. They compared 2010 base and total compensation for these SMB IT leaders with their packages from 2007. Here are the results.

The indicators for 2010 are stacking up for a much improved job situation for executive leaders, according to a new report by the professional networking and research group ExecuNet.
In a recent survey of 184 executive recruiters conducted in March, ExecuNet found that companies are finally adding more executives to their ranks than cutting them. CIO Insight examines the highlights.

The past few years have been tough on our wallets, and for some IT pros, that much-needed pay bump hasn’t come. Meanwhile, plenty of IT executives have seen their value increase. Janco Associates compared mean 2010 compensation (base and total) with the same figures from 2007. Here’s what they found.

IT executives are getting tons of pressure to ignite their companies’ Web 2.0 presence. It’s no easy task, according to Camden Consulting’s Kris Girrell.

This tip sheet, from her recent article, Web 2.0: Leading the Brave New World, gives leaders the advice they need to navigate the new Web frontier.

The age of IT specialization is dead, replaced by an emphasis on skills that can translate across the enterprise. That’s one of the chief findings of a recent Forrester Research survey in which 128 IT decision makers were asked about their changing staffing needs. -According to Forrester, this shift can be traced to a number of emerging trends: -Maturing technologies such as software-as-a-service and business intelligence are changing IT skills requirements; -The growing array of outsourcing options have altered in-house staffing priorities, with more specialized skills increasingly likely to be outsourced; and The continued search for cost-reduction opportunities has changed how IT decisions are made. With those trends in mind, here’s a countdown of 13 common IT roles, based on the percentage of IT executives who believe each role is growing in importance.

Having sold 300,000 iPads on the first day of availability, Apple's reach into our cultural consciousness is getting deeper. There's a reason why: Apple's sleek design results in seductive devices that speak to our inner child. For anyone who's even the slightest bit interested in the latest technology, it's almost impossible to hold an Apple device and not want one. The iPad, from all accounts, is very much a continuation of the company's innate sense of what drives consumer desire. But as any survey of early iPad reviews will indicate, the iPad is not all it's cracked up to be. It's a wildly hyped device that may prove to be a critical step in the evolution of computers, but it's too limited to have a profound impact on how work gets done, which is clearly what IT executives are most interested in. In fact, it doesn't take much to poke holes in the iPad. All one has to do is read Apple's original press release on the device from Jan. 27. The language is, well, let's just say it's a bit out of touch with reality. What kind of self-contradictions are there? Let us inform you.

After a comprehensive interview of 40 different federal CIOs from across numerous agencies, TechAmerica recently compiled its 20th annual report detailing the challenges and priorities among those in charge of our federal IT infrastructure.

The following seven priorities take precedence in the CIOs' minds as the biggest issues in the long term. They're ranked in order of priority, along with a summary of survey respondents' and TechAmerica's thoughts on each.

While business and IT usually don’t have the greatest things to say about each other, some of their perceptions aren’t that far apart. Susan Cramm, author of 8 Things We Hate About IT, worked with Harvard Business Review to poll 328 business and IT leaders to learn their perceptions about their organizations’ strengths and weakness. The following responses cite the number of business and IT pros that somewhat or strongly agreed with the questions.

Our quarterly picks for the best books of the season to help IT leaders (and aspiring IT leaders) learn more about the business, manage and motivate staff, and plan and execute their strategies.

Some have predicted that Apple’s iPad will revolutionize the way we work, much like other mobile devices have. Commissioned by Sybase, Zogby International conducted a survey of almost 2,500 U.S. consumers about their motivations for using a tablet like the iPad. The good news for CIOs and business leaders: the majority cited doing business as their main reason for using an iPad, but other motivations could be troubling for productivity.

With the Obama Administration having earmarked $3.4 billion in Recovery Act funds to spur the energy industry's transition to a smart energy grid, the impetus is clearly there for utilities to start making progress on this important modernization of the nation's energy delivery system. Oracle polled C-level executives from its substantial roster of energy industry clients, providing a glimpse at where the smart grid transition effort stands. What Oracle found is that while progress may appear glacial, with just one in five utilities saying it's moving forward on system-wide smart grid deployment, many are simply in an earlier stage on that path, and most have substantial expectations regarding what the smart grid will deliver. The following slides provide a snapshot of how utility executives view the transition.

Gartner's 2010 CIO Agenda study outlines the 10 highest business priorities for CIOs-and where those initiatives fall into their expected priorities for 2013.

When it comes to technology priorities for the year, CIOs and their teams are focusing on a widely-changing slate of tools compared with last year. Gartner's 2010 CIO Agenda study found what more than 900 CIOs list as their top tech initiatives for the year.

IT professionals looking for a little love (read: more money) may want to look at stocking up on technical certifications. But not just any certifications. Dice Learning, a search engine that helps connect technology workers with the training and certifications they need, has gathered input from 17,000 IT workers on which of those certifications deliver the biggest boosts in pay. (Of course, the cynical IT staffer would answer that question "none"-luckily, it appears the cynics weren't polled.) What follows is a look at the top 10 certifications that IT workers say help them command higher salaries-regardless of experience levels.

Amid signs that the economy is crawling back to health, IT strategies are shifting from the cost-cutting mode of the past two years to an orientation toward innovation, according to recent Forrester Research analysis.
Forrester predicts that IT spending will rise 6.6 percent during 2010, compared with a drop of 8.8 percent in 2009. A healthy chunk of that increased spending will be targeted toward the new technologies business users are clamoring for, and IT sourcing professionals will be asked to analyze the risks and benefits.
Forrester says there are seven specific technologies that business users will ask their IT sourcing and vendor-management teams to look at:

Web security research gurus with the Santa Clara, Calif.-based Web application security firm Cenzic uncovered their findings at RSA from data collected during the second half of 2009. Though CIOs are constantly struggling to get their development teams spinning up new business-enabling Web applications as quickly as possible, leaders would do well to take a lesson from the disconcerting trends laid out in Cenzic's most recent report. The vast majority of proprietary web applications developed in house contain some sort of vulnerability or another, as seen by scans of customer applications conducted through the company's managed services. The following nine types of vulnerabilities are the most common found through Cenzic's scans of customer Web apps.

