Esther Shein

Framingham, MA 01701 USA
Website: http://www.exceptionalessays.com
Contact

Professional Experience

AI, quantum, phishing, oh my. Despite what you've read, technology/business articles do NOT have to be dry and dull. I know how to jazz 'em up. I'm a freelance writer and editor with over 25 years of experience specializing in how disruptive technologies can and are making businesses more competitive. I've also reviewed restaurants and have written extensively about education and human interest topics. I write features, case studies, ebooks, profiles and breaking news stories.

Expertise

Content Editor (online)
15 Years
Reporter
25 Years
Writer
25 Years

Specialty

Education
22 Years
Finance
10 Years
Technology
18 Years

Industries


Newspaper - National
25 Years
Online/new media
12 Years
Magazine - Trade magazines/publications (B2B)
20 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

25 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Inc. magazine (1-2), Network Computing (10+), Computerworld (10+), BYTE (6-10), CMO.com (6-10), Scholastic Administrator (6-10), Communication of the ACM (6-10), Comstock (3-5), TechTarget (10+), The Full Signal (formerly KnowYourCell) (10+), EdTech magazine (3-5), Communications of the ACM (10+), TechRepublic (10+), CIO.com (10+), InformationWeek (10+), VentureBeat (3-5), SDxCentral (6-10), ChannelPro (6-10), MSP Success (3-5)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Group SJR (Dell) (10+), Triangle Publishing (10+), Ziff Davis B2B (6-10), IDG Communications (6-10), CenturyLink/Forbes (3-5), FierceMarkets (10+), The Boston Globe (10+), Rezilion (10+)

Other Work History

Former managing editor of BYTE; editor-in-chief of online technology magazine Datamation; also a senior writer at eWeek (formerly PC Week) for several years and a staff writer for community newspapers including The Malden Evening News and Allston-Brighton Citizen Item; also a stringer for The Associated Press.

Computer Skills

Word, HTML, Excel, PowerPoint

Equipment

I have a fully equipped home office and a laptop computer for remote assignments.

Awards

1994 Recipient of Distinguished Journalist Award from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health for coverage of mental health issues.

