As an IT leader, your job is growing more challenging by the day. Your IT strategy must be sophisticated and agile, balancing digital transformation priorities with security imperatives—and you probably have to stick to a lean budget too. What are the non-negotiable priorities you absolutely must include? Here’s a look at some of the most important IT issues that a modern CIO or CTO must tackle and why they matter to your success.
1. Enable digital maturity
Digital transformation may be the buzzword phrase of the moment, but there’s a good reason for that. Businesses that fail to become digitally mature will struggle to compete and thrive within the evolving digital landscape. While the transition to digital maturity often involves updating legacy infrastructure and implementing new technology systems that enable powerful business capabilities, it also requires a considerable amount of cultural change.
According to TechTarget, IT and business leaders often underestimate the degree of change management and political acumen required to lead an organization to a state of digital maturity. With that in mind, remember to keep a close eye on the softer human elements associated with digital transformation as well as the innovative technologies your organization is pursuing.
Converting Office IT to a Mobility Force
by Karen Gilleland
As an office IT decision-maker, you’re concerned with making employees’ lives easier and more productive—that’s why you’re always on the hunt for new tech solutions that add convenience. And in the current environment, office IT convenience means utilizing mobile apps. Mobile apps, which have long been platforms for more trivial matters like gaming, are quickly emerging as the dominant business interface.
But while companies are rushing to extend mobility to customer interfaces, executives are slow to grant their own employees mobile access, according to a study by Accenture. Currently, only about 40 percent deploy mobile apps for their employees.
Make Your Vacation Scam Free
by Lisa Lake, Consumer Education Specialist
It’s almost summer! Right now, you probably have beaches on the brain or you’re thinking about that long-planned trip abroad. Before you head out, take steps to help keep your dream vacation from becoming a nightmare:
Do some research — and then carefully read the details on travel offers.
- First, get recommendations from family and friends on good travel agencies, vacation rentals, hotels and travel packages — before responding to offers.
- Look up travel companies, hotels, rentals and agents with the words “scam,” “review,” or “complaint.”
- Look for extra costs. Resort fees (also known as destination, facility and amenity fees) can add $50 or more to your nightly cost.
- Ask about taxes, which may be significant in many locations.
- Get a copy of the cancellation and refund policies before you pay.
- If you’re buying travel insurance, be sure the agency is licensed.
- Bring copies of any confirmation details that show the rate and amenities you were promised. This also helps if the hotel or host says your reservation is “lost.”
Maximizing Your IT Resources with IT Services
Why use The Computing Center or any other IT Services Company when many believe they can do it all themselves? Certainly some can or hire technology people for their staffs.This article discusses what we call a hybrid approach to IT Services - do some of the work internally while having an outsourced technology services company available for certain specialty work.
Of all the professions in this world, you’d be hard-pressed to find one with a more pervasive DIY spirit than IT. From cobbling together your first network of 300+ machines to tapping into your first private cloud deployment, there’s a unique satisfaction brought about when you build it yourself.
That said, IT outsourcing services shouldn’t be a taboo topic, especially when your IT resources need to be smartly allocated. There are some things you simply won’t be able to tackle effectively and efficiently. Fortunately, others can, which can help you make the most of your resources.
Weirdest Tech Stories of 2018
Nap-busting machines, “augmented eating” and more
As we begin a new year, it’s a great time to give our brains a fun treat and look back at some of the strangest tech stories we heard about in 2018.
No sleeping on the job
Hoping to catch a few subtle Z’s in your cube between meetings? If you’re in Japan, you’ll have to get another coffee instead, thanks to a new system that senses if you’re sleeping—and blasts you with cold air to wake you up. The as-yet-named system, a collaboration between Japanese air conditioning manufacturer Daikin and electronics giant NEC, will use facial recognition technology to detect if a worker’s eyelids are making movements that usually happen before dozing off. Why cold air? An initial study found it was the best way to keep people alert (increasing room brightness and spraying aromas were also tested). Daikin hopes to release the system commercially in 2020, so grab your sweater.
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