The Google-China standoff has entered week eight, and no one's budged yet. China's still demanding that Google censor its search results there. Google's still refusing to censor them, while publicly lingering on its intentions to pull out of China if the government doesn't back off. And now the Obama Administration is considering joining the fray. The drama builds. Will Google really shut down its operations in China and walk away from such a potentially lucrative market? Will China actually let Google walk away, taking with it a critical window into the Western economy? Okay, okay, everyone calm down. No one’s going anywhere. Here are 8 reasons we continue to believe Google and China will settle their differences:

Even though many IT professionals have seen flat to declining pay rates, there are some bright spots in the IT job arena. According to Foote Partners, publishers of the esteemed quarterly IT Skills and Certification Pay Index, there has been a definite demand for SAP and enterprise applications skills over the last six months. Here are the top 20 distinct skills by market value growth over the last six months, according to the most recent index.

The quarterly Foote Partners IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index examines in depth how certain skills and certification can affect the pay of IT professionals. Unsurprisingly, the index found that most skills and certifications decreased in value last year. But as a percentage of the "base salary" for IT professionals, most types of certifications gave recipients an edge in remuneration. Typically, IT certification holders made 7.46 percent more than average IT workers in the fourth quarter of 2009. CIO Insight examines how much extra certain types of IT certifications have garnered professionals over the last three years. The percentages are all measured as additional value on top of the base IT salary, as determined by Foote Partners.

Becoming a revenue generator—instead of a cost center—is the dream of every IT shop. CIO Insight Research asked almost 170 IT executives which deployed technologies have the best potential for driving revenue generation. Here’s what they said.

The 80-million strong Millennial generation is going to change the IT landscape in countless ways, whether CIOs like it or not. Dealing with this unique generation can be difficult—given their work habits, interests and deep grounding in technology as a way of life. Luckily, there are a handful of insightful books that help businesses and bosses understand and manage the Millennials.

Change is hard. Doing what you’ve always done is easy. Doing something new that requires a change in thinking, changes in procedures, and changes to systems are difficult. That’s where leadership comes in. Executive coach and former technology executive Mike Hawkins explains how leaders can win support for their priorities and initiatives.

Applied Research West recently tallied up surveys from over 1,700 organizations of all sizes from around the world for Symantec's annual State of the Data Center report. Unsurprisingly, the biggest priorities within these organizational nerve centers focused on availability and reliability of data, and on cost-saving measures such as virtualization, cloud migration and consolidation.

Among the various prognostications of what technologies will be hottest in 2010, one trend is common: that consumer-focused tools will continue to permeate the enterprise. Witness the latest survey from CompTIA. The IT industry association polled more than 300 IT and business pros in December to get their take on what IT trends will be most prevalent this year. Here’s what they said.

Forrester Research recently updated its predictions for IT spending in 2010. So far, the outlook looks bright - particularly compared to last year, which saw an 8.9% drop in global IT spending. Forrester reports an expected 8.1% increase in spending globally and 6.5% rise within the U.S.

IT employee confidence rose to its highest level in the fourth quarter of 2009 in almost two years, according to the latest survey by IT staffing firm Technisource.

IT workers also expressed much higher confidence in the economy in job availability than in the same period in 2008. Click through to see the full results.

CDW's Server Virtualization Life Cycle Report compiles results of a survey of nearly 400 IT managers, from companies with 100 or more employees, about server virtualization. The report showed that the vast majority of organizations are in some stage or another of implementing server virtualization, but even the best have room to improve.

IT leaders say they're having trouble keeping their data centers staffed with competent, trained employees. Budget strains, training woes, and recruiting issues are among the issues at hand. These statistics come from the 2010 edition of Symantec's annual State of the Data Center report.

Running an effective, efficient IT operation is no easy task.
Chris Oleson (an IT manager), Mike Hagan (an IT executive) and Christophe DeMoss (a national consultant) co-authored "Achieving IT Service Quality: The Opposite of Luck" (Synergy Books, 2009). This is their take on the seven biggest mistakes IT leaders make in running their shops - and what they can do to correct them.

Vivek Kundra, Sergey and Larry, and a number of others had big years in 2009. See who made our list for tech's biggest winners of 2009.

2009 was a tough year all around, but these people (and a vendor) had the roughest of them all. See who made our list for tech's biggest losers of 2009.

Mike Hawkins coaches executives-from CEOs to CIOs-to help them develop their leadership and strategic capabilities. The president of Alpine Link Corporation and author of the new book, Activating Your Ambition: A Guide to Coaching the Best Out of Yourself and Others (www.activatingyourambition.com), lays out eight tenets for harnessing your ability to lead change and achieve your career ambition.

Experts from academia and the corporate world offer new works that deal with the most pressing issues in IT leadership. Note: Publication dates are subject to change.

Susan Cramm's forthcoming book, 8 Things We Hate About IT: How to Move Beyond the Frustrations to Form a New Partnership With IT (Harvard Business Press, March 2010), examines the frustrations common to the business-IT relationship. "Nobody hates the people in IT, but everybody - business and IT leaders alike- hates the current IT system," says Cramm, founder and president of the IT leadership firm Valuedance.

Her list of eight hates was validated by a 2009 survey of business and IT leaders. It's built around issues facing organizations, and includes perspectives from both sides.

A look at some of the new year's big issues on the security front, courtesy of ICSA Labs, a vendor-neutral testing and certification lab used by many top security vendors.

Great coaches can galvanize individuals with different interests and divergent objectives, and focus them on a common goal. Joe Frontiera, PhD and Dan Leidl, PhD, managing partners of Meno Consulting, spoke with elite lacrosse coaches, each of whom has led a team to at least one NCAA championship, to uncover commonalities in their methods -- lessons that apply in the office as well as on the playing field.

We spoke to five IT leaders to determine their focus and goals for the coming year: Russ Finney, vice president and CIO, Tokyo Electron US Holdings, a provider of semiconductor production equipment; Roy Mentkow, director of technology, City of Roanoke, VA; Matthew Metcalfe, director of information systems, Northwest Exterminating, a family-owned and operated pest control business in Marietta, GA; Dennis L'Heureux, senior vice president and CIO, Rockford Health System, the largest health system serving northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin; and Tom Keen, CTO, BlueStar Energy Services, a retail electricity provider operating in Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

Despite laws banning former employers from bad-mouthing past workers, some references are surprisingly blunt in their assessment of job performance and individual traits. Allison & Taylor, a reference-checking and employment verification firm based in Detroit, released a list of some real-life bad references encountered over the course of 2009.

Workforce motivation expert Jon Gordon, a consultant for the NFL and numerous Fortune 500 enterprises, and the author of The Shark and the Goldfish: Positive Ways to Thrive During Waves of Change, has ten recommendations for reenergizing and engaging employees in the face of economic turmoil.

Eric Lundquist breaks down the year's biggest news and trends.

2009 produced headaches for many CIOs, but it also produced some of the best IT-business books we've seen in years. CIO Insight looks back at the year's output in information technology, leadership, strategy and management to give you our Top 20. If you haven't read them yet, add them to your holiday wish-list.

