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RFID - the road forward
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Ashley Dugmore, MD of The Printer Distribution Company (PDC)
Although sometimes cynically touted as a solution looking for a problem, the benefits of RFID are widely acknowledged. Early adopters of this technology have realised advantages in some, if not all, areas of their business, making the business case for RFID a compelling one.
[Issue:Two hundred and one (28/8/06 - 1/9/06)]
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Corporate buying advice
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With multi-core processors making their appearance in the mainstream, Microsoft's upcoming Vista operating system being delayed for a fourth time and Apple Computer beginning to use Intel processors in its desktop and notebook platforms, corporate buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to make 'safe' decisions that will support their future IT strategies.
[Issue:Two hundred and one (28/8/06 - 1/9/06)]
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Gaining digital direction through social networks
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Christo van Staden, director at Carrick Holdings
The growth of the Internet, and online communication capability, has given rise to a form of digital interaction called social networks. As with most other captivating technology-based social developments, there is likely to be ongoing debate as to the related pros and cons. However, security has to be at the top of the list of issues.
[Issue:Two hundred and two (4/9/06 - 8/9/06)]
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The future of outsourcing
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Outsourcing is increasing its reach in terms of vertical industry reach, as well as geographic scope. Whilst the firms investing in it are wide-ranging, their individual needs are all similar, in that they need to reduce overheads as much as possible. Yet the outsourcing phenomenon is rarely understood.
[Issue:Two hundred and three (11/9/06 - 15/9/06)]
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SMEs more vulnerable to data theft
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ICT World exclusive
Keeping personal identity information and confidential data secure, especially from unauthorised users and fraudsters, continues to be a major security threat for SMEs and home users. Data security is becoming increasingly important as the trend towards mobile computing grows. This is according to John McLoughlin, MD of J2 Software.
[Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
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ITSM - the more I practise...
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Jurgen Muller, director at Quintica
Many IT managers today are daunted by the complexity and sheer effort it will take to implement IT Service Management (ITSM) best practices. Indeed, changing processes and delving into a new mindset - it all can seem complicated and downright frightening. But, it does not have to be that hard.
[Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
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Citizens safe, citizens secure?
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Sean O'Brien, SAP EMEA news industry director: public security
"The era of more open borders, integrated economies and new technologies has thrown up new security challenges. Classic threats to security - in other words, military threats posed by hostile states - are now replaced by new, dynamic threats that risk disrupting our society and endangering our citizens," said Jose Barraso, President of the European Commission, during an address at a public meeting earlier this year.
[Issue:Two hundred and five (26/9/06 - 29/9/06)]
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'Companies not utilising full potential of their call centres'
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Most companies do not exercise the full potential of their call centres, seeing them instead as an add-on cost centre and a glorified help desk to field customer calls and queries.
[Issue:Two hundred and five (26/9/06 - 29/9/06)]
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Lost in translation
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Michael Allen, director of performance at Compuware
When the performance of an application deteriorates, productivity is impacted and end-users will be left thoroughly frustrated. In many cases, this may well be just the beginning of the problem: before the application can be fixed, the root of the issue must be identified, and effectively communicated to all relevant parties.
[Issue:Two hundred and five (26/9/06 - 29/9/06)]
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Network demand moves from 'more pipe to more insight' - Channel Data
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Network-dependent business is learning fast that size may matter, but for superior performance clarity and efficiency are critical.
[Issue:Two hundred and five (26/9/06 - 29/9/06)]
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Many SMEs do not consider ICT critical - SME Survey 2006
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SMEs are increasingly satisfied with the availability of ICT, but still wrestle with the challenge of securing the skills and expertise necessary for sustained performance.
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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Digital signature technology combats spam menace to electronic messaging
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Spam is putting a huge dent in the value of e-mail. The widespread and implicit trust in the use of e-mail as a business and personal communications medium is being steadily undermined by burgeoning unwanted commercial messages (spam) - a situation that seriously needs to be addressed by businesses providing e-mail-based services.
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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An epic battle between IT conformance and business compliance
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IT departments and management teams are often left in the dark as to whose court the ball is being played in when it comes to conformance and governance. Foster-Melliar hosted a breakfast presentation in Johannesburg on September 15, focusing on the subtle balance and inter-dependencies of these two topics.
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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What are we going to do with the 2010 infrastructure - afterwards?
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Andrew Strachan, SAP Africa's industry solution manager for local government and utilities
Given government's current determined focus on service delivery, the question has to be asked: is there any pro-active link being made by government between monies being spent on infrastructure for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and what local municipalities are going to be able to use of that infrastructure for service delivery after 2010?
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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SMS will 'drive the mobile Internet'
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The mobile Internet industry is growing with the uptake of handsets enabled with 3G internet access and users demanding more and more mobile content experiences, such as information, music, games, pictures and video clips.
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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Professional time wasters
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Forget the paperless office, when it comes to the banking and insurance industries, paper is still business-critical for legal reasons, but new research shows that the way in which this paper is processed is costing the industry millions of euros in lost revenue and impacting on productivity.
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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Local market is ready to Skype
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Paul Luff, country manager at SMC Networks SA
South Africans are not far behind their overseas counterparts as far as the adoption and use of IP telephony is concerned. It will not be long before the term 'Skype me' is used extensively, and understood widely due to the ease-of-use, cost and functionality of Skype.
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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Expanding into Africa? Manage your payroll locally
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Many local companies have acknowledged the opportunities that lie beyond the borders of this country, expanding their businesses and services into new regions on the continent.
[Issue:Two hundred and six (2/10/06 - 6/10/06)]
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Anti-spam versus content filtering - clearing the haze
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There is a common misperception that anti-spam and content filtering are one and the same, with the result that anti-spam solutions often get a bad wrap from companies that expect the software to perform content filtering tasks and visa versa.
[Issue:Two hundred and seven (9/10/06 - 13/10/06)]
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The success of security training lies in the approach
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A company's approach has everything to do with the success of IT security training and skills development, says Christo van Staden, director of Carrick Holdings, a local provider of security solutions, training and consulting services.
[Issue:Two hundred and seven (9/10/06 - 13/10/06)]
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Locking down Pandora's box
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ICT World exclusive
The Internet is an important business tool, but it is also a Pandora's box of spam, viruses, worms and spyware - invasive and harmful bits of code that that can bring a company's network to a screeching halt and put its data at risk.
[Issue:Two hundred and seven (9/10/06 - 13/10/06)]
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Service management skills - why we are not taking the road less travelled
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Charles Osburn, CEO at Quintica
It has become blatantly obvious that Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) skills are no longer an interesting resume add-on, but an essential job prerequisite.
[Issue:Two hundred and seven (9/10/06 - 13/10/06)]
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Manufacturers fudging LCD response times?
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Corporates and consumers in the market for Liquid Crystal Display (LCDs) - whether for use with business applications, or for gaming, video or television - need to be aware of the questions being raised around the validity of LCD response times as quoted by manufacturers.
[Issue:Two hundred and seven (9/10/06 - 13/10/06)]
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Compliance 'defining and securing today's business landscape
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Christo van Staden, director at Carrick Holdings
Compliance has emerged as a key issue within the modern workplace. Businesses are compelled to prove the credibility and success of policies and procedures and this process takes on a new meaning when focused on IT security.
[Issue:Two hundred and seven (9/10/06 - 13/10/06)]
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Re-inventing the CFO
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Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are under greater pressure than ever before. While they aspire to be business partners, their departments have shrunk, their people are stretched to breaking point and they continue to struggle with basic accounting tasks.
[Issue:Two hundred and seven (9/10/06 - 13/10/06)]
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Overall supply chain progress stalled - CSC survey
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After last year's significant advancements, firms showed little progress toward overall supply chain goals, according to the fourth annual Global Survey of Supply Chain Progress from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and Supply Chain Management Review.
[Issue:Two hundred and eight (16/10/06 - 20/10/06)]
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Guarding your children online
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The advancement in ICT and proliferation of the Internet has resulted in a significant increase in information resources, communication channels and access to interactive devices.
[Issue:Two hundred and eight (16/10/06 - 20/10/06)]
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Mobile driving security threats
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Eric McGee, IS consultant at Business Connexion's Networks Competency
As mobile access to sensitive corporate information becomes more popular, and the number and type of mobile devices used to access such information increases, security becomes a problem that most companies will have to deal with, if they are not already doing so.
