A Message From Select Inc.'s President and CEO, Dana Zahka
The Executive Boardroom is a repository for published articles as well as a showcase for white papers from StrategIT's consultants and other IT professionals. This section gives IT thought leaders who are passionate about sharing their opinions on emerging technologies or IT/Business Issues a VOICE.
We encourage our visitors to submit an article or white paper that is relevant to IT or Business Related Issues that challenge traditional IT thinking. These articles will be assessed by our executive team and the winners will have their articles featured in this section of our site for 60 days. Articles must be Microsoft® Word or Adobe® Acrobat format and limited to 1000 words. To submit an article, please fill in all the fields below and attach your document.
Security for the Budget Conscious
11/12/2003 By Robert C. Norton Founder, Executive Vice President and COO TechDecisions for Insurance
Tight resources should not mean loose security. Make protection of the infrastructure
an ongoing part of the process.
As world events unfold and cyber-terrorism threats move to the forefront, we increasingly are aware our best IT defenses may not suffice. The statement “Our best IT defenses may not be good enough” should be taken very seriously. It is not a writer’s hyperbole but a serious warning.
Recent reports have verified viruses are coming at much faster rates and are far more complex. A recent Wall Street Journal story discusses “Day Zero” attacks as becoming more probable. If you are not sure what a Day Zero attack is, then you potentially are ill equipped to deal with one (see “The Best Offense…,” below). That is not acceptable to your boss and your shareholders.
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Save your IT infrastructure from becoming the economy's latest victim
8/26/2003 By Robert C. Norton Founder, Executive Vice President and COO TechRepublic
As cyberterrorism threats move to the forefront, we're becoming increasingly aware that our best IT defenses may not be good enough. Yet doing more to prevent cyberterrorism during a slow economy seems impossible to many IT executives whose budgets are frozen or reduced. Many corporate IT infrastructures are becoming increasingly compromised and more vulnerable to cyberattacks. They're choosing between staying up and staying secure. The result is the same as driving without an insurance policy—an increased chance of enormous loss.
IT security should be an ongoing process instead of a one-off event. It should be part of a holistic IT environment in which all components (including security technologies) affect the health of the system. But today, many CIOs have shifted their priority to uptime percentages and believe security is a one-time event.
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Projects That Succeed
5/20/2003 By Robert C. Norton Founder, Executive Vice President and COO Line56 - The E-Business Executive Daily
Seven habits of IT executives who understand how to prevent project failure
It is commonly understood in the IT industry that "most projects fail." This prediction of doom and gloom is overheard in corporate corridors and has been consistently written about in the technology trade media. Large-scale information technology projects are traditionally prone to greater failure rates than other complex projects of similar size and scope -- in engineering or construction, for example. According to a University of Maryland study, projects are often designated as "failures" if they are over schedule by more than 30 percent, over budget by more than 30 percent, and the end product does not meet user requirements.
Industry research reports that most projects "seem" to fail in the last third of the project; yet in reality, they fail in the first third of the project. For those IT executives not experienced or well-trained to manage complex IT projects, a project may look like it is running along smoothly until it is too late to do something about it.
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New Rules for IT Outsourcing
3/24/2003 By Robert C. Norton Founder, Executive Vice President and COO
OutsourcingCentral.com
In today’s “do more with less” environment, CIOs and CTOs face steep expectations. They need to increase yields from existing investments, maximize infrastructure performance and beef up business continuity and security programs—often while trimming staff to the bone. The result is a robust need for IT outsourcing, both for high-level strategic guidance and for supplemental engineering talent on mission-critical projects.
Companies are not alone in seeking outside assistance. Momentum to outsource crosses industry boundaries. Banks, for instance, will spend $64 billion on outsourced IT services by 2004, according to the Gartner Group. Market researcher INPUT predicts federal agencies will outsource $15 billion in IT projects by 2007, more than doubling the $6.6 billion they currently spend.