A recent report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas says social networking services such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the hottest tool in the job seeker's arsenal. Here are the recruiting firm's top tips for making the most out of social networks, along with some relevant statistics on social net usage.

Jean-Paul Sartre said "Hell is other people," and although he said it in French and was not known as an expert on the IT workplace, I think you know what he was talking about. Not all people, of course - I'm sure nobody on your team has any of the characteristics of the folks on this list. Right?

CIOs are growing more bullish about future hiring. According to Robert Half Technology's quarterly IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, the IT hiring surplus-the percentage of CIOs expecting to add staff minus the percentage expecting to reduce staff-is on the rise, which should provide a glimmer of hope to the legions of out-of-work IT professionals. Staffing firm Robert Half Technology has been churning out its quarterly IT hiring report since 1995, and the latest edition, for which more than 1,400 CIOs were surveyed, focuses on staffing expectations for the first quarter of 2010. Here are some nuggets of optimism that can be gleaned from what CIOs are anticipating next quarter:

As virtual machine density increases within the enterprise, more organizations will need to update their servers to handle the increased loads. So say the analysts at IDC and at Gartner. We examine the numbers from both, as well as figures from a recent survey of 290 IT decision makers conducted by Shavlik Technologies at VMworld.

Whether through bankruptcy, bad business decisions, loss of big contracts or huge declines in shareholder value, these ten companies lost their luster this year.

According to IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index released by Foote Partners, every category of IT certification, save one, saw a decline in pay premiums over the last 12 months. The percentages shown are the change in pay premium over the given period of time.

Even in a jobless recovery, some skills are in demand and command a pay premium. The most recent Foote Partners survey ranked the following non-certified IT skills as the hottest on the market as of the end of October; the firm publishes its IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index quarterly.

Mike Figliuolo of thoughtLEADERS, LLC says workers often are less happy with their bosses than they let on. "If you don't start fixing some of these behaviors, you might end up with a mutiny on your hands," he writes. Here's Mike's list of 10 obstacles to a happy team.

Some basic security practices are starting to become pervasive within small-to-midsized businesses, although these organizations may still leave a few gaps in the armor. A recent study sponsored by GFI Technologies polled 540 SMB IT managers; the research found that most of them employ some form of security, primarily in the area of antivirus technology. Nevertheless, the study found that gaps in insider threat protection still remained.

This list of "7 Lessons from a Marketing Genius" was created by Carmine Gallo, author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. Apple CEO Jobs is considered one of the greatest marketers in corporate history. For more than three decades, he has delivered legendary keynote presentations, raised product launches to an art form and successfully communicated the benefits of Apple products to millions of customers. Whether you're in sales, marketing, advertising or public relations, Steve Jobs has something to teach you about telling your brand story.

Technology is subject to grandiose expectations, and often it fails to live up to the hype. We’ve made huge gains in information management, communications, and getting sports scores on our mobile devices, but the promises unmet leave us wanting more.

The latest IT Employee Confidence Index from Technisource, compiled from surveys conducted by Harris Interactive during the third quarter, shows that IT pros are gaining confidence in the IT employment market and the overall economy.

Planned job losses fell for the third month in a row in October, down 16% from September to 55,679, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Despite the deceleration, it's been another brutal year. Here's a look at where most cuts were expected, and why.

The iPhone has been a technology game-changer and a cultural icon, yet Apple, despite its design wizardry, is still a non-factor in the enterprise IT market. We scoured the Internet looking for recurring complaints about the iPhone's various versions, and found a bevy of them. As the competition, including new BlackBerry and Android models, closes the gap, we offer a round-up of common complaints about the iPhone.

While spending predictions may have scared IT workers about their job prospects, a recent poll of CIOs by the Society for Information Management found that IT HR spending trends in 2010 may be more favorable than workers fear.

Our annual Vendor Value Study reveals what CIOs think of their hardware, software, security, telecom and networking providers in terms of value, reliability and loyalty. Here are the top winners for 2009.

Our annual Vendor Value Study reveals what CIOs think of their hardware, software, security, telecom and networking providers in terms of value, reliability and loyalty. Here are the vendors ranked 20 through 11.

Our annual Vendor Value Study reveals what CIOs think of their hardware, software, security, telecom and networking providers in terms of value, reliability and loyalty. Here are the technology companies ranked 30 to 21.

Do social networking sites serve as useful tools for connecting within the business world, or are they simply time-wasters? More than half of enterprise IT leaders lean toward the latter perspective, according to a new survey conducted amongst 1,400 CIOs by the employment experts at Robert Half Technology. The results conform with data collected from a previous study released by Nucleus Research earlier this summer; this slideshow compares results from both studies to paint a picture of social networking in the workplace. Also see: Work-Safe Social Networking.

Our annual Vendor Value Study reveals what CIOs think of their hardware, software, security, telecom and networking providers in terms of value, reliability and loyalty. Here are how IT executives ranked Nos. 40 down to 31.

How closely does your company monitor and measure software adoption, post-implementation? When things go wrong, does IT get blamed? Neochange, Sandhill Group and the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) recently surveyed 353 IT professionals to answer these and other questions about enterprise software adoption. What they said might sound familiar to your own experience-or provide some important lessons.

Our annual Vendor Value Study reveals what CIOs think of their hardware, software, security, telecom and networking providers in terms of value, reliability and loyalty.

Consultant Jacoby Garcia makes the case for investing even when times are tight.

IT dollars are tight, but most organizations are still spending on security audits. Amplitude Research surveyed 350 IT executives and network administrators about their security and compliance activities.

by Edward Cone "Don't be Evil" is Google's motto. How's that going? In this context, "evil" does not mean wicked, like Sauron or Voldemort, or bad in the way some people might judge tobacco companies or corrupt enterprises like Enron. Nick Carr probably got it right when he said, "When Google adopted 'don't be evil' as the cornerstone of its corporate code of conduct, what it really meant was 'don't be Microsoft.'" This does not imply that Microsoft is truly evil, just that Google was defining itself against the most powerful company in the software industry at that time — a company that was feared but not loved. So "don't be evil" translates roughly as "be customer-centric, and act with some greater good than your profit margins in mind — don't be just another huge company." By that standard, it's grown harder over time to argue that Google lives up to its motto. It is a useful and valuable and in many ways admirable enterprise, but maybe not so special after all.