Associations

Internet Press Guild

Showcase

Producing/Writing

From a lack of visibility into infrastructure to licensing and governance issues, frustrating surprises await your migration to the cloud. Here’s a real-world look at how traditional companies are navigating the cloud’s less-documented challenges.
The headlines have been screaming about Zoom bombing lately, and it was just a matter of time before hackers took advantage of a remote workforce to infiltrate video conference calls. There has also been a rise in COVID-19-related phishing attempts. So how do you protect a remote workforce?
The federal government issued an alert encouraging organizations to adopt a heightened state of cybersecurity right now, noting that as more organizations are using virtual private networks (VPNs), “more vulnerabilities are being found and targeted by malicious cyber actors.” While this is problematic for any organization, it poses real challenges for small- and mid-sized businesses, many of which don’t have a CISO and are not equipped to deal with the fallout of a cyber security breach.
Cyber Security Hub caught up with Albertsons CISO John Kirkwood to find out what's on his mind, what initiatives he's taking on this year and how to be more proactive with security.
Momentum continues to build for 5G deployments, and while most industry observers agree that security is tighter than in its 4G and 3G predecessors, there are still considerations to ensure corporate data stays safe as the number of endpoints connected to networks increases.
Protecting your assets by strengthening cyber security awareness
For MSPs monitoring thousands of IoT devices, parsing the associated data stream provides an outlet for growth. MSPs, however, must first acquire the essential skills.
Beauty filters that rely on augmented reality are used by social media influencers trying to create a specific image.
Human error still plays a key role in many cybersecurity attacks. In 2021, 44% of security incidents were caused by employees falling victim to phishing or other non-malicious security policy violations — up from 36% the previous year, according to IDG’s 2021 Security Priorities Study.
Thanks to changing customer expectations, technological advances, and supply chain disruptions, a smart retail execution (REX) strategy that leverages modern technology is more important than ever for consumer goods companies.
Service provider personnel must work through automation, staffing and software challenges when they deploy help desk ticketing central business management systems.
With talent retention becoming increasingly essential, CIOs are rethinking their approaches to leadership, IT culture, team communication, and the value of work.
Customers may not fully understand AI and machine learning technology yet, but channel partners have been building their expertise to make the use cases a reality for clients.
There’s a misperception that macOS and iOS devices are immune to cyberthreats, but that’s clearly not the case.
Artificial intelligence, the next frontier of automation, will be a business imperative for channel pros who want to become more agile, innovative, and competitive.
Getting digital right requires more than executive buy-in and financial commitment. It requires a nuanced approach to strategy, implementation, and collaboration.
Channel partners working with industry clouds, such as IBM's Cloud for Financial Services, can limit the work customers must do to meet application security and compliance requirements.
Follow these expert tips for finding and hiring the right consultant to build or sustain a diverse workforce.
Coming out of the pandemic, CIOs are placing a greater emphasis on innovation by re-engineering IT cultures for sustained creativity and expanding on breakthrough pandemic solutions.
Employees want to use their personal devices for work, and while it may save on the IT hardware budget, it can create security risks.
Employees want to use their personal devices for work, and while it may save on the IT hardware budget, it can create security risks.
Channel partners have stepped in to try to address supply chain disruptions, but not all vendors feel MSPs, consultants and other partners have the solutions manufacturers need.
North American professional drone maker Draganfly has sent the first of nearly a dozen humanitarian drones to the non-profit Ukraine organization Revived Soldiers Ukraine (RSU) in Europe, to be used to deliver insulin to hard-to-reach hospitals in the war-torn country.
With business units increasingly buying their own tech, IT leaders must shift into advisor mode, strengthen business-IT relationships, and commit to business value.
Some risks -- like security vulnerabilities and system downtime -- are obvious, others not so much. Good patch management also requires weighing the possible risks of patching.
With cybercrime at its highest and the groups behind it getting bigger and more organized by the day, companies are struggling to find enough talent to join their cybersecurity efforts.
Although both patch and vulnerability management are intertwined, they differ in critical ways, and it's important to have tools and processes for executing both.
The pandemic has motivated IT leaders to rethink their approach to business continuity to ensure organizational resilience in the face of any future business existential event.
Not only is it important to get your financial ducks in a row as you approach the end of your life, but experts say you must also protect your digital identity, even after you die. Failing to do so not only opens a person's account to hacking, but also potentially leaves money on the table in digital payment accounts.
Just as employees are upskilling in the latest tech, so too should CIOs, whose ongoing digital skills acquisition can greatly impact their organizations and their careers.
Profits are an obvious way to measure business success, but to measure co-innovation partnerships, parties must also identify intangible benefits, such as knowledge acquired.
Companies are increasingly looking to IT to develop new products and services. Here’s how to transform your IT organization into an innovation engine.
Researchers from Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and pen-maker Stabilo are collaborating on an artificial intelligence (AI)-based pen to teach schoolchildren what is becoming a lost art in an increasingly digital world: handwriting.
Even though responsible artificial intelligence (AI) is considered a top management concern, a newly released report from Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review finds that few leaders are prioritizing initiatives to make it happen.
Making artificial intelligence (AI) work with humans requires having an internal data champion to help overcome fears and create a safe environment.
It's early days for metaverse platforms, especially those geared for the enterprise. Here's what to know and which platforms to keep an eye on in 2023.
Several advanced technologies in various stages of maturity have been powering everyday business processes. How will they one day transform the 3D virtual world into reality?
As the number of APIs spreading across the corporate infrastructure continues to grow, they’re fast becoming the largest attack surface in applications — and a big target for cyberattackers.
Lack of vision, leadership support, and long-term commitment are just a few of the ways that digital transformation journeys take wrong turns or fizzle out.
Lack of vision, leadership support, and long-term commitment are just a few of the ways that digital transformation journeys take wrong turns or fizzle out.
CIOs are developing midlevel IT leaders through coaching, mentorship, and rotation assignments aimed at prepping them to take on increasingly complex enterprise leadership roles.
CIOs are developing midlevel IT leaders through coaching, mentorship, and rotation assignments aimed at prepping them to take on increasingly complex enterprise leadership roles.