[Issue:Two hundred and eight (16/10/06 - 20/10/06)]
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The rise of the mobile office
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Gary Naidoo, deputy MD at Sahara
There is no doubt that mobile computing has made its mark globally within corporate arenas. Decision-makers, for the most part, have embraced mobility infrastructure with the view that it is a valuable investment.
[Issue:Two hundred and eight (16/10/06 - 20/10/06)]
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The price tag on channel loyalty versus the importance of channel partnering
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Gary Naidoo, deputy MD at Sahara
Today's markets and businesses place a premium on customer loyalty, yet customer loyalty appears to be fleeting, only achievable through offering the lowest price or best margins to the channel.
[Issue:Two hundred and eight (16/10/06 - 20/10/06)]
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The effects of the ECA on the economy
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"The aim of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) is for industry players to work and think in a converged manner as well as build multi-stakeholder partnerships," says Dr Harold Wesso, Deputy Director-General of Policy Development at the Department of Communications.
[Issue:Two hundred and nine (23/10/06 - 27/10/06)]
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'Developing a sales strategy will help your business succeed'
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A business sales strategy can make or break a firm, yet many businesses do not pay much attention to developing a strategy or regularly reviewing their sales plan.
[Issue:Two hundred and nine (23/10/06 - 27/10/06)]
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Get colour-wise: Seven factors to consider when investing in a colour printer/copier
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Marianna Gdanis, colour division product manager for Minolta SA
Colour printing and copying has come of age in the workplace and moved into the mainstream of everyday business communications. Proposals, presentations and internal reports are being created and reproduced in colour to communicate messages more persuasively and with greater impact.
[Issue:Two hundred and nine (23/10/06 - 27/10/06)]
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Application security essentials explained
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The push for ever greater access to information by an increasingly larger base of business stakeholders is driving application security concerns to a higher level. With myriad users - including staff, clients and suppliers -- accessing corporate data via different applications and communications channels, organisations are scrutinising the security built into the applications and demanding protection at the data layer.
[Issue:Two hundred and nine (23/10/06 - 27/10/06)]
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'BPM and SOA are complementary tools for the agile enterprise'
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Global 360, a provider of business process management and optimisation solutions, asserts that business process management solutions can work effectively with service oriented architecture - allowing a business to optimise its performance, and making it more adaptable to change while cutting costs.
[Issue:Two hundred and nine (23/10/06 - 27/10/06)]
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Companies must improve their virus catch rate
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Companies need to work on improving their virus 'catch-rate', because, when it comes to maintaining the optimal health of company networks, the aim is to catch as many viruses as possible.
[Issue:Two hundred and nine (23/10/06 - 27/10/06)]
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Customers should be cautious of over consolidation
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ICT consolidation is a contentious and often misunderstood topic in the business world today. While in its purest form the concept of IT consolidation means the centralisation of computing resources to a single location, many organisations caught up in the hype may end up over-consolidating and in-turn decrease the overall performance of their IT environment.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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Telecommunications - how does SA compare?
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The mobile market in SA, although well established, is significantly underdeveloped with regard to data and services, says Martin Ackerman, who has been involved in telecommunications since the inception of the cellphone industry in SA.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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'50% chance of failure when deploying applications'
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Research from Compuware, the software and services company, has found that more than half of European IT executives (52%) surveyed believe there is a 50% or higher chance that application deployments will fail when they go live.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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CIOs should develop their approach to mergers and acquisitions - Gartner
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CIOs who approach organisational mergers, acquisitions and divestments (MA&Ds) as an opportunity to grow staff and strengthen IT assets put their companies at significant advantage over those who view MA&Ds with trepidation, according to new research from Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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Building project manager competency
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Paul Viviers, director, PM Sight
One of the main reasons for troubled or unsuccessful projects is a lack of qualified, committed project management professionals. In many organisations, employees have very little incentive to assume the position of project manager, largely due to a disconnect surrounding of what the role entails.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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Mobile security needs to include cell phones
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Whilst there is a steady focus on mobile & wireless security from a PC and ICT infrastructure point of view, the business sector has to pay a lot more attention to the mobile phone.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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'Business priorities must drive IT processes'
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The only way to ensure that the speed of change does not outpace the ability of IT infrastructures to deliver new applications and modify processes is by aligning IT with business priorities.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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Widescreen - what are the benefits?
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Widescreen notebooks first appeared on the mass market about two years ago. While these devices undoubtedly had a certain novelty value attached to them, vendors maintained that the new screen size would be a hit. As it turns out, they were right.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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'Efficient software licence management could save companies thousands'
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Efficient software licence management could save SA graphic arts and print companies thousands -if not millions - of Rands. This is the view of Dewald Rosema of Exell Technologies, a Pretoria-based company that provides total IT solutions to the printing industry.
[Issue:Two hundred and ten (30/10/06 - 3/11/06)]
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Government open source drive heads for call centres
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Public sector call centres may be among the most significant beneficiaries of the government's drive to implement open source software solutions, according to BizCall MD, Steve Briggs.
[Issue:Two hundred and eleven (6/11/06 - 10/11/06)]
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Relationship marketing through multiple channels
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Yaron Assabi, CEO of the Digital Solutions Group, says using a Web-centric approach can bring a change
Most executives were disillusioned by the Web and the economic turmoil that was caused by the dotcom boom and bust. At the time, many blamed technology companies of 'misleading' the public.
[Issue:Two hundred and eleven (6/11/06 - 10/11/06)]
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Telecoms infrastructure development key to bridging the 'digital divide'
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With ongoing innovations in the development and use of ICT, the information age offers enormous potential for growth in all countries. Despite this, SA has yet to benefit from the vast resources and opportunities provided by ICT, particularly with regards to Internet access and telecommunications.
[Issue:Two hundred and eleven (6/11/06 - 10/11/06)]
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Next intelligent step is to unlock BI's strategic value - Quintica
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Up to 80% of the investment in a Business Intelligence (BI) implementation is wasted and new financial commitments will be required within three years - when the cycle may repeat itself.
[Issue:Two hundred and eleven (6/11/06 - 10/11/06)]
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Look beyond power issue as pressure mounts for 'greener' IT - Gartner
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Electrical power consumption has become a headline issue in the 'greener IT' debate, but this is just the tip of a melting iceberg for an IT industry that is currently unsustainable, according to Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and twelve (13/11/06 - 17/11/06)]
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Building and enabling an effective decision-making framework
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Many factors affect performance but the most critical - and most fluid - is the decision making that happens at every level of an organisation. The role of CIOs, CFOs and line of business executives in driving effective decision making is critically important.
[Issue:Two hundred and twelve (13/11/06 - 17/11/06)]
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Corporate communication - why we cannot just 'send and receive' anymore
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Robert Sussman, joint MD at Integr8 IT
It may be one of the more convenient and most accessible means of modern communication, but the reality of engaging in corporate e-mail communication is effective management and adherence to legislation.
[Issue:Two hundred and twelve (13/11/06 - 17/11/06)]
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Delivering applications with confidence
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Thomas Cronje, SA team leader for application quality, Compuware
Testing new applications early in the development cycle both improves the quality of the resulting applications and dramatically cuts the cost of fixing bugs. By implementing continuous integrated testing (CIT), organisations can move their applications into production on time and with far fewer defects.
[Issue:Two hundred and twelve (13/11/06 - 17/11/06)]
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Strategic workforce planning key to improving IT effectiveness - Gartner EXP
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CIOs are under increased pressure to improve IT organisation effectiveness and contribute to enterprise growth and competitiveness. To do so, it is crucial that companies implement a strategic workforce planning process to align IT resources (the people) to support the execution of business and IT strategies, according to Gartner Executive Programs (EXP), a unit of Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and twelve (13/11/06 - 17/11/06)]
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The importance of data back-ups for SMEs
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David Lees, director at End2End Business Solutions
Whilst large enterprises have detailed disaster recovery plans in place which often include pre-configured and mirrored backup file-servers, most SMEs cannot justify the investment required to implement disaster recovery plans of this nature, and must thus rely solely on the integrity and recoverability of their back-ups.