A recent survey conducted by Robert Half Technology found that many businesses ban sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the workplace. Seen as a distraction by some, these sites do have potential value to IT employees who use them appropriately. Says Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, "These sites can be leveraged as effective business tools, which may be why about one in five companies allows their use for work-related purposes." The key is exercising good judgment, no matter which computer an employee uses to update their profiles, says Willmer: "Professionals should let common sense prevail when using Facebook and similar sites -- even outside of business hours. Regrettable posts can be a career liability."

One of the major challenges IT executives face is communicating their challenges and concerns to line-of-business mangers and other non-IT leaders. A recent survey of CIOs conducted by the Society for Information Management examined IT leader's top priorities in three major categories: strategy & organization, governance & compliance, and technology & infrastructure.

The Society for Information Management recently polled CIOs about their IT spending priorities and plans for dollar allocation in the coming year.

by Thomas HoffmanWhile the U.S. economy continues to struggle, there are pockets of strength in the IT labor market. To find the hot spots, both by specialization and by industry, we spoke with the following experts: David Van De Voort, IT workforce specialist, Mercer, Chicago, IL; Dave Willmer, executive director, Robert Half Technology, Menlo Park, CA; Terry Erdle, senior vice president, skills certification, CompTIA, Oakbrook Terrace, IL; Umesh Ramakrishnan, vice chairman, CTPartners, Cleveland, OH.

The Society for Information Management (SIM) surveyed CIOs and IT executive leaders about their top priorities for 2010, based on a list of 20 IT and business concerns.

The open source search software behind some of the web’s hippest sites.By David F. Carr Click here for Dave Carr's article on Solr, and here for a slideshow on a related project, Hadoop.

This season’s new books include a few potential “instant classics” on IT leadership, strategy and innovation. (Note: All publication dates are subject to change.)

IT Going Green is a report offering an in-depth look at results from a survey of 150 IT managers and executives conducted by BT in North America. It tracks results against intentions for environmental policies by IT and the business as a whole.

IT workers on the hunt for greener pastures look for any advantage they can find to land that dream job. But just how useful are recruiters in the technology job market? Dice.com asked as much this month in its September job update.

C-suite executives of all stripes are thinking about what comes next as the economy heals. Deloitte Consulting recently tackled the topic of strategic decision-making during recessionary cycles in its latest report Here Today. Where Tomorrow? CIO Insight summarizes Deloitte's findings as they relate to CIOs and the entire executive line-up.

Business Intelligence (BI) projects are often the domain of large enterprises, but small to medium businesses can also benefit from BI if they move carefully. Aberdeen Group recently released a report that detailed a number of recommendations for SMBs to better leverage intelligence based on the BI maturity of the organization—Low, Medium, or High.

By Ericka Chickowski

Crowds gathered recently at the Moscone Center to discuss innovations in virtualization. With so many companies deploying virtualization solutions on a massive scale, this year's hot topics were around managing and optimizing virtualized platforms and systems.

According to research conducted by CareerBuilder, social networking poses a serious threat to job seekers who have posted inappropriate information about themselves. With so many IT workers taking advantage of sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter these days, tech geeks need to keep future interviewers in mind before bragging about their beer pong champion status or posting crazy pictures.

By Ericka Chickowski

As companies merge or downsize to survive, they must change employee access to sensitive corporate data on very short notice, grant access privileges to new employees, adjust access privileges for re-assigned employees, and terminate access for former employees and contractors. CIOs of these organizations must manage that transition in a manner that minimizes business disruptions while also protecting the company from insider theft and ensuring compliance to government regulations. SailPoint's Founder and CEO, Mark McClain, provides advice to help CIOs to help prepare their business and IT organization for these scenarios.

CA recently polled 100 technology executives at companies that use IBM System z mainframes. They reported that their loyalty to mainframe technology stems from its ability to meet requirements for reliability, resilience, security, management, and compliance.

Wondering how much your peers in other cities are making? Technology staffing firm KForce gathered data on IT salaries from their consultants in various cities across the U.S. Here's what they estimate as the going rate for new hires in the eastern region of the U.S. See also salary data for Central and Western regions.

Ever wonder what other CIOs make in base salary? Or want to know what your CIO boss takes home? KForce, a technology staffing firm with 41 offices across the U.S., asked their thousands of consultants for input on CIO pay in various markets. Here's what they estimate as the going rate in the central region of the U.S. See also salary data for Eastern and Western regions.

Wondering how much the top dog in the IT shop makes? KForce, a technology staffing firm with 41 offices across the U.S., asked its consultants for the going rate for CIO base salaries in various cities. Here's what they say about the western portion of the U.S. See also salary data for Eastern and Central regions.

Organizations leave themselves vulnerable to attack by ignoring security throughout their application development and testing process, according to a new study by Ponemon Institute and MicroFocus. The comprehensive look into data security during testing is the result of a survey of more than 1,350 IT practitioners in the US and the UK who work for enterprises with revenues from $10 million to over $20 billion.

More American workers are willing to pull up stakes to find work, according to a new report by the employment experts at Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a global outplacement consultancy.

According to the latest survey from Dice.com, salaries just keep dropping. But that doesn't mean that employers can't incentivize their geeks to work hard. Dice recently polled workers about what employers can offer beyond salary to keep them happy.

The economic decline has changed the way businesses value IT investments, but new data shows that there's still plenty of room for improvement. That's what ISACA (isaca.org) revealed in its Value of IT 2009 study. Here are some of the key findings for U.S. CIOs, as well as findings from across the world. Note: Some totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

Recently both McAfee and Symantec released reports on the state of malicious online activity in 2009. Here are some highlights from the stats and findings of Symantec's Mid-Year Update and the McAfee Threats Report.

The following ten certifications were identified in the Foote Partners July 2009 Hot List as the hottest in the tech business, as judged by IT spending trends, market value increases reported in the company's pay index, interviews with IT management and projections for future skills demand. While some experienced zero growth last quarter, it's important to remember that a flat trend line is the 'new growth curve' in this down economy.

According to the most recent Foote Partners IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index, the non-certified IT skills listed below give those who have honed them a bit more leverage when sitting for an interview or a pay review. The quarterly index systematically categorizes and establishes value for discrete skills categories.

The Amazon Kindle is a great tool for busy executives, enabling them to page through a whole digital library while on the go. The following 10 books are all Kindle-friendly and valuable for IT leaders.

What Embarq Corp. learned during a major project.

Things are tough out there, but IT recruiters report that there's still a market for the right skillsets. According to Tom Silver, senior vice president for IT employment firm Dice.com, Dice is seeing lots of demand from hiring managers in the following nine categories.

Will IT employment prospects look any brighter anytime soon? Our magic eight ball says, "Reply hazy, try again." Here are some highlights from the most recent reports, which show sometimes contradictory outlooks.

Paring costs at the onset of a recession is easy compared to finding savings after months of budget cuts -- especially with the need to prepare the enterprise for future growth. "I'm alarmed by the number of IT organizations that can't justify many of their expenditures and vendor pricing," says Jeff Muscarella, a partner with spend-management firm NPI Financial. He offers these basic tactics to help "even the most time-deprived, short-staffed IT organization."

Outplacement consultants with Challenger, Gray & Christmas say the number of technology jobs lost last quarter went down dramatically compared to first quarter figures.

IT vendors have tried going around the CIO and straight to top business executives or specific business-line managers to sell their wares. But who has the most influence? Forrester Research asked almost 1,000 enterprise decision-makers in North America and Europe to find out (percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding).

IT professionals put the value of business efficiency over cost reductions, but in this economy they are still struggling with tight budgets. Microsoft recently commissioned Harris Interactive to survey more than 1,200 IT pros worldwide to find their perspective on driving innovation and IT spending priorities.

IT leaders want to invest more in software initiatives, but the economy forces them to be more discriminating than ever. Forrester Research asked 431 North American and European executives what platform and infrastructure software they'll be spending on in the next 12 months. Here's what they said.

Note: totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

IBM asked nearly 1,900 IT decision-makers at midsize organizations about their top IT priorities in 2009 and beyond. The survey found five specific trends that IBM highlighted for readers in its report, Inside the Midmarket: A 2009 Perspective.

Two of the biggest analyst firms recently adjusted their IT spending predictions, and though the numbers vary slightly, consensus is that things don’t look great for 2009.

Computer Economics recently released its annual IT spending analysis, based on in-depth interviews of 200 IT executives. Even as many organizations continue to cut back, others are increasing spending or at least holding level.

Al Gore may take credit for inventing it. The Department of Defense deserves credit for building out its infrastructure. But let’s face it: The real wizards behind the curtain, the first true marketeers of the Internet, and the virtuosos of virtual innovation are the Internet’s purveyors of porn. Here’s how the porn industry has helped evolve the Internet, for both good and bad.

Does your company run a strategic IT shop, or an operational one? According to the IT Governance Institute (ITGI), strategists are more forward-looking, are governed with an eye toward partnering with lines of business in order to innovate, and tend to return more from their IT investments. Operators are most concerned with cutting costs in the here and now, are governed to keep the lights on and often miss opportunities to realize value from their investments. In a recent study conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, ITGI examined the behaviors and outcomes of these two types of IT organizations.

Insider threats from ex-employees linger when IT organizations fail to deprovision terminated workers access to all systems.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has released its mid-year analysis of major data breaches reported so far in 2009. Though the total numbers show an improvement over the first half of 2008, ITRC is reporting the percentage of insider attacks and breaches caused by hacking is on the rise. As it does with all of its reports, ITRC warns users to remember that the number of reported breaches is likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to actual breach statistics. Many more incidents go unreported.

What Frontier Airlines learned during a big IT project. See our case study on Frontier's SaaS effort.

CIOs will continue struggle with iffy budgets throughout the rest of the year, according to a new poll conducted among 900 CIOs by Gartner Executive Programs. Released in mid-June week, results showed an expected IT spending decline in 2009 of about 4.7%. Figures were compared to a similar poll conducted at the end of 2008.

A survey of non-IT executives, conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the IT Governance Institute, shows that many business leaders believe IT investments create value, but many still view the department as an operational and tactical asset rather than as a strategic partner.
Full results can be found in the ITGI report An Executive View of IT Governance.

So, just how efficient is a bureaucrat in the data center? No, that isn’t the beginning to a great joke. It is a question posed by CDW Government in its most recent survey on virtualization within federal agencies, across the civilian and defense spectrum. The company questioned 377 government IT managers in April, compiling the results in its 2009 Federal Virtualization Report released in mid-June.

Aberdeen Group conducted a comprehensive study of 130 enterprises regarding their attitudes and practices surrounding governance, risk and compliance (GRC) initiatives. This slideshow highlights findings from Aberdeen’s wrap-up report, IT GRC: Managing Risk, Improving Visibility, and Reducing Operating Costs, by analyst Derek Brink.

One detail: the GRC acronym has things out of order; Aberdeen says enterprises emphasize compliance first, IT governance next and risk management last.

In a poll of IT executives and line-of-business leaders, a recent "State of Disaster Recovery" survey found that each group still has its own ideas about business continuity. Conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of SunGard Availability Services, results show what IT workers are up against when it comes to advocating disaster recovery activities.

Leadership, teamwork and workforce management dominate the slate of the best new books out this season for IT and business executives. NOTE: all publication dates are subject to change.

One of the hallmarks of great leadership is the ability to ferret out destructive organizational problems before they impact the working culture, says Michael Roberto. As IT departments face cutbacks and mounting workloads, management must find ways to head off issues at the pass. Author of Know What You Don’t Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen, Roberto suggests the following seven ways to keep organizational problems at bay.

IT recruitment firm Robert Half Technology has released its third quarter IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, and the results are mixed. The IT employment outlook is healthy in certain industries and certain parts of the country, but not so good in other industries and regions. Overall the numbers seem to indicate a slow march toward recovery, with more good news for IT workers than bad. More than 1,400 CIOs from companies with at least 100 employees were polled, and here’s what they had to say about the next three months:

While the economy may show a few faint signs of strengthening, IT hiring managers still expect recessionary forces to dampen recruiting efforts for the next six months. New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as well as survey results from a poll of 1,900 recruiters by tech employment gurus at Dice.com, gives a picture of the current IT job market.

A survey of over 400 IT pros by data-security firm Cyber-Ark indicates that tech workers have broad access to confidential data, and that they are using that access more now than before.

As the rate of increase in new unemployment claims slows, a survey report released by outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that human resource executives are resorting to salary cuts and pay freezes to cut costs, rather than cutting jobs outright. Comparisons are with an earlier survey by the firm.

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Physician Organization Electronic Health Records project team lays out the case for cloud computing. See also: Virtualization Delivers for Health Records

With summer upon us, one thought permeates our collective consciousness: How do I make sure I’m making smart hires? Okay, so maybe it’s not the stuff of summer fantasies, but let’s face it: If you want to ensure that your company is positioned to take advantage of an economic recovery many are predicting will begin unfolding by the end of this year, brushing up on effective hiring methods is an advisable strategy for any IT executive.
These books will help you brush up on your interviewing skills and get better at identifying the best job candidates.

Symantec recently commissioned Applied Research to survey over 1,000 North American IT professionals about their attitudes and practices regarding green IT. The findings showed significant uptick in green IT plans, strategies and spending. Symantec grouped its statistics in five findings categories:
1. Green IT Is Now an Essential
2. Green IT Budgets Are Rising
3. IT Is Willing to Pay a Premium for Green IT
4. IT Is at the Heart of Enterprise Green Efforts
5. Green IT Initiatives More of a Priority

Accenture recently surveyed 300 senior IT professionals in North America and the UK about their ERP systems. The following slides highlight the survey results.

Many technology managers are having a hard time tracking the use of Web 2.0 technologies and protecting their organizations from the inherent risks of interactive media.

Even though most workers want to work from home at times and some would even take a pay cut to do so, more than half never get the opportunity to unshackle themselves from the office desk, according to a recent survey commissioned by Citrix Online and conducted by the firm inc./WomenTrend. Check out the results, compiled from questioning of 600 workers worldwide.

Unemployment is high, and heading higher. If you lose your job, you may be able to negotiate a better severance package than the one first offered you. Maury Hanigan of Layoffcoach.com offers this advice for the newly jobless.

Only about 80 percent of business executives rank IT as somewhat important or critically important for key activities, and only half of them see IT doing well in supporting their needs, according to Forrester Research. While CIOs can improve the way they support the business, Forrester also believes they need to do a better job communicating the ways they already do so. The following tips come from a new report by Forrester, “Value-Based Communication Boosts Business’ Perception of IT.” The three over-arching rules are: Link IT’s internal activities to business value; personally position IT’s value to the organization; and add business value to IT’s work with other organizations.

Some highlights from the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM) report, “E-mail Management: The good, the bad and the ugly.” The report analyzed a survey conducted earlier in the spring on e-mail management practices and beliefs.

A new survey of IT spending, the Hackett Cost Control Study, says business outlays will remain flat over the next two years. At the same time, demand for IT services within the enterprise will increase by some 17 %, creating a gap between needs and resources that departments will have to address. Hackett Group analysts suggest improvements in IT efficiencies and processes via what the firm calls the “three levers of cost control.” Those levers are IT cost control strategies, IT demand management, and discretionary cuts.

Our 2009 CIO Role Survey shows that CIOs expect the importance of business tasks in their portfolio to increase much more quickly than technology tasks over the next two years. This points to the need for a new skill-set for the next generation of CIOs. Each slide shows the percentage of IT pros surveyed who responded in a particular way.

A reading list that will help you get your point across. By Ericka Chickowski

CIOs are under more pressure than ever to influence the business bottom line, but old ideas about IT die hard, according to CIO Insight's 2009 CIO Role Survey. Top IT executives in the firms we surveyed believe strongly that the CIO role will change over time: less focused specifically on technology and more on the exploitation (and protection) of company information as part of a broad portfolio.

The Information Systems Audit Control Association (ISACA), a nonprofit group that represents 86,000 IT governance, audit and security practitioners across the globe, recently conducted a survey of 500 IT pros about technology investments and an evaluation of their returns. Here’s a recap of the findings.

Successful projects require big-picture vision, attention to detail, and persistence. Failures, meanwhile, can be highly instructive. These books show how technology jobs bring out the best and the worst in people.

As fears of a Swine Flu pandemic grow, issues of business and IT continuity come into focus. This information comes from SunGard Availability Services.

By Bruce F. Webster With IT budgets frozen or pared back, you need to handle any staff reductions carefully to ensure that you hold onto your best engineers and managers. [Copyright (c) 2009 by Bruce F. Webster]

PowerPoint is not inherently evil, but it sure feels that way when you are trapped in the audience for a bad presentation. Some people just don’t get the concept. You know who we’re talking about - the folks who read each slide, word for word, instead of leveraging the illustrative and explanatory power of the medium. But even the best of speakers look bad when they are accompanied by amateurish slide decks. If you’ve ever fallen prey to any of these blunders, it is time to think about revising your next presentation’s slides.

Times are tough and many organizations may be in survival mode, but CIOs are still spending, according to a recent survey conducted by Robert Half International. The firm’s research shows that the majority of organizations still plan on investing on IT initiatives in the next 12 months. Robert Half International recently asked 1,400 CIOs at United States-based companies with 100 or more employees: "Which areas, if any, will your IT department be investing in over the next 12 months?" Read Tony Kontzer's analysis of the spending report, which says the cheerful aspects are not really so cheerful.

by Ericka Chickowski Learning from your mistakes is good. Learning from others’ mistakes is even better. We looked at 12 major IT failures to learn more about how and why they happened. Each example is unique, but they all have something in common: a chain reaction of pain that rippled through the entire business or organization. Whatever the specifics, breakdowns within the IT organization are rarely contained. They can lose a business customers, they can cause lawsuits, and in some instances they can even shut a business down.

The development of business requirements and project parameters can make or break an IT project. The data in this slideshow comes from an IAG Consulting report called Business Analysis Benchmark, which was culled from a survey of over 100 organizations which carried out IT development projects with an average budget of around $3 million. A key takeway: mixed project-planning teams that include business and IT people tend to get the best results.

Based on distributed computing technologies Google has publicly disclosed, Hadoop provides an open source implementation for other companies with very large data analysis challenges, including Yahoo! and Facebook. The free software, named for a toy elephant, now runs on some of the largest sites on the Web.

Each season brings a slew of interesting books. This spring is no different. Works from consultants, academics and business leaders dominate the top offerings, covering topics like IT leadership, collaboration, IT careers, customer strategy and innovation. Note: publication dates are subject to change. See also: Must-Read Winter Books

Big companies like Wal-Mart are backing an electronic health records consortium called Dossia. The impact on the business and practice of healthcare could be profound. For an in-depth view of Dossia, see this article.

Social networking and rich media bring new threats to your data security. A report from MessageLabs, a unit of Symantec, describes several problems cropping up in the Web 2.0 world.

A new study by Computer Economics, "Insider Misuse of Computing Resources," looked at security risks posted by employees who inadvertently expose their organizations to possible information loss or compromise. The survey included 100 IT security professionals and executives.

External threats to data security are clear, says Computer Economics president Frank Scavo, but the nature of internal threats may be less so. For example, over one-third of organizations surveyed lack policies against loading sensitive data onto portable storage devices like USB flash drives. This practice recently compromised a secure data network at the Pentagon.

By Ericka Chickowski India is home to the most mature IT outsourcing companies of all offshore host countries, but no place is perfect. Indian outsourcing firms may not suit a company due to rising costs as the Indian market matures, culture and language issues, and even time zone issues. And some enterprises are looking for a way to diversify their sourcing portfolios.