Samples

What's happening in the metaverse? More than you might think. Read about three areas for growth, the concept of spatial computing and which metaverse platforms to track in 2024.
Under conditions of aggressive growth, IT roadmaps accelerate, experimentation increases, and adaptability is king. Here’s how IT leaders are proving their mettle in facilitating upward momentum.
IT execs are capitalizing on return journeys to former employers, bringing newfound leadership insights to familiar business issues. Returning IT leaders discuss why they did it and what they’ve gained.
Many countries and regions are considering, or trying to implement, regulations on the training and use of artificial intelligence.
Nearly one-third of companies in a recent survey said they use third-party firms with a dedicated cybersecurity practice.
Canalys explains why it's expecting double-digit MSP M&A growth this year.
As testament to technology’s vitality to business, a new fleet of C-level roles is emerging, offering specialization in support of the CIO, while also redefining the CIO role of tomorrow.
The notion of consumer-first product development is not new, but technologies like generative AI are scaling personalization efforts and bringing innovative products to market faster — and with the user experience in mind.
Personal computers increasingly will incorporate neural processing units into upcoming models, parlaying interest in artificial intelligence.
Anticipating what happens when people use Artificial Intelligence on an ongoing basis.
It’s no secret consumers are fickle, so CPGs must up their game when it comes to their marketing data strategies. This poses a challenge, though, for that very reason — consumer preferences, and digital technologies, are constantly changing. Further exacerbating the situation is when a CPG hasn’t fostered a data-driven culture or addressed data resistance.
IT leaders from a range of industries discuss their teams’ in-the-trenches undertakings and the early takeaways they’ve gleaned to level up their response plans and capabilities.
The continued focus on incorporating AI into most job sectors will change how computer science is taught.
Pay packages for IT chiefs are increasing as CIOs become business change agents, with retention awards incentivizing CIOs to see transformation through as AI looms.
Companies increasingly are hiring chief AI officers to wrangle with the nascent technology.
A core role for MSPs is to protect clients from phishing attacks. However, according to Chris Barber, many don’t take all the necessary steps to protect their own operations.
A core role for MSPs is to protect clients from phishing attacks. However, according to Chris Barber, many don’t take all the necessary steps to protect their own operations.
Will the vendor consolidation trend last? MSPs are increasingly latching onto the one-stop-shop approach for vendor services, thanks to attractive offers from large vendors that claim consolidation will simplify and streamline their operations.
It never ceases to amaze my family that while I’m a pretty savvy tech writer who covers B2B enterprise software, I often need guidance when it comes to using consumer products. Some might even say I don’t know what I’m doing.
Accelerating business change has become an IT imperative. But not all CIOs have positioned themselves and their teams to drive transformation across the business.
Increasing reliance on and experimentation with AI, more prominent stature in the enterprise, and renewed emphasis on resilience are among the key reasons CISOs find themselves in the spotlight, according to Foundry/CSO’s Security Priorities Study.
Sports organizations are looking to artificial intelligence to provide unbiased umpires and referees. Are they making the right call?
ERP transformation remains a big mandate and undertaking for IT leaders — and not one most relish doing. But done well, a new ERP implementation can unleash untapped business benefits. Here, CIOs share ERP update experiences and advice.

GENERAL

Working at a startup can be an exciting proposition given that most of these young businesses are already digital and looking for skilled technologists to help them scale. Startups also offer individuals several benefits, such as the opportunity to learn on the job while playing a role in helping a company be successful.
If you thought 2023 would be the year to breathe a sigh of relief that supply chain woes were dissipating, think again. Even with the pandemic squarely in the rearview mirror, supply chain operations remain somewhat volatile in the CPG industry, thanks to inflation, fluctuating consumer demand, labor shortages, geopolitical issues, continued logistics woes, and extreme weather.
Digital acuity has become a strategic business imperative, especially at incumbents with little IT legacy. Here, CIOs share how they are developing digital and data fluency across their organizations to drive better buy-in, more IT funding, and new business opportunities.
The wait continues one year after the passage of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which called for $52.7 billion in federal funding to revamp the U.S. semiconductor industry.
Ensuring operational excellence versus accelerating business growth has long been a conundrum (and trade-off) for IT. Greater prominence and honed IT strategies have today’s IT leaders better positioned to finally strike the right balance.
Ensuring operational excellence versus accelerating business growth has long been a conundrum (and trade-off) for IT. Greater prominence and honed IT strategies have today’s IT leaders better positioned to finally strike the right balance.
The new world of work has become something of a free-for-all, with some people staying fully remote while others are back in the office full-time, or sometimes — it’s enough to drive security teams crazy.
The outlook for 2024 has become somewhat of a familiar theme, and CPGs are no exception: Cut or maintain spending next year — except when it comes to tech.
The concept of a fractional executive —someone who is responsible for a major business function such as marketing, sales, operations, finance or IT on a part-time, outsourced basis — is garnering more attention these days in technology companies.
One of today’s hot-button issues is whether to mandate a return to the office (RTO) and with many companies instituting policies, even highly in-demand tech workers are not immune. But for IT workers who continue to work fully remotely, the question becomes, are they missing out on critical face time with colleagues, and hurting their careers?
With ethical considerations around AI use increasingly top of mind, IT leaders are developing governance frameworks, establishing review boards, and coming to terms with the difficult discussions and decisions ahead.
With ethical considerations around AI use increasingly top of mind, IT leaders are developing governance frameworks, establishing review boards, and coming to terms with the difficult discussions and decisions ahead.
The hybrid workforce is one of several trends reshaping how work gets done, now and in the future. To facilitate a productive, innovative future, CIOs must heed these common missteps.
ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence (AI) may be having a moment, but don't underestimate the value of speech-to-text transcription, sometimes referred to as automatic speech recognition (ASR) software, which continues to improve.
ALLIES IN THE WORKPLACE are essential to inclusive cultures, creating positive experiences for others and advancing careers, experts say.
From supporting hybrid work to proliferating micro transformations across the enterprise, digital transformation tactics and strategies are constantly evolving — even the very term itself.
For Tyson Foods, the future of supply chain management isn’t just food for thought: It depends on automated, near-real-time insights that are easy to consume and actionable so officials can make better decisions. As part of this, the company has made significant progress toward laying the foundation for a supply chain control tower.