[Issue:Two hundred and twelve (13/11/06 - 17/11/06)]
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Wireless broadband access expected to shoot the lights out - BMI-T
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BMI-TechKnowledge has released its latest Wireless Access and Broadband report, in which it has upwardly revised its previous forecasts for the broadband market.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirteen (20/11/06 - 24/11/06)]
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Real-time information is the only way to control organisational spending
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Stanton Jandrell, CEO of Fraxion
In any organisation where more than a handful of people are authorised to spend money, controlling spending can be a major challenge. Very few organisations have escaped problems like overspent budgets, out-of-control expense claims or unauthorised spending - and sometimes the cure can be as bad as the disease, with tighter controls leading to complicated bureaucracy and long delays as requisitions and purchase orders wait for signatures.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirteen (20/11/06 - 24/11/06)]
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Managerial and leadership skills key to future ICT development
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The most effective way for an organisation to leverage its intellectual capital while simultaneously protecting and developing its skills base is to identify managerial and leadership skills.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirteen (20/11/06 - 24/11/06)]
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The carbon-adjusted supply chain
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Jon Udell, InfoWorld (US online)
At the Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT in September, Amazon.com CEO, Jeff Bezos, gave a keynote talk on the slew of new Web services his company has recently launched.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirteen (20/11/06 - 24/11/06)]
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On the Mark: Thinking crisis
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Mark Hall, Computerworld (US)
Whether you call them the millennium generation, the Google generation or digital natives, most school kids today are considered not merely comfortable with computers, but experts with them. Why, they have had PCs at home and in the classroom since, like, um, forever.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirteen (20/11/06 - 24/11/06)]
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Number portability provides problems for value-added services
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Number portability aims to give SA consumers greater choice of network provider while retaining their cellphone numbers. This is good news for consumers.
[Issue:Two hundred and fourteen (27/11/06 - 1/12/06)]
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Non-OS-dependent malware
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Jeremy Matthews, MD Panda Software SA
All too often people talk about the disadvantages of the Windows operating system: it has too many security flaws, it is not properly patched, it is not security-oriented... Until the much talked about Vista system finally reaches our computers, there will still be plenty of time to protest.
[Issue:Two hundred and fourteen (27/11/06 - 1/12/06)]
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Corporates responsible for 80% of e-waste
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Electronic waste (e-waste) is the world's fastest-growing and potentially most dangerous waste problem - and corporations are responsible for 80% of e-waste generated, both in SA and globally.
[Issue:Two hundred and fourteen (27/11/06 - 1/12/06)]
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Are nightly back-ups irrelevant?
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Jim Damoulakis, Computerworld (US online)
Have nightly back-ups become irrelevant?
[Issue:Two hundred and fourteen (27/11/06 - 1/12/06)]
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Identity theft a growing concern
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ICT World exclusive
Security threats are perpetually evolving, with new viruses, worms and Trojans emerging on a daily basis. However, it is identity theft that is increasingly becoming a concern - both within the corporate environment and for consumers.
[Issue:Two hundred and fifteen (4/12/06 - 8/12/06)]
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DBSA committed to accelerating ICT development in SADC
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The growth and penetration of ICT depends on broad affordable access to infrastructure, enabled by the convergence of technologies, forward-looking telecommunications policy and robust network infrastructure.
[Issue:Two hundred and fifteen (4/12/06 - 8/12/06)]
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A new information age needs a new kind of architect
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Stuart MacGregor, MD of Real IRM
Information technology (IT), we have come to see in recent years, is more about technology than it has been about information. This view is reflected in many areas:
[Issue:Two hundred and fifteen (4/12/06 - 8/12/06)]
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Is predictive modelling key to understanding customer loyalty?
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The introduction of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has ensured that customer retention is at the top of mobile operators' agendas. Local marketing insight services company, Knowledge Factory, argues that predictive modelling techniques are the key to understanding what drives customer loyalty.
[Issue:Two hundred and fifteen (4/12/06 - 8/12/06)]
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What CIOs should start, do more of, stop and learn in 2007 - Gartner
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Gartner has unveiled a preview of its annual CIO New Year resolutions, advising CIOs what to 'start, do more of, stop as well as learn' in 2007.
[Issue:Two hundred and fifteen (4/12/06 - 8/12/06)]
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Digital homes - the future is here
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The notion of the digital future has for many appeared to be too futuristic to be practical, and, even when available, probably beyond the means of the average individual.
[Issue:Two hundred and sixteen (11/12/06 - 15/12/06)]
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Semiconductor industry grew by 11% in 2006 - Gartner
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Worldwide semiconductor revenue totalled $261,4bn in 2006, an 11,3% increase from 2005, according to preliminary results from Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and sixteen (11/12/06 - 15/12/06)]
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Global mobile messaging levels to hit 2,3 trillion by 2010 - Gartner
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Wireless messaging is the most successful mainstream mobile data service to have emerged during the 30-year history of the cellular telecom industry.
[Issue:Two hundred and sixteen (11/12/06 - 15/12/06)]
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Gartner highlights predictions for IT organisations in 2007 and beyond
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Gartner has released 10 predictions that are claimed to showcase the trends and events that will change the nature of business and IT in 2007 and beyond.
[Issue:Two hundred and sixteen (11/12/06 - 15/12/06)]
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Global semiconductor memory revenue grew by 22% in 2006 - Gartner
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Driven by solid growth in dynamic random access memory (DRAM), worldwide memory revenue is on pace to grow by 21,5%, with revenue surpassing $60,4bn in 2006, according to Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and sixteen (11/12/06 - 15/12/06)]
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51% of software on auction sites is counterfeit, study reveals
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51% of the software sold by a well-known auction site was found to be either counterfeit or had software components that were counterfeit. This was revealed by a study conducted by the IDC.
[Issue:Two hundred and seventeen (8/1/07 -12/1/07)]
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Operating in a security-conscious market
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Clint Carrick, CEO, Carrick Holdings
The IT security market continues to be influenced by issues like social engineering, identity theft and compliance with legislation. Corporate SA should associate IT security with more than just efforts to protect the business against external threats.
[Issue:Two hundred and seventeen (8/1/07 -12/1/07)]
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Driving IT skills transformation through the grass roots upliftment of schools
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ICT World exclusive
ICT companies are some of the most vocal when it comes to the skills shortage in the market, and the accompanying dearth of graduates with the high-level credentials and qualifications required to add value to an ICT organisation and its customers.
[Issue:Two hundred and seventeen (8/1/07 -12/1/07)]
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The power of digitally enhanced payroll administration
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Teryl Schroenn, MD at Accsys
Payroll has yet to acquire its rightful place in the field of data mining, decision-making and planning. Despite its reputation for being an action-driven process with limited reporting capabilities, payroll can be effectively mined, interpreted and analysed. It is simply a matter of having the right technology on board.
[Issue:Two hundred and eighteen (15/01/07 - 19/01/07)]
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Poor data can cost companies billions
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Yolanda Komen, BI manager, Intellient
Getting data under control has become a corporate imperative of the highest order. This is so because of three factors: * The sheer volume of data generated and stored by organisations, and its exponential annual growth; * The variable quality of this data; and, * The cost of managing it.
[Issue:Two hundred and eighteen (15/01/07 - 19/01/07)]
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Interconnection: The key to unlocking telecoms markets
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SA's telecoms marketplace has been awash with raised expectations for years now: first the cellular companies, then VoIP and now Neotel (previously known as the SNO) have all been expected to slash prices, raise quality and generally transform the market.
[Issue:Two hundred and eighteen (15/01/07 - 19/01/07)]
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IT's all business with Annex and Intel vPro Technology
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Shaun Welgemoed, Intel product manager at Annex Distribution
Intel vPro Technology has emerged as a competitive offering within the growing business development technology market. It is engineered into the motherboard of the PC and thereby facilitates a higher level of desktop PC management, security, performance and application.
[Issue:Two hundred and eighteen (15/01/07 - 19/01/07)]
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Why don't more CIOs become CEO?
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Thornton A. May, Computerworld (US)
So many companies, so few CEOs drawn from the ranks of the technology elite. What is going on? A very rudimentary review of empirical data reveals overwhelming evidence of a chronic non-advancement of CIOs to the top spot - on a global basis.
[Issue:Two hundred and eighteen (15/01/07 - 19/01/07)]
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Google Earth and 'collateral damage'
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Paul McNamara, Network World (US)
Sooner or later, Google is going to have to start doing a better job of coming to grips with the collateral damage created by the ever-expanding array of whiz-bang applications that have made it a worldwide phenomenon.
[Issue:Two hundred and nineteen (22/01/07 - 26/01/07)]
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A successful year-end: pipe dream or plain sailing?