The following ten countries are hotspots of ATI, or alternatives to India. This list is based on our conversations with Frank Casale, CEO of the Outsourcing Institute, and Allen Weinberg, principal and North American leader of McKinsey & Company’s Outsourcing and Offshoring Practice, as well as the recent report, “Gartner's 30 Leading Locations for Offshore Services.”

With IT resources stretched thin, enterprises are finding that outsourcing various aspects of mobile deployments can make sense. Yet CIOs are discovering that deploying and managing thousands of mobile devices can be a daunting task. These tips for mobility strategy come from Enterprise Mobile CEO Mort Rosenthal.

Perception matters. Simply delivering great work is no longer enough to ensure that IT is positioned strategically versus whatever third-party services are out there in the marketplace. Dan Roberts, president of Ouellette & Associates and contributing author to Leading IT Transformation: The Roadmap for Success, says the recession makes marketing more important than ever. “How many vendors, consultants, outsourcers and even shadow IT groups are right now pitching their services within your company?,” he asks. While IT executives may be uncomfortable with the idea, Roberts says they need to learn how to promote their own organizations. Here are six reasons IT marketing makes sense.

Five key roles are critical to achieving a lean IT organization, according to a new report from Forrester Research's “Redesign IT Roles To Drive IT Cost Reduction.” These roles offer organizations a better ability to analyze possible reductions in cost of labor, services and capital expenditures, as well as improvement in business process efficiency. Here’s a recap of what Marc Cecere, Forrester analyst and lead author of the report, had to say about these roles.

Support from the CEO and other C-suite executives can be critical to the outcome of major IT initiatives, and working closely with these alleged peers in senior management is a measure of CIO success. But many CIOs, particularly those who came up through the tech ranks, find it daunting to develop a good relationship with the CEO. Relationship-building is an organic and there certainly is no magic formula to it, but there are a few ways to help the process along.

Talent retention can be a challenge, even as bad times persist. CIOs must keep essential workers happy, be prepared to hire opportunistically and to resume growth when the economy improves. That means reacting and adapting to a changes in the job market and having flexible plans in place in order to retain and attract talent -- even as the protracted downturn changes the rules of the game.

The Great Recession, as some are calling it, is different in some important ways from previous economic downturns. Tom Silver, Chief Marketing Officer of Dice.com, looks at key differences for technology workers.

As economic forecasts predict an ever-lengthening recession, CIOs will continue to be called upon to trim costs and create better operational efficiencies. We spoke with Frank Casale, CEO and chairman of the Outsourcing Institute, and Allen Weinberg, principal and North American leader of McKinsey & Company’s Outsourcing and Offshoring Practice, about IT functions with the biggest potential for outsourcing or offshoring.

The Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, a survey of over 1,400 CIOs at companies with more than 100 employees, shows a slowdown in hiring plans for the second quarter of this year. But some jobs, industries, and regions still project solid growth.

How well do Open Source and Software-as-a-Service options stack up to traditional, proprietary products? J. Schwan, managing partner with Solstice Consulting in Chicago, compared several factors and ranked the three categories in relation to each other. Schwan says, “To be successful in this economic environment, we should find creative ways to stop paying license and support fees for commoditized services and save those dollars for what really is going to give us an edge—our people.”

Money is tight, but CIOs are planning to spend on dozens of technologies. To determine which technologies will get the most budget dollars, we created the CIO Insight Growth Score, which calculates 2009 budget growth scaled to the percentage of companies that spent in 2008, plus the change from 2008 spending. See the rest of the spending survey: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Also, a look behind the numbers.

Money is tight, but CIOs are planning to spend on dozens of technologies. To determine which technologies will get the most budget dollars, we created the CIO Insight Growth Score, which calculates 2009 budget growth scaled to the percentage of companies that spent in 2008, plus the change from 2008 spending. See the rest of the spending survey: Part 1, Part 2,

Money is tight, but CIOs are planning to spend on dozens of technologies. To determine which technologies will get the most budget dollars, we created the CIO Insight Growth Score, which calculates 2009 budget growth scaled to the percentage of companies that spent in 2008, plus the change from 2008 spending.

Money is tight, but CIOs are planning to spend on dozens of technologies. To determine which technologies will get the most budget dollars, we created the CIO Insight Growth Score, which calculates 2009 budget growth scaled to the percentage of companies that spent in 2008, plus the change from 2008 spending. See the rest of the survey: Part 1; Parts 3 & 4, coming soon.

One of the better moments of the recent Academy Awards telecast involved Jessica Biel waxing ecstatic about software. The actress was congratulating Ed Catmull, who wrote the computer graphics software that's become the industry standard for Hollywood. Biel also gave a shout out to Jerry Lewis, who holds the patent on a key piece of movie-making technology. Without technology, Hollywood wouldn't exist, and technology has continued to remake the art of film across the generations. Here's our celebration of geeks and film.

Business books are a lot like fitness books. You read them for inspiration, maybe for a stray bit of wisdom here and there. But mostly you read them to beat yourselves in the head with stuff you already know. We get that, really we do, and we understand that part of the reason why hundreds of business books come off the presses every year with the same repackaged information is because people still need to learn those lessons. Still, a few of the clichés, conventions and genres seem tired enough to warrant an intervention.

Part 1 of 4Money is tight, but CIOs are planning to spend on dozens of technologies. To determine which technologies will get the most budget dollars, we created the CIO Insight Growth Score, which calculates 2009 budget growth scaled to the percentage of companies that spent in 2008, plus the change from 2008 spending. See the rest of the survey: Part 2; Parts 3 & 4, coming soon.

How can you make sure that your organization's business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) programs remain robust enough to protect your company during an extended economic downturn? William DiMartini, vice-president of consulting operations at SunGard Availability Services, poses some key questions to consider.

2009 seems likely to be a bad year for IT pay, but data from research-firm Computer Economics projects slight growth, with developers leading the pack. The biggest question is, of course, will even this slim growth hold up?

by Bob Violino Deloitte's 6th Annual Global Security Survey shows the top priorities and problems revealed by internal and external audits.

By Lex Alexander Related article here. Print journalism is in a tailspin. Embracing the Web is the obvious solution, but how is that best done? Lex Alexander, who spearheaded a well-regarded new media effort at the Greensboro, NC, News & Record, offers these tips. Notice that a few start with the word “invest,” which is counter to much recent industry wisdom.

Demand for outsourcing dropped 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 from the previous quarter, according to sourcing firm EquaTerra’s poll of outsourcing service providers and its own advisors. The study also investigated the primary reasons why outsourcing deals get delayed, altered or killed altogether.

Even when you're traveling, useful information is as close as your iPod or laptop. Here's a selection of podcasts to keep you in the know while you're on the go.

The recession is helping to drive home the fact that open source is enterprise-ready in a lot of areas. Flexible pricing and mature products make the once-exotic software ready for prime time.

Technology alone could not have saved the financial industry from itself. But banks and investment firms can do a lot to save themselves - and us - from similar problems in the future.

10 Tips for Managing with Reduced Headcount

Need some guidance for doing your job better? Check out these 15 new and upcoming books for insight into leadership, management and technology.

As analysts scramble to update IT spending projections with smaller and smaller numbers, CIOs and IT managers know they’ll have to do more with less in 2009.

Check out CIO Insight's picks of the top achievers and underachievers of 2008.

Some huge names in the technology world had a tough time in 2008. See who's hoping for better times in 2009.

Check out CIO Insight's picks for the top technology achievers of 2008.

As expected, cost-cutting goals have expanded, but it’s not the whole ballgame in 2009. Here’s what more than 220 IT executives listed as their top priorities in business, management and technology priorities.

Some of the biggest technology headlines in 2008 were also the biggest shocks. See which stories made waves.

Our list of the most monumental events of 2008, all of which should influence the IT industry for years to come.

Here's a look at the top 40 IT firms in our 2008 Vendor Value survey.

Here's a look at the third tier of IT firms in our 2008 Vendor Value survey.

Here's a look at our third installment from our 2008 Vendor Value survey. Technology firms are ranked by overall score.

Here's a look at the top 10 IT firms in our 2008 Vendor Value survey, ranked in order of overall score.

The first installment in our four-part series from our 2008 Vendor Value survey.

Web 2.0 is changing the way business and society function. Read up on how these tools can help your company.

High-ranking IT executives are much more likely to receive strong incentive-pay packages, according to research from Computer Economics. Technical and non-technical staffers also enjoy the benefit, but not nearly as much as their bosses. Check out how the levels of incentive pay differ across different IT jobs.

Research from security software maker BitDefender reveals computer users' security concerns.

Overall IT worker confidence rose in the third quarter, signaling a degree of optimism despite the downturn. But there's a catch.

Looking for inspiration on leadership? We've picked 10 compelling books that capture what it takes to lead.

Barack Obama's use of technology could well reinvent the political `ground game` as we know it. A look inside Obama's tech strategy, which includes a heavy dose of social networking and wireless collaboration, as well as what John McCain is doing to counter.

Executives see business process improvement as a profitability booster in good times and bad, but it’s getting more attention as economic uncertainty looms. Here’s what IT leaders told us about their motivations for using BPI in the downturn.

Improving business processes is no easy task, but certain technologies help more than others. We asked 176 IT leaders about the tools they’re using for business process improvement. Here’s what they said.

Telecommuting is helping businesses see gains productivity and employee retention, but lower morale and security risks pose hurdles.

Tech pros feel strongly about making the world a better place—but the definition of IT’s role is changing to include some core IT functions.

Enterprise technology, IT management and leadership are all covered in this preview of the best books on the way this season.

Network and Windows administrators top the most-wanted skills, with virtualization, .NET and CRM pros further down the list.

Security, fear of the unknown keep businesses from adopting buzzworthy social technologies, new research finds.

Trying to keep top talent on board? Here are 11 proven tactics.

Is your company looking to go green? Here's how 227 IT leaders told us they're doing it at their firms.

We asked IT executives about their company’s motivation for launching green initiatives. The results appear to mark a drastic change in the conscience of Corporate America.

IT pros are growing more cynical about the economy and the IT job market, according to new research.

A study finds some big strategic and functional disparities between CIOs reporting to CEOs or CFOs.

A look at the most proven tactics IT shops use to combat new obstacles to corporate mobility

CIOs and other IT leaders say the rise in enterprise mobility leaves their organizations vulnerable to new security and compliance challenges.

Businesses and their employees benefit from increased connectedness away from the office. Here’s what IT leaders cited as the top advantages to increased enterprise mobility.

Here's our selection of 15 books to help business-technology professionals manage and innovate.

IT hiring will rise, but execs still face significant obstacles.

Strategic, budgetary and ROI concerns can end an IT project almost before it begins.

Businesses clearly have different motivations for investing in emerging technologies.

Who said CIOs can’t have a direct impact on revenue generation? IT leaders say these technologies help boost their companies' finances.

A number of hyped-up tools have finally hit the mainstream, according to CIO Insight’s new research.

A skills shortage, getting IT and business aligned and understanding their evolving role as leaders are among the top management concerns of CIOs, according to a survey by the Society for Information Management conducted by Professor Jerry Luftman, assoc

Social networking appeals to business users for many reasons. The software makes it easy to find people and information, understand the relationships and communication patterns that make a company tick and create a common culture across large organization

Have you ever wondered what route CIOs have taken on their way to the top of the IT organization? CIO Insight asked 291 CIOs what experiences they had or positions they held for at least three years during their careers. What follows are their responses a

Staff expenses—salaries, benefits, bonuses, training and travel—can represent nearly one-third of IT budgets, and become prime targets for some CIOs to reign in costs. CIO Insight surveyed top IT executives to determine how they control costs,

CIO Insight surveyed 255 senior IT executives and managers about the techniques they use to manage IT costs. Here are a dozen techniques ranked in order of their potential savings.

It's tough to protect children from the dangers of the Internet because the dangers are so many and are changing all the time. Gregory S. Smith, CIO of the World Wildlife Fund, has applied the skills and research honed during his many years in IT to the c

Virtual worlds such as Second Life can help businesses achieve numerous goals such as selling products and collaborating with customers. Edward Roche, council manager for the business group The Conference Board, suggests asking eight key questions before

Source: Sun Microsystems

The Top 100 most influential people in IT—numbers 50-26.

Slide Show: Who are the 100 most influential people in IT? Check out the list—numbers 100-76.

The Top 100 most influential people in IT—numbers 75-51.

Top 100 most influential people in IT—numbers 25-1.

Odds are your CEO has an outdated notion of what IT is and is not. Since you like your job, you'll probably never tell him. But George Colony, chairman and CEO of Forrester Research, will if you'd let him.

The slides show the number of people working in different segments of the IT industry, and the gain or loss of jobs over the past five years.

Topics cover everything from career development, to project management, to programming practices.

The Top 30 Trends for 2007
Slideshow: Strategy
The Top 30 Trends for 2007
Slideshow: Strategy
The Top 30 Trends for 2007
Slideshow: Strategy
The Top 30 Trends for 2007
Slideshow: Management
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