General

The popularity of the Dropbox file storage service is creating more opportunity for partners since the expansion of its Dropbox Partner Network last November as well as the addition of Dropbox Enterprise to its product arsenal, which also includes Dropbox Business.
Thanks to its star turn on TV’s Jeopardy!, IBM’s Watson has become synonymous with cognitive computing, a technology gaining increasing importance and momentum in the enterprise. With more organizations recognizing the need to make sense of unstructured data, IBM in February launched three application programming interfaces (APIs) for developers to extend the capabilities of the Watson platform.
The integration of legacy systems into the cloud is not necessarily different or more challenging than moving any other application off-premises, cloud providers say.
Supply chain disruption has become a huge concern for the automotive industry. Suppliers operating in countries exposed to a higher risk of natural disaster face the fastest-growing business continuity risk when it comes to global sourcing, according to a report from BSI Supply Chain Solutions.
The ability to mask one’s identity online has gained attention in recent weeks since it was revealed the terrorists in the attacks in Paris used cybertools to communicate and keep their activities anonymous. France is now reportedly looking into banning the Tor browser, which lets users "defend against traffic analysis."
'Tis the season when retailers ramp up for increased sales and wrap up technology projects - but also a time when full-time employees take time off. In the meantime, critical back-end systems need to stay up and running. For many organizations, the go-to solution to this low supply and high demand.
The data center is transforming -- modernizing to meet business demand as technologies such as software-defined architecture, cloud and virtualization take hold. This modernization is also being driven by CIOs and IT executives taking a hard look at their computing needs.
Researchers hope to use three-dimensional printing (also known as additive manufacturing) to create replacements for human organs made from living cells.
If you're a small business owner, you may think the Internet of Things (IoT) has value only for large companies with big technology budgets. But the IoT is also creating opportunity for small businesses, helping them improve efficiency and create innovative products.
CBOSS, a payment processing service provider, hired integrator AdvizeX to deploy NSX, the VMware network virtualization platform, as part of a software-defined networking project.
Amazon Web Services has devised a stringent third-party audit process that channel partners must pass to become a designated Managed Service Partner. Here's how to make it through.
Organizations contemplating a move to cloud computing often eye private clouds, which offer some of the same benefits that public clouds provide, but for exclusive use by one business. While private clouds are not used as frequently as the public cloud, many reports show adoption is growing.
The managed print service market is in a constant state of evolution, and providers are keeping up by layering apps on top of print offerings as well as developing services for vertical or niche industries.
Moving business processes to the cloud is no longer a matter of if, but when. More enterprises are adopting a hybrid approach that blends private and public clouds. More than 65% of enterprise IT organizations will be deploying some form of hybrid cloud before 2016, according to IDC.
Channel partners, particularly those with IT security experience, may find new opportunities in the emerging field of breach detection technology.
Computer-assisted language learning systems are useful in helping address the basic aspects of language such as speaking, reading, and writing, but often we get tripped up in the intricacies of pronunciation.
While organizations increasingly are the victims of external hackers, many are finally realizing an uncomfortable truth: insider threats are and have long been a very real problem.
Best practices for focusing web design on the user experience as well as visual appeal
As if small businesses don't have enough to worry about when it comes to keeping their data safe from hackers, now they have to guard against internal threats to their networks as well.
Channel partners and vendors are capitalizing on SharePoint's weaknesses with alternative products and services. Learn about two enterprise collaboration tools that partners can leverage.
Hosted virtual desktops offer service providers a stronger client relationship and, potentially, a profitable line of business. Deciding how to enter the market, however, demands a thorough assessment of available options.
Not surprisingly, mobile security ranks among the top challenges IT faces when it comes to protecting small and mid-sized businesses. What is surprising, however, is that only 16% of SMBs worldwide responding to a recent Techaisle survey say they're prepared to deal with mobile security challenges.
While SDN market size grows, channel partners stand to benefit from the technology's ease-of-management features.
Google Nearline offers unique perks for channel partners that Amazon Glacier cannot, but deciding which cloud storage service to deploy for your customers depends on a variety of factors.
As software-defined networking continues its labyrinthine journey toward broad widespread deployment, industry observers say there is some jockeying for market position among the major networking vendors, but the OpenDaylight project appears to be gaining significant momentum.