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At this time of the year, many SMEs, accountants and finance department staff countrywide are united in a common goal: achieving a successful, stress-free financial and tax year-end!
[Issue:Two hundred and nineteen (22/01/07 - 26/01/07)]
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E-learning - the virtual route to skills development
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The virtual classroom environment is proving very popular both from an individual perspective as well as in terms of corporate investment in skills development.
[Issue:Two hundred and nineteen (22/01/07 - 26/01/07)]
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A consumer guide to winning with MNP
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The advent of mobile number portability (MNP) may appear to have been a non-event but, says VoxTelecom MD, Jaco Voigt, savvy consumers stand to make huge gains if they understand the system - and, in the long run, networks and service providers will be forced to pay more attention to the needs of their customers.
[Issue:Two hundred and nineteen (22/01/07 - 26/01/07)]
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What's running? Use What's Running
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Mark Gibbs, Network World (US)
Doesn't time fly when you are having fun? I was about to reference a column I wrote 'a few weeks ago', but it turns out that I actually wrote it in 2004! That must mean that I am having lots of fun.
[Issue:Two hundred and nineteen (22/01/07 - 26/01/07)]
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Failsafe software
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While buggy software and applications that miss the mark in terms of business expectations seems to be the norm in commerce today, there are some industries in which poor quality software is unacceptable because of the severe impact of downtime on their business.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty (29/01/07 - 2/2/07)]
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Vista is more secure than ...
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Mark Hall, Computerworld (US)
Vista shows better security than ...... Mac OS X does. That is the view of Max Caceres, director of product management at Boston-based Core Security Technologies, which develops network-penetration testing software called Core Impact.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty (29/01/07 - 2/2/07)]
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Guarding employee privacy
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Companies make use of telephone management systems to help to cut costs on telecoms spend. However, what happens when the privacy of your employees is compromised by these systems? For example, HIV help centres. You advocate the use of them, but you may be inadvertently monitoring staff members who call them...
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty (29/01/07 - 2/2/07)]
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Apple isn't waiting
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Jason Snell, Macworld.com
Steve Jobs' keynote address at this year's Macworld Expo was unlike previous keynotes in so many ways, from his revelation that Apple was removing Computer from its name, to the complete absence of new Mac announcements. And the one product he did announce was unlike anything that Apple has done before.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-one (5/2/07 - 9/2/07)]
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Business continuity planning: Anticipate the unexpected
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The inherently unpredictable nature of the world consistently demonstrates the necessity for effective business continuity planning for any business as an integral component of its risk mitigation strategy.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-one (5/2/07 - 9/2/07)]
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Top tips to beat the blackouts
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With the recent rolling blackouts affecting most cities and towns across the country, these power issues show no sign of abating, with demand for electricity fast increasing as the economic boom pushes power plants beyond capacity.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-one (5/2/07 - 9/2/07)]
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Worldwide PDA shipments top 17,7m in 2006 - Gartner
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Mobile data access, particularly wireless e-mail, drove the worldwide PDA market to record shipments of 17,7m units in 2006, an 18,4% increase from 2005, according to Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-one (5/2/07 - 9/2/07)]
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e-payment to help SA companies improve efficiency
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SA companies which have introduced electronic billing (e-billing) solutions to their customer bases should look to towards linking these online bills with electronic payments as a means of improving customer satisfaction and back-office efficiency.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-one (5/2/07 - 9/2/07)]
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Note the basics when purchasing mobile solutions
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Gary Naidoo, deputy MD at Sahara
Mobile & wireless technology is one of the faster growing areas within the ICT sector. The increase in productivity, combined with lower prices and higher levels of innovation, results in a definite return on investment.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-two (12/2/07 - 16/2/07)]
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European consumers favour telecom providers & ISPs for IPTV delivery - Juniper Networks
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Consumers would choose traditional telecom providers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) over portal/content providers to supply their Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, according to European research commissioned by Juniper Networks.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-two (12/2/07 - 16/2/07)]
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Sahara assists with ICT skills development
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The ICT sector is in need of more skills, and the sooner that SA's learners experience tuition through technology, the better, says Gary Naidoo, deputy MD at Sahara Computers.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-two (12/2/07 - 16/2/07)]
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Study shows preference for 'all-in-one' communications systems
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BenchmarkPortal, a national research firm specialising in contact centre best practices, published its survey results last month showing contact centre preferences for 'all-in-one' (or 'unified') versus 'multi-point' communications systems.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-two (12/2/07 - 16/2/07)]
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PPM is hot and here to stay
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Paul Viviers, PMSight director
Project portfolio management (PPM) is hot. Monitoring recent announcements from international research organisations, such as Gartner and Forrester, reports are that major software vendors are adding PPM to their software capabilities. Books, articles, white papers, Web sites, and conferences on the topic proliferate.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-three (19/2/07 - 23/2/07)]
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IT security branches out
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Rick Blum, CIO.com
Remember the good old days of security - back when knowing the latest virus's footprint or how to configure a firewall would vault you to the top of the most valuable list? Ah yes, those were the days when security professionals could simply concentrate on identifying faulty code and leave the business to others.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-three (19/2/07 - 23/2/07)]
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Workplace wellness and how it affects you and your employees
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According to a study recently conducted by Microsoft, professionals are spending an average of 5,8 hours per day in front of their computers, which accounts for 69% of their total working hours.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-three (19/2/07 - 23/2/07)]
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Spend management beyond the obvious: implementing best practice
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Stanton Jandrell, CEO, Fraxion
Almost every organisation that spends money - from businesses through government departments to NGOs - spends more money than it would like to. Once an organisation grows beyond the size where a single individual makes all the spending decisions, risk to the organisation is dramatically increased; this is an inevitable consequence of the way in which current manual systems work.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-three (19/2/07 - 23/2/07)]
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Google IT fixes
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Jerome Wendt, Computerworld (US online)
Regular readers of the Dilbert comic strip know that it often hits close to the workplace. A recent strip (February 18) in which the evil HR director decides to replace the company's current health insurance provider with Google is no exception.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-three (19/2/07 - 23/2/07)]
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Worldwide server shipments experienced 9% growth in 2006 - Gartner
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Worldwide server shipments in 2006 totalled 8,2m units in 2006, an 8,9% increase from 2005, while worldwide server revenue in 2006 reached $52,7bn, up by 2% from 2005, according to Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-four (26/2/07 - 2/3/07)]
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The future of customer premises equipment providers
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As telcos push ADSL broadband to counteract slowing growth in voice income, small and micro businesses will be able to buy an end-to-end broadband, hosting and VoIP service from one provider, carried by one line. Such providers will focus on hosting to get a return on investment.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-four (26/2/07 - 2/3/07)]
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Research highlights local government challenges
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While undertaking research into the status and use of ICTs in local government, ICT research and consulting house, ForgeAhead, says that it has identified the seven major issues that metros, municipalities and districts face.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-four (26/2/07 - 2/3/07)]
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Obeying Microsoft: Is wine the way?
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Scott Bradner, Network World (US)
If you are a Mac or Linux user and need to run an application that works only on Microsoft operating systems in theory, you have a number of options. But Microsoft has decided to make some of the options harder, or at least more expensive, than they should be.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-four (26/2/07 - 2/3/07)]
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Telcos must focus on investments that provide dual benefits - Gartner
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Despite healthy financial performance overall, global telecom service providers in mature markets must optimise the performance of their business models to mitigate declining traditional services revenue and profit margins, according to Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-five (5/3/07 - 9/3/07)]
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Measuring user experience to optimise online business potential
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Kezia Crawford-Cousins of Qualica Technologies
Web sites have long been an accepted part of corporate sales and marketing strategy, especially for those wanting to leverage the potential of self-help product and service portals. Yet few have optimised the online customer interface sufficiently to ensure that customers have the best possible experience on the company's portal.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-five (5/3/07 - 9/3/07)]
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Handling customer complaints: Get better or get beaten
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Jean Moncrieff, CEO of Emerge Africa
South Africans are often encouraged to complain about poor service rather than meekly accept it - but how seriously are our complaints taken once we make them? How many companies actually have formal processes for handling complaints?
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-five (5/3/07 - 9/3/07)]
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Companies must beware of internal data theft
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In today's technology-driven world, where most data and company information is stored electronically, companies must beware of internal data theft. It is no longer acceptable for companies to think of information security (IS) as the sole responsibility of the IT department. This is the view of J2 Software MD, John McLoughlin.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-six (12/3/07 - 16/3/07)]
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New opportunities for Web conferencing
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The world Web conferencing market is set for impressive growth, according to research from global growth consultancy, Frost & Sullivan.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-six (12/3/07 - 16/3/07)]
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WiFi security - don't rely on any single system
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A further boom is expected in WiFi adoption as broadband providers lower connectivity costs, but security will remain an issue. While technology and practical advice can assist in minimising risk, it is better not to rely on any single system.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-six (12/3/07 - 16/3/07)]
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Defining tomorrow's mobile computing environment
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No area of personal computing has changed more rapidly than mobile technology, blurring the distinction between the mobile workforce and any other form of computing.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-seven (19/3/07 - 23/3/07)]
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Information security and the disturbing trend of pod slurping
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Christo van Staden, director at Carrick
Pod slurping sounds like a new extreme sport. Unfortunately, it is neither new nor a sport, but certainly could be described as extreme. It is an emerging direct threat to IT infrastructure in the workplace that leverages off mobility.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-seven (19/3/07 - 23/3/07)]
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The world at work... the rise of the new information worker
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Teryl Schroenn, MD at Accsys
The workplace is not what it used to be. Employees do not necessarily fit traditional profiles and cannot easily be categorised.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-seven (19/3/07 - 23/3/07)]
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Aligning e-procurement expectations with reality
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Pieter Bouwer, senior account manager, MWEB CommerceZone
After the e-commerce hype of the late 1990s, e-procurement was all but thrown out with the dot.bomb bathwater as just another solution that over-promised and under-delivered.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-seven (19/3/07 - 23/3/07)]
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Skilled leadership key to mobile multimedia apps development
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Skilled project management to integrate the correct technologies to deliver a valuable business solution is the differentiator in the converged communications arena, says Obrey Khupe, communication business consultant at DLK Group.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-eight (26/3/07 - 30/3/07)]
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Call centres will move to VoIP and to embracing mobile technologies
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One of the complaints by local call centre companies is that Telkom's costs are obstructing competition, but the trend for the future - and not such a distant future - will see call centres running increasingly via VoIP technology, as well as Web technologies.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-eight (26/3/07 - 30/3/07)]
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Self-service - its growing importance in the modern contact centre
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Mark Payne, MD, Sub-Saharan Africa, Genesys Telecommunication Laboratories
Why do I have to wait for an agent? Let me deal with the problem myself.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-eight (26/3/07 - 30/3/07)]
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Vista not yet suitable for running on notebooks - The Notebook Company
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The Microsoft Vista operating system seems to be causing technical issues when running on notebooks, prompting Pretoria-based notebook and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company, to advise its users to use Windows XP instead - until the technical issues are resolved.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-eight (26/3/07 - 30/3/07)]
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SA 'stands on the brink of success'
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Andre du Toit, strategic relationships manager at CallForce Direct, a contact centre staffing solutions specialist organisation in the flexible staffing arena, is a well-known observer of the contact centre environment.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-eight (26/3/07 - 30/3/07)]
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Skilled leadership 'key to mobile multimedia applications development'
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Skilled project management to integrate the correct technologies to deliver a valuable business solution is the differentiator in the converged communications arena, says Obrey Khupe, communication business consultant at DLK Group.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-nine (2/4/07 - 6/4/07)]
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Varied sourcing for value creation
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SA's retail sector is enjoying sustained growth on the back of an extended consumer boom, but even firmly established incumbents still need to keep a close eye on their businesses.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-nine (2/4/07 - 6/4/07)]
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SA retailers 'live in third world country with first world aspirations'
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Keith Fenner, strategic sales director: Softline ACCPAC, says that SA remains a third world country with infrastructure challenges that inhibit retailers' technology aspirations.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-nine (2/4/07 - 6/4/07)]
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Poor Web site performance is costing retailers millions - study
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While the transactional Web site is increasingly finding its way into the retailer's arsenal for growing reach and revenues by making it easier and more cost-effective to deliver products and services to customers, a recent survey found these sites were costing European retailers millions.
[Issue:Two hundred and twenty-nine (2/4/07 - 6/4/07)]
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Skills shortage continues in local technology industry
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SA is facing a serious IT skills deficit, very much in line with the problem faced in the UK - although in the UK jobs are increasingly being lost to outsourcing.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty (9/4/07 - 13/4/07)]
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A critical eye on the glamorous Open Source
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Keith Fairhurst, director, EOH Technology Consulting, challenges the open source promise for the enterprise.
Open source remains one of this year's hot IT topics. Last month the government announced the formal adoption of its open source policy and strategy in a cabinet statement declaring that the government would migrate to open source software.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty (9/4/07 - 13/4/07)]
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IT contractors in the UK want more money
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IT contractors in the UK expect to be paid at least inflationary increases this year - or more - and it appears that it is the same scenario locally, although there is a school of thought in the UK that IT contractors want a pay hike of as much as 10% - 15%.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty (9/4/07 - 13/4/07)]
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Networking skills shortage creates alarm
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Certain parts of the world are facing a serious skills shortage gap in the networking environment, according to Peter Denny, a director of black-empowered IT training company, ITIntellect, who adds that the shortage, in these areas, "might badly hamper future economic growth" in the regions.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty (9/4/07 - 13/4/07)]
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'Semi-outsourced' call centre model may slash local revenues
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Dave Paulding, Interactive Intelligence's regional sales manager for UK and Africa, calls for a renewed focus on industry security and management standards if SA is to halt the 'semi-outsourced' call centre trend.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty (9/4/07 - 13/4/07)]
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10% of products will need to meet compliance standards by 2010
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ICT World exclusive
Based on current trends - particularly in Europe, Japan and the USA - it is estimated that over 10% of the world's products will be subjected to conformance requirements by 2010, says Tony Cunningham, MD of Wynleigh International, a compliance company.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty one (16/4/07 - 20/4/07)]
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Corporate fraudsters beware: Footprints remain in company data
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Corporate fraud is, unfortunately, not an uncommon occurrence. And the larger and more complex the company, the greater the opportunities which may exist for 'enterprising' staff members to take advantage of their employers.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty one (16/4/07 - 20/4/07)]
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Think ahead to fortify the business against threats
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Christo van Staden, director at Carrick Holdings
The modern-day IT security threat has proven itself to be a rather elusive one, disguised to attack in multi-dimensional ways and to target the people, process and technology aspects of businesses.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty one (16/4/07 - 20/4/07)]
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Virtual business will be norm by 2020 - study
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Hosted services will lead to a rise in the number of virtual businesses where the majority of functions are outsourced by the year 2020, according to a report conducted by the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) and commissioned by international Web and application hosting company, Rackspace Managed Hosting.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty one (16/4/07 - 20/4/07)]
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Worldwide PC shipments increased 9% in Q1 - Gartner
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Worldwide PC shipments totalled 62,7m units in the first quarter of 2007, an 8,9% increase from the same period last year, according to preliminary results by Gartner. The worldwide total is in line with Gartner's earlier projections; however the geographic regions showed mixed results.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty two (23/4/07 - 27/4/07)]
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'Software one of the fastest-growing components of IT spending'
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On a global basis, software ranks as one of the fastest-growing components of IT spending in the retail sector, accounting for 6,5% of budgets, up from 3,4% and rising from $4,9bn in 2004 to $6,7bn in 2009, reports Org Geldenhuys, founder and co-director of IT recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty two (23/4/07 - 27/4/07)]
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How customer complaints can boost your business
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Jean Moncrieff, CEO of Emerge Africa
Customer complaints can be good for your business. Here's how: A customer who takes the time and trouble to complain to you, instead of simply withdrawing her business and complaining to all her friends, is offering you a rare opportunity.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty two (23/4/07 - 27/4/07)]
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Storage for compliance's sake must factor in business needs
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Grant Hodgkinson, MD, Mint
The impact of regulatory change on businesses the world over is a hot topic of discussion. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) have impacted each of us personally at some point.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty three (30/4/07 - 4/5/07)]
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IT in finance - Where's the justification?
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Malcolm Rabson, MD of Dariel Solutions
Often described as being at the forefront of technical innovation globally, the financial services sector is one of the largest users of some of the latest information and communication technologies in SA.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty three (30/4/07 - 4/5/07)]
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SOA shows the way forward for financial services firms
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Rick Parry, MD, Progress Software SA
Over the years, and even today, the concept of service-oriented architecture, or SOA, has been promoted to the point that it has created the normal levels of scepticism associated with so many three- and four-letter acronyms, for which the IT industry is notorious!
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty three (30/4/07 - 4/5/07)]
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Near-line back-up - an extra tier of storage for fast back-up and restore
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Raul Del Fabbro, storage division manager at Drive Control Corporation
Over the last five years, storage has evolved to become a more prominent item on the CIO's agenda. Despite this, it is still considered to be a grudge purchase by many organisations.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty four (7/5/07 - 11/5/07)]
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ILM crucial to business success
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Information is the most important asset of any business, and its management is essential to success in a competitive environment.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty four (7/5/07 - 11/5/07)]
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Hard disk market driven by consumer electronics - Storgate Africa head
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Consumer electronics and the relative prevalence of technology in modern lifestyle are the two key factors driving innovation in the hard disk storage market today.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty four (7/5/07 - 11/5/07)]
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'Storage optimisation can save 70% of capacity'
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Storage optimisation strategies are critical, says Manfred Gramlich, storage practice lead for Sun Microsystems in SA. Up to 70% of a company's existing storage capacity can be reclaimed though a storage optimisation initiative.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty four (7/5/07 - 11/5/07)]
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Reducing complexity in the data centre
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Sheldon Hand, storage specialist at Symantec Africa
The demands on storage and data centres have never been greater. Data volumes are doubling every year, information and applications must be protected and available at all times, and there is no window for downtime.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty four (7/5/07 - 11/5/07)]
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Seven tips for creating an exceptional contact centre
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As SA prepares to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the country is faced with many challenges, one of which is delivering world-class services to a wide range of tourists, business people, FIFA delegates and sports people. In almost all instances, contact centres will form a vital point of contact with visitors to the country.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty five (14/5/07 - 18/5/07)]
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Learnerships key to addressing skills shortage in IT industry
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SA's IT industry is facing a huge skills shortage, and, unless radical changes are implemented in its resourcing strategy, the industry will soon be left high and dry.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty five (14/5/07 - 18/5/07)]
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Virtualisation will drive changes in IT infrastructure, operations - Gartner
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Virtualisation will be the most important technology in IT infrastructures and operations up to 2010, according to Gartner, dramatically changing how IT departments manage, buy, deploy, plan and charge for their services.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty five (14/5/07 - 18/5/07)]
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Celebrating SA's telecom progress
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World Telecommunications Day has given the local communications industry an ideal opportunity to celebrate the progress of the past few years, as well as to reflect on the many challenges that lie ahead.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty five (14/5/07 - 18/5/07)]
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Knowledge is everyone's business - Embed good knowledge practice into organisational processes
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In today's knowledge economy, too few companies use their intellectual resources to optimal effect, or even hold onto their expertise.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty five (14/5/07 - 18/5/07)]
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End-users might as well sit back, relax and enjoy the show
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Craig Brunsden, chief marketing officer of IT infrastructure distributor, Axiz
Many would be forgiven for thinking that a recession is on its way, thanks to what some are calling the lacklustre launch of Microsoft Vista.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty six (21/5/07 - 25/5/07)]
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Why PMOs fail
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Paul Viviers, PM Sight
Today's highly competitive business market places directors and project managers under constant pressure to perform. They are charged with reducing costs and stretching the limits of human, technical, and fiscal resources, as well as being expected to deliver high-quality projects on time and within budget.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty six (21/5/07 - 25/5/07)]
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Conferencing helps reduce BT's carbon footprint
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The use of conferencing by BT staff worldwide has reduced BT's carbon footprint by at least 97 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and eliminated more than 860 000 face-to-face meetings, the results of a survey reveal.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty six (21/5/07 - 25/5/07)]
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Improving customer service: taking a strategic approach to measuring contact centre performance
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Mark Payne, MD, Sub-Saharan Africa, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories
For most organisations the business environment, programs, and customer needs are constantly changing, and the contact centre must respond accordingly. While most contact centres have risen to the challenge of supporting volume of calls, or containing costs, few have yet taken a strategic approach to measuring performance.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty six (21/5/07 - 25/5/07)]
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Improving customer service through seamless integration
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Longain, a Cape Town-based direct marketing company using a contact centre for sales of contract products such as cellular and short-term insurance, averages 90 000 outbound and 10 000 inbound calls per day.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty six (21/5/07 - 25/5/07)]
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Server virtualisation: Getting started
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Jonathan Hassell, Computerworld (US)
Virtualisation - the move from real, physical hardware to virtual hardware - is being seen as one of the 'next big things' in IT.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty seven (28/5/07 - 1/6/07)]
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Employees cost SAA R14m - what do they cost your company?
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Employees are becoming one of the largest security threats as data becomes more valuable to syndicates worldwide. Recent reports show how a Nigerian syndicate infiltrated SAA and colluded with its call centre staff in scamming thousands of unsuspecting customers.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty seven (28/5/07 - 1/6/07)]
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Medium-sized companies underutilise technology services on demand
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A significant number of medium-sized companies do not realise that they save on ICT costs by using technology services on demand. There is a perception that technology services on demand are only for big corporations.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty seven (28/5/07 - 1/6/07)]
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Focus on costs misses true value of IP telephony
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Kevin Clarke, country manager, HansaWorld SA
There are two problems with the IP telephony hype. First, IP telephony probably will not save you as much as you will end up spending on extra hardware to maintain call quality. The promise of cost savings is a red herring.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty seven (28/5/07 - 1/6/07)]
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Content management takes up contact centre slack
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"Empirical evidence suggests the BPO industry is creating welcome employment opportunities but SA needs to diversify its job creation approach. Contact centres have not emerged as the holy grail of employment creation. ECM can up the ante by creating its own jobs while also helping other industries create jobs by making them more efficient," says Ronald Melmed, MD of Digital Archiving Systems (DAS).
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty seven (28/5/07 - 1/6/07)]
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Worldwide mobile phone sales grew by 14% in Q107 - Gartner
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Sales of mobile phones in the first quarter of 2007 reached 257,4m units, a 14% increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty eight (4/6/07 - 8/6/07)]
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Next generation routing / enterprise routing - what's next?
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Busiswa Mlandu, HMC Seswa
Enterprises rely on routers to deliver network traffic from one point to another. Although we are seeing more and more demand being placed on this infrastructure and these routing platforms over time, the software architecture of these routing platforms has changed very little.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty eight (4/6/07 - 8/6/07)]
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Global external controller-based disk storage market grew by 4,8% in Q107 - Gartner
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Worldwide external controller-based (ECB) disk storage revenue totalled $3,8bn in the first quarter of 2007, a 4,8% increase over the same period in 2006, according to Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty eight (4/6/07 - 8/6/07)]
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Private enterprises to aid growth in the LAN/WAN test equipment market
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Private enterprises appear poised to drive significant growth in the local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) test equipment market, after previously ranking as the second largest end-user segment in 2006.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty eight (4/6/07 - 8/6/07)]
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Virtual threats to schools should have our security bells ringing
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Christo van Staden, a director at Carrick Holdings
People could be forgiven for focusing exclusively on the physical safety of their children at school and ignoring the dangers that lurk beyond the classroom and within the virtual world.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty seven (28/5/07 - 1/6/07)]
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Not enough elite companies - IT Intellect
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Those IT organisations which can meet fast-changing business requirements without disrupting end-users - and the company's staff members - are the ones that rise to the top and become the envy of the corporate world, says Peter Denny, a director of black-empowered IT training company, IT Intellect.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty nine (11/6/07 - 15/6/07)]
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'Poor Web site performance is costing retailers millions'
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Online retailers are struggling to achieve profitability because of the high costs of maintaining a transactional Web site.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty nine (11/6/07 - 15/6/07)]
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South Africans list health issues as a top concerns in research study
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Research conducted for LG Electronics by research company Synovate, in SA, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran, found that health issues topped the list of concerns among respondents.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty nine (11/6/07 - 15/6/07)]
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Investing in IT can be a risky business for SMEs
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Many SMEs do not see the return on their investment in IT. This is because they have either purchased expensive and complicated solutions that do not answer to their specific business requirements, or the solutions have not been correctly implemented and integrated with their existing infrastructure.
[Issue:Two hundred and thirty nine (11/6/07 - 15/6/07)]
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SA lacks key ingredient to leapfrog legacy telecoms
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Voice-over-IP (VoIP) can cut call costs and stimulate socio-economic development; but that and other benefits will not take root until SA develops a strong market regulator which fosters competition, says Dumisani Nkala, MD of Telconet.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty (18/6/07 - 22/6/07)]
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How secure is your VoIP?
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Ollie Whitehouse, architect, Symantec Security Response EMEA
More and more businesses tired of racking up high telecommunications bills are turning to the Internet for their phone service.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty (18/6/07 - 22/6/07)]
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A personal computer: crafted with care just for you
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Bruce Murphy, desktop product manager at Axiz
At long last the market has finally opened up to locally branded PCs, and you stand to benefit. For a start, a locally branded PC is made in South Africa, by South Africans - ultimately proudly South African if you will.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty (18/6/07 - 22/6/07)]
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Building high performance in retailing IT: Using information to strengthen the seller's instincts
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Adrian Bertschinger, senior executive, products operating group, Accenture
In the retail business, instinct is king: knowing what to sell, knowing when to sell it, tracking and responding to changing trends, picking the right price point and having the goods in stock when the customer walks down the aisle. This is the common wisdom that has kept retailing legends at the top of the food chain across cultures and centuries.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty (18/6/07 - 22/6/07)]
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Making your multifunction printer work for you
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Branislav Zivkovic, MD, Lexmark SA
SMEs account for over a third of SA's GDP, making them one of the economic pillars of the country. At the same time, nearly 50% of all entrepreneur ventures fail by their third anniversary. Therefore, an SME's existence is greatly affected by reducing overheads and attaining efficiency.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty (18/6/07 - 22/6/07)]
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How did they do?
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Keith Fairhurst, director EOH Consulting, says that we could learn from strongly ICT-enabled governments, such as Denmark.
Our government has been repeatedly criticised for its slow adoption of ICT. It has also recently been slated concerning the place that technology occupies in its education priorities.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty (18/6/07 - 22/6/07)]
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CRM actually drives profitability for SMEs
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Steven Cohen, MD, Softline Pastel
As with so much technology, there is a tendency to over-complicate the point of CRM -particularly in the context of SMEs. There is also a tendency to miss the point entirely.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Broadband is just the start
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Andre Joubert: GM MWEB Business
In the past the size of a business was, to a large extent, an indication of its commercial success. Today, however, businesses can no longer compete on the basis of size alone. Technology can be a key differentiator, and an increasing number of small businesses have recognised this fact.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Investing in an SME network solution is easy - if you have the right approach
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Government has identified the SME sector as being crucial to job creation and the country's continued economic growth, yet many first-time small business owners struggle when it comes to their ICT needs, often because suppliers are geared towards servicing the enterprise side of the market.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Rethinking outsourcing in the public sector
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The public sector should collaborate with the private sector in developing an effective ICT outsourcing model, so as to better meet the unique set of challenges that government faces.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Getting the most out of technology
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"Technology plays a vital role in taking cost out of government whilst, at the same time, helping to deliver improved public services that can meet the needs of everyone in our communities," says Paul Bornhutter, product manager at FrontRange Solutions.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Information one of greatest challenges facing government
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The quest to make up-to-date information accessible to SA citizens is one of the greatest challenges facing government.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Government IT success depends on partnerships
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"For IT in government to be successful, it must build effective relationships with private sector players," says Devan Naidoo, country manager for Intel SA. "Collaboration in everything from rolling out new systems and developing IT skills to building IT policy frameworks require partnerships with technology leaders in order for true benefits to be realised."
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Business process management provides means to bring key service deliveries to government departments
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Johann Marx, CEO of Nakatomi Corporation
As SA's economic growth gathers momentum to meet the needs of the nation, systems within the public sector are showing signs of strain. To some extent this is to be expected. We are a new nation, with new philosophies and structures to match.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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'Superior performance of ultra-wideband technology allows competitive edge'
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The wireless communication space is witnessing a surge in new generation technologies, such as ultra-wideband (UWB). Stemming from a need for a space effective, secure, high capacity and easy-to-use wireless solution, UWB is intended to allow for superior performances without compromising on quality.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Being off-line is the worst office nightmare
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It seems that UK and SA citizens are fairly similar. In the UK not being able to access the Internet and e-mail systems is the number one 'pet hate' among office workers. E-mail downtime is also costing UK businesses a lot of money.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty one (25/6/07 - 29/6/07)]
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Corporate demand for MFDs grows
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When multifunctional devices (MFDs) first appeared on the market approximately five years ago, their small footprint; combined fax, print, photocopy and scan functionality; and value for money appeal made them a hit with the SME market. As the intelligence contained within MFDs has evolved, however, corporate demand for these converged solutions grown rapidly.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty two (2/7/07 - 6/7/07)]
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VoIP and Web technologies have much to offer contact centres
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Local contact centres are increasingly adopting IP telephony, as the telecommunications market becomes more competitive and bandwidth becomes cheaper and more accessible.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty two (2/7/07 - 6/7/07)]
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Eight soft skills to drive a successful IT career
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Chris Wilkins, CEO, DVT
IT professionals know that the development of technical skills is fundamental and non-negotiable in the development of their careers. The degree to which these technical skills are achieved and applied can be easily measured through tests.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty two (2/7/07 - 6/7/07)]
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Demand for additional memory creates opportunities for HC SIMs
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High capacity (HC) SIM cards have evoked huge interest across the world. Mobile network operators (MNOs) are relying on this product to boost revenues and increase their subscriber base.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty two (2/7/07 - 6/7/07)]
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Ensuring protection against power surges
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The majority of SA's private and public enterprises are at risk of losing mission-critical equipment to power surges and outages, despite having installed standard surge protection equipment.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty two (2/7/07 - 6/7/07)]
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Triple Play has 'potential for test and monitoring equipment vendors'
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Convergence in the telecommunications industry leads to the co-existence of voice, video, and data applications on a single platform.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty three (9/7/07 - 13/7/07)]
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'Switch off your PCs to cut costs and to help the environment'
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Simon Mingay, research vice-president, Gartner
Today's IT organisations need to understand their enterprise's corporate social responsibility policies, and interpret how that applies to their activities, in particular to the environmental implications. It still amazes me how many companies needlessly run office equipment, and particularly PCs, 24 x 7.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty three (9/7/07 - 13/7/07)]
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IT industry marred by a history of software failure
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ICT World exclusive
The IT industry is littered with the skeletons of software projects that have been failures. From the largest ERP projects that have cost millions and taken years to reach a conclusion, down to smaller custom-built projects designed to afford companies a competitive advantage, the history of software is one of too many failures.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty three (9/7/07 - 13/7/07)]
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Many systems, one interface: the challenge of enterprise search
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Enterprise search today is not just an application but a major computing platform. It can increase productivity and reduce information overload by providing employees, partners and customers with the ability to find relevant content in a wide range of repositories and formats.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty three (9/7/07 - 13/7/07)]
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HR and payroll at the forefront of corporate social investment
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SA companies are expected to use part of their profit margin to invest in people, resources and communities. Corporate social responsibility ranks high in the order of priorities, and the HR & payroll administration industry is helping to set the benchmark, says Teryl Schroenn, MD at Accsys.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty three (9/7/07 - 13/7/07)]
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Creating an experience that financial services customers want
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Here is a dream scenario for any customer of a financial services company: you are browsing their Web site and spot something that you would like to know more about. You click the 'interested' button, give some basic personal details and quickly get an SMS confirming that someone will call you within an hour or two.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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Application security arms race
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Chris van Niekerk, regional director of McAfee SA
An increasing number of malware attacks are exploiting software application vulnerabilities. Every day new threats, exploitation techniques and vulnerability classes are uncovered, and, with the media focusing on cyberthreats and how they affect world events, such as terrorism and crime rings, there is a more intense focus on application security than ever before.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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Local brands can stand the heat
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Craig Brunsden, chief marketing officer: Axiz, says that product quality is key when allaying the fears of channel partners and end users regarding locally branded hardware.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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Computer literacy now vital at all levels of the organisation
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The ever-intensifying use of technology at all levels of business and society means that computer literacy is rapidly becoming a prerequisite to enter the job market, advance in the workplace and even participate in government processes.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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GSM number ranges could play havoc with corporate LCR!
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Vodacom announced last week that it has been allocated two new number ranges, 0740- and 0749-.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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Optimising network performance through application management
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Uwe Brandkamp, Comztek Networks business unit director
Aspects such as the convergence of voice, video and data, an upsurge in application size, Web-based user interfaces and increasing traffic from current recreational trends - such as MP3 downloads, instant messaging and interactive gaming - have increased the demand for bandwidth and amplified the strain on the network.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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Channelling the potential of Africa
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Africa - a well of untapped potential when it comes to IT infrastructure and solutions. As globalisation takes a firm hold of the continent, more and more opportunities are emerging for solutions providers to move into Africa and develop channels of their own.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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Where can we go with broadband?
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Thomas Makore, CEO of Spescom Telecommunications, looks at the practicalities of broadband technology in developing countries.
Broadband access for all levels of society across Africa is not just possible but it is economically achievable within a fairly short time frame. This contradicts the conventional wisdom that broadband connections are only for the elite and require massive investment in infrastructure.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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SA gets ready for CRM's next step
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CRM is rapidly becoming standard practice in local medium-sized enterprises. There is an increasing appreciation of its importance, with more companies taking advantage of its corresponding benefits.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty four (16/7/07 - 20/7/07)]
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Office automation goes beyond simple automated point solutions
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Deon Kruger, manager of XON Business Solutions
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications connect people from different business units and different business disciplines, and connect different business processes, such as financial and operational.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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Making broadband brilliant
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It is possibly the most infuriating sound in the world. The click of your modem disconnecting for no apparent reason. After you have finally found the link you were looking for...
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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The big ERP disconnect
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Ashley Ellington, MD, Softline Enterprise, says that whilst ERP solutions offer several great features, not all users have access to them.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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Best of both worlds
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Jane Thomson, MD of Softworx, master distributor for Infor, says that by consolidating and focusing on meeting specialised customer needs, best-of-breed providers can gain strength and gain the winning edge.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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One size does not fit all in today's print environment
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Just a few years back, buying a printer was one of the more straightforward decisions for an office manager. It was a simple case of whether there was enough demand to justify the expenditure. But those days have long gone, says Philip Perkins, COO of Itec SA.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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Broadband technology is here, but service ethic isn't
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Paul Luff, country manager at SMC Networks SA
Broadband has changed IT communications in this country. It continues to have a profound affect on the way in which we transfer data on a daily basis.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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Knowledge is an asset for international expansion
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With 11 official languages and a host of customs and ethnicities, SA is a hotbed of different cultures and societal norms. Companies operating in this country have had to adapt to these local realities and have therefore become leaders in the field when it comes to understanding and working in multi-cultural environments.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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Office automation goes beyond simple automated point solutions
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Deon Kruger, manager of XON Business Solutions and ERP
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications connect people from different business units and different business disciplines, and connect different business processes, such as financial and operational.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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The broadband buzz
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Elia Tsouros, business development executive at Verizon Business SA
SA has one of the largest and most developed telecommunications networks in Africa and offers the latest fixed-line, wireless, satellite and cellular technology services.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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Mobile is a mindset, not a technology
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The biggest barrier to the adoption of mobile and wireless technologies is neither cost nor technological know-how, but conservative attitudes towards people management.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty five (23/7/07 - 27/7/07)]
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'Notebooks are outgunning PCs'
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Laptops continue to rise in popularity against PCs, with companies like Intel upping the ante further by introducing laptops that are even more "extreme", a move that is going to make it more difficult for desktop PC vendors to stay abreast, says Christopher Riley, CEO of Pretoria-based notebook and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty six (30/7/07 - 3/8/07)]
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SA skills training level still poor
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Despite SA's serious skills shortages and high unemployment, the country is still one of the worst at training workers to improve performance.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty six (30/7/07 - 3/8/07)]
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Facebook causing a face-off?
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Many local companies are grappling with the security conundrums associated with staff using Web 2.0 applications. Local Gartner analyst, Les Stevens, believes that these challenges need to be addressed urgently.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty six (30/7/07 - 3/8/07)]
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Market leans towards consolidation in enterprise risk management
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Clint Carrick, CEO at Carrick Holdings
The local IT security market is moving towards a more consolidated enterprise risk management service. The trend reflects an uncompromising stance by most businesses towards higher levels of corporate governance and vulnerability management.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty six (30/7/07 - 3/8/07)]
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e-mail archiving a sound investment for banks
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Julie Tomlinson, Sybase SA director for mobile business
The deluge of e-mails with which financial institution staff deal every day must be stored effectively - not just to meet statutory requirements, but also to enable the organisation to analyse all its information quickly and easily.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty six (30/7/07 - 3/8/07)]
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Corporates wrestle with growing global hacker threat
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The modern digital security arena sounds more like a cyber Olympics, with terms such as phishers, key loggers and Trojan horses, than a serious personal and corporate threat. But that is exactly what it is, says Ed MacNair, CEO of Marshal, the e-mail and Internet security company.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty six (30/7/07 - 3/8/07)]
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Democratic information technology - Dutch style
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The good news is that each government agency nowadays is trying to become citizen-centred. The bad news is that each government agency is doing this on its own.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty seven (6/8/07 - 10/8/07)]
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Establishing a PMO? Get it right!
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Paul Viviers, MD, PMSight
There are two reasons why a Program Management Office (PMO) or Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO) exist: to advance project efficiencies and track records, and to advance enterprise project portfolios. Both are vital components in successfully achieving business and IT strategy.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty seven (6/8/07 - 10/8/07)]
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Democratisation process will bring wireless e-mail to the masses - Gartner
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Once the preserve of the business elite, wireless e-mail is undergoing a democratisation process, which will bring it to the masses, says Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty seven (6/8/07 - 10/8/07)]
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Cellular phone companies morph as the telecoms market changes
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While Vodacom has so far invested R2bn into its 3G/HSDPA network, smaller rival, Cell C, looks set to eschew this market, pointing to a trend that will see Vodacom turning into a multi-focused ISP.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty seven (6/8/07 - 10/8/07)]
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Mature relationships essential to project success
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Large-scale IT projects often fail because of a lack of maturity in the relationship between service providers and clients. A mature relationship, when dealing with high-risk projects, is characterised by flexibility on costs and deadlines.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty seven (6/8/07 - 10/8/07)]
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Traditional investment services firms must respond to Web 2.0 brokers - Gartner
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The new generation of Internet brokerages is creating a revolutionary approach to serving retail investors via the Web, and investment services firms must begin finding ways to adapt to this marketplace, says Gartner.
[Issue:Two hundred and forty eight (13/8/07 - 17/8/07)]
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'SOA is the way to go'
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While computers and so-called fancy software have been around for years now, the corporate world has, nonetheless, battled to gain expedient access to all its information when needed, due to the fact that many companies have their information locked up in different information 'silos'. But the arrival on the scene of software developed with service-orientated architectures (SOA) will herald a new era.
[Issue:One Hundred and ninety four (10/7/06 - 14/7/06)]
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Performance dashboards magnify and clarify
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Business managers and executives have to understand organisational performance through accurate measurement in order to steer a company in a profitable direction. Successful Corporate Performance Management (CPM) requires focus, however. Performance dashboards act as a magnifying glass, highlighting important or strategic business issues, and are increasingly being put to use in organisations - big and small - to concentrate focus.
[Issue:One hundred and ninety seven (31/7/06 - 4/8/06)]
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Easing the transition to RFID
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Ashley Dugmore, MD of The Printer Distribution Company (PDC)*
Although sometimes cynically touted as a solution looking for a problem, the benefits of RFID are widely acknowledged. Early adopters of this technology have realised advantages in some, if not all areas of their business, making the business case for RFID a compelling one.
[Issue:One hundred and ninety seven (31/7/06 - 4/8/06)]
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SA's online media increasingly well-connected
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Online media usage continues to show solid growth, according to the latest Web traffic figures of local sites, reported by members of the Online Publishers Association (OPA). The total number of visitors reported across all OPA member sites in the second quarter was 6,7m, according to research by Nielsen//NetRatings, compared with 4,5m in the same quarter 2005, representing an increase in Web traffic to local sites of 48% in the last year.
[Issue:One hundred and ninety eight (7/8/06 - 11/8/06)]
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