Cloud computing is an evolving technology that offers opportunities and benefits for companies and enterprises. It provides the ability to simplify previously difficult processes such as using green IT. This helps organizations follow corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines and make use of environmentally friendly IT. As businesses that utilize cloud computing provide their products in a cloud supply chain, it is important to clarify what IT services are involved in order to point out the value that can be gained from using cloud computing.

Many of us face challenges associated with the rapid growth in mobile application opportunities.

The onslaught of mobile devices into the office is no surprise. It has been going on for years, with workers bringing their PDAs, BlackBerrys, and smartphones to work, and, most recently, their iPhones and iPads.

In a 2010 Executive Update, I talked about the transition from a document-centric approach to knowledge management (KM) -- with its emphasis on content management systems (CMSs) and search engines -- to "social KM," in which, to quote the title I gave that Update: "It's not (just) what you know; it's who you know." 1

Here's a question for you: who do you think is planning to spend $20 billion a year on cloud computing, every year? I can't imagine that you came up with any answer other than the US government, and you're right. Well, almost.

This is the final Executive Update in a three-part series exploring the implications of two key technological trends: (1) the move toward the syndication rather than the simple publishing of Web content and (2) the shift from hosting Web applications to providing Web services. Both of these trends change the ways that firms seek to create and capture value through content/functionality.

Why the current call for more Kanban -- and better Kanban? Recently, I thought about this question while perusing the work of Professor C.K. Prahalad and his colleagues. 1 Fusing their viewpoints with my own research on five current macrotrends highlights the need for more Kanban -- and the potential for better Kanban -- which IT should explore. Let me first explain the macrotrends driving my argument.

As I explore in this Executive Update, one of the most interesting and challenging scenarios ahead for BI comes from the predicted "shift to the cloud."1 According to

Even though the concept of "business service management" (BSM) has been debated, advocated, debased, and promoted for years, the immaturity in articulating its mechanisms is still somewhat pervasive. Yet IT has been, is, and will continue to be hammered for being disconnected from the business needs of the customers that it serves unless something fundamentally changes within IT.

In Part I of this three-part Executive Update series, we began our examination of a recent Cutter survey on the reorganization of the IT function. 1 Nearly three-quarters of reporting organizations had some type of IT reorganization in the past three years (81% in the past five).

This Executive Update, the first in a series, discusses why business leaders should embrace business architecture as a means of addressing complex business challenges in ways that senior leadership can no longer ignore.

In February/March 2011, Cutter Consortium conducted a survey asking 60 end-user organizations various questions about the adoption and use of predictive analytics. The goal was to uncover corporate adoption trends and examine application development issues to discern how organizations are applying predictive analytics technology and practices to structured data analysis.

The requirements from business for protecting confidential information are constantly growing, because the damage from disclosing such information may result in a loss of a company's competitive advantage and profits, sanctions by regulatory authorities, and even administrative and criminal liability. It is no secret that successful business performance depends on the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of corporate information.

The recession and other financial woes of the last three years have affected almost every industry. Reorganization in one form or another, often accompanied by layoffs, became the norm. It is little surprise then that three-quarters of all organizations in a recent Cutter Consortium survey reported IT reorganizations during the period 2008-2010.

Embedded analytics has gained significance recently, as businesses seek more optimization. This Executive Update deals with the context of embedded analytics, its technicalities, and inherent challenges.

Software configuration management (SCM) and build management are misunderstood disciplines. Many organizations have practices in these areas that either hinder productivity or sacrifice too much traceability in the name of improving short-term productivity. SCM and build, when done correctly, can provide a framework that allows a team to develop code quickly. However, it's also possible to establish practices that can hinder your development team.

While we're all busy doing technology, it's essential we understand -- and communicate -- what we're doing. The need for education and communication has never been greater, especially from the uninitiated, cynical, and happily ignorant.

In February/March 2011, Cutter Consortium conducted a survey asking 60 end-user organizations various questions about the adoption and use of predictive analytics. The goal was to uncover corporate adoption trends and examine application development issues to discern how organizations are applying predictive analytics technology and practices to structured data analysis.

Location-based services have many features and applications that all executives need to be aware of, as their organizations likely are, or will be, using them. The purpose of this two-part Executive Update series is to present a panorama of the varied location-based services accompanied by an analysis of the legal issues raised. The privacy implications of geolocation have to be evaluated according to the role played by the data subject and the collection and processing of personal information.

Do you know how electricity is produced? You probably know that it has something to do with turbines and magnets, but don't worry about it; most people don't really know. How about water? How does it get to your kitchen sink? Let's be honest; you don't really care, do you? Well, neither do most people. They just want it to be there when they need it.

The relationship between intellectual property (IP) rights and innovation is by no means straightforward. While conventional economics dictates that innovation is the route to value creation -- and IP protection provides the means to secure that value -- this formulation breaks down almost at the instant in which it is questioned.

Does this sound familiar? The product manager for a software application is getting hounded by sales reps to add functionality that would let them call on their installed base with a new story to tell. At the same time, customer service has a list of usability problems that need to be fixed. Meanwhile, the product developers are realizing that they have pushed the current architecture to its limits, and they need to move to an approach based on services.

All of us are familiar with today's flood of mobile devices and the multiple impacts and changes this is bringing about in many businesses. We've already experienced the affect of smartphones on our daily lives, and industry studies indicate there will likely eventually be more smartphones in use than PCs, particularly outside of North America.

Welcome to the fourth and final installment in a series of Executive Updates that explore the "new outsourcing" and how it may be different from the outsourcing that we have all come to know.