Some companies are outsourcing cloud migration to managed service providers. These firms handle servers and other equipment, as well as hosted applications. They patch and update antivirus software, take charge of server upgrades, scale computing capacity and ensure business continuity.
What's the best way to tune Java performance? That's a complicated question, and RebelLabs has a ton of answers in its just-released sixth annual Developer Productivity Report.
Manage your own data center or outsource it? That's the question facing many companies as tech infrastructure begins to age.
Channel partners have an opportunity to partner with data center providers who offer data center as a service, or colocation.
MSPs looking for a new business venture have a couple of ways to enter the DaaS market: build their own infrastructure or partner with cloud vendors.
Women continue to be underrepresented in the channel and the broader STEM workforce, but are making inroads in telecom and managed services.
Security breaches are becoming almost regular news. With ongoing high-profile revelations about the likes of Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase having millions of customers' data hacked, such events are losing their capacity to shock. Until, that is, it happens to your business.
Getting on a reality business show is a dream come true--or a nightmare, if you aren't careful.
Security has typically fallen under the purview of IT, but it's time to elevate it to a C-suite level discussion. Seemingly every time we turn around there's something in the news or on social media about high-profile breaches.
Channel partners are developing services around Skype for Business, which they view as an important part of their unified communications toolkits.
As more companies recognize the need to break down the walls that divide software developers and IT operations, recruiting DevOps skills has become more critical, and DevOps recruiting has become more difficult.
Colleges and universities typically use the free version of Google Analytics to track how people interact with their websites, including where visitors are coming in from and the pages they're visiting,. but not enough schools are taking the time to glean critical information from that data.
Organizations are uncovering more value from the data in their systems thanks to analytics tools that let them hone in on information to make predictions and better decisions.
Watchwith has built a cloud-based platform that lets TV networks and other content providers power interactivity through apps to further engage consumers while they watch shows, movies and commercials.
Trusteed IRAs can stretch assets over generations
Marketers use the most cloud apps in an organization, yet 98 percent of their apps are not "enterprise-ready" and put data at risk, according to a new report on app usage trends by cloud security company Netskope.
Boston's three public safety agencies are expecting to see significant improvements in response time and more efficient communications, thanks to the city's new computer-aided 911 dispatch system deployed earlier this month.
If you're a managed services provider who wants to deliver managed email, chances are you'll be looking for a partner. Seventy-one percent of managed service providers (MSPs) currently offer one or more forms of email hosting and another 14% are planning to do so, according to Techaisle.
Drones are on more people's radars lately-so to speak-and that got Babson College MBA candidate Abby Speicher and her business partners thinking about a possible opportunity: providing training to public safety departments related to these unmanned aerial vehicles.
Channel partners often lack a formal HR management system and may not employ the HR processes and best practices they need to manage rapid growth.
IT shops that want to use the cloud as the compute platform for some or all of their applications must first migrate those applications to the cloud. That task is easier said than done, and many companies are turning to channel partners for help.
The criteria for what makes for a great vendor aren't what they used to be. As partners refocus their businesses on enablement and offering services, they evaluate vendors for responsiveness, channel strategy and more.
Cut through the many acronyms in the mobility solutions market to identify and implement strategies that suit each of your customers.
To gauge the ability of professional graphic designers to do basic programming, Brian Dorn, then a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), asked a group of them to read and modify a piece of program code.
Electronics manufacturers are notorious for poor working conditions in overseas factories, but some have made strides toward being more socially and environmentally responsible, according to a new report.
The nascent field of network virtualization has yet to take off for most managed services providers (MSPs), but some observers say the maturation of VMware network virtualization software could boost the market's prospects.
MSPs look to grow business around hosted virtual desktops but face challenges in delivering their offerings. Find out if the technology suits your clients.
Project management is a position many people segue into from other jobs within IT, such as business analyst, systems analyst or software developer, as opposed to being hired for the job at the outset of their careers, industry observers say.
iKeg, from SteadyServ, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) inventory and order management system is one of the latest entries on the market tapping into the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon in the beer industry.
IoT opportunities exist for partners, but according to experts, taking the first step into the IoT space requires channel firms to embrace cloud computing, new partnerