Given the increasing use of mobile technology in many corporations, how can we weave that technology into a future IT department architecture that will prove resilient over the years to come while still addressing the immediacy of making a difference to the bottom line today?

In April 2006, Cutter Consortium conducted a survey that asked 106 end-user organizations about their use of open source business intelligence (BI) tools. The goal was to determine the degree to which companies are using or planning to use open source BI tools. In particular, the survey was designed to identify the issues and trends encountered in these efforts and to provide statistics useful for benchmarking and measuring your own organization's use of open source BI tools.

Projects have problems. Most problems arise and are solved somewhat quickly; on some projects, however, the problems accumulate and are compounded to a point where they cannot be resolved successfully. These are sometimes called "troubled projects." These projects may limp along to the finish line. However, if the sponsor and management stakeholders perceive that the project cannot get to the finish line, a project rescue should be attempted.

Conducting audits of outsourcing deals is not something every organization focuses on. There are usually so many operational fires to be put out that review and compliance processes can easily be overlooked. Imagine, however, if you never reviewed your staff: they may become disinterested and unmotivated, and (worst of all) you may not know what they are actually doing! Outsourcing arrangements are no different.

Global sourcing is the hallmark of the 21st-century organization. As New York Times best-selling author Thomas L. Friedman articulates so brilliantly in his latest book The World Is Flat [1], China -- along with other low-cost country sourcing (LCCS) phenomena -- is fast becoming part of the global supply chain through the convergence of technology.

The US government has mandated federal agencies to create a transition plan for migration to IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) by February 2007 and to comply with the edict by mid-2008. Given the paternity of the US Department of Defense (DoD) in establishing the Internet as we know it, one would expect rapid acceptance in the private sector, but, of course, one would be wrong. Migration to this advanced networking protocol has proceeded slowly, and there are many reasons why.

As the problem child of business intelligence, knowledge management (KM) has suffered an identity crisis for some time, which explains organizations' total lack of enthusiasm today for any technology or management strategy yoked to those two words. As I pointed out in a previous Executive Report [1], KM means almost anything, therefore it means almost nothing.

Businesses must be vigilant about data security in today's global information-based economy. The dependence upon IT in this type of environment and the risks that are an inherent part of IT make it necessary for technology leaders to know the data protection laws and regulations that exist now more than ever before.

According to an ancient Middle Eastern story, two nomadic tribes were preparing to go into battle over the right to use a well in the desert. The son of one of the tribal leaders asked his father why he was going into battle when the opposing tribe was so strong and would surely inflict heavy casualties on his father's tribe, to which his father replied: "I cannot let another tribe take our well."

"But we will probably lose the battle," the son persisted, "and they will get the well anyway."

This is the first Executive Update in a series of three that examines enterprise architecture (EA) -- specifically, its organization and programs, how it provides governance, and the value it brings to companies. The series is based on data from a recent Cutter Consortium survey.

As the problem child of business intelligence, knowledge management (KM) has suffered an identity crisis for some time, which explains organizations' total lack of enthusiasm today for any technology or management strategy yoked to those two words. As I pointed out in a previous Executive Report [1], KM means almost anything, therefore it means almost nothing.

You are not your code. If someone finds a bug in your code, that does not (necessarily) represent a flaw in your skills. And flaws in your skills, should they exist, do not represent flaws in you, the individual. These are truisms, of course, but bear with me for a bit.

Businesses must be vigilant about data security in today's global information-based economy. The dependence upon IT in this type of environment and the risks that are an inherent part of IT make it necessary for technology leaders to know the data protection laws and regulations that exist now more than ever before.

As the IT and BPO markets mature, customers expect more ambitious outcomes from suppliers beyond cost savings on baseline services. Customers want suppliers to completely transform their back offices: they want slick shared service facilities; superior services; reengineered business processes; integrated technology including self-serve, Web-based applications; highly empowered back-office leadership; and motivated back-office staff. Some customers even expect suppliers to commercialize their back offices once the transformation is complete.

How often have we been told that "85% [or 90%, or whatever] of the world's computers run Windows"? In fact, the PC market, which Windows dominates, is just the visible tip of a computing iceberg. The world's most widely used operating system is ITRON, a real-time kernel for embedded systems (ES) standardized in Japan [5]. Part of the even bigger TRON initiative launched in 1984, it runs inside huge numbers of phones, cameras, CD players, and other portable devices. As of 2003, ITRON was deployed in an estimated three billion microprocessors.

Man is a measuring animal. Making a choice between alternatives requires sensing, thinking, and doing. Sometimes we need to decide within seconds; sometimes we have the luxury of time. It is clear that some people make better choices than others. But how should people decide?

As an IT architect involved in enterprise architecture (EA), I often recall that this branch of IT is not new at all. Rather, it is strictly related to cybernetics,1 a term the Greek philosopher Plato used to refer to "the art of steering" or "the art of government." In 1958, French cybernetics pioneer Louis Couffignal called cybernetics "the art of assuring efficiency of action." Indeed, EA has this final goal: to allow the control and governance of an enterprise.

In April 2006, Cutter Consortium conducted a survey that asked 106 end-user organizations about their use of open source business intelligence (BI) tools. The goal was to determine the degree to which companies are using or planning to use open source BI tools. In particular, the survey was designed to identify the issues and trends being encountered in these efforts and to provide statistics useful for benchmarking and measuring your own organization's use of open source BI tools.

If you wanted to dramatically improve the productivity of a software development team, what would you do? Well, you might start by providing training to improve team members' skills; you might then improve the tools they work with; and finally, you might improve their software process. Is that all? Can you do anything else to make the team more productive?

Over the last few years, companies in the music and entertainment industries have repeatedly sued a host of businesses such as Napster, MP3.com, and others for contributory copyright infringement. The defendants in such cases typically provided software or sites that users could access to download or swap music, based on peer-to-peer (P2P) technology.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology now occupies that unenviable position all enterprise IT finds itself in at some point in its lifecycle. Born on the mountaintop of huge expectations, it fell into a canyon of disillusionment and confusion as companies were slower to utilize it than anticipated and that utilization has been less innovative than originally expected. Now, climbing out of the abyss into the light of hope, RFID is poised to see accelerated adoption over the next several years.

The "human side" of an outsourcing deal may be difficult to visualize at first, but if the fears and apprehensions of your staff are not managed well, it may not be long before it is the leading problem your organization faces. In some outsourcing deals, employees have not only refused to work, but they have deliberately sabotaged the process itself.

How do you measure your vendors' performance? On-time delivery? Reject rate? Lowest product cost? Quality of service? These are all important metrics; however, they may not provide you with sufficient information to determine the adequacy of your return on the investment you made with your vendors. Such metrics tend to focus on the tactical attributes of the relationship but don't necessarily help evaluate the broader strategic attributes.

As the monitoring and measuring capabilities initially designed for data mining literally move to the shop floor in business performance management, it is important to remember that human beings are at the core of any performance management process. While technology can be put into place to measure ongoing processes, determine where processes need to be improved, and observe shortfalls in the processes, at the end of the day, it is the changes in human behavior that make all the difference.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has proven to be the most popular business software of the 20th century and the trend continues to grow -- reaching new industries and market segments around the globe [3]. Firms implement ERP because they expect the software to enable strategically important organizational change. However, many organizations find that achieving the business objectives associated with ERP technology adoption is problematic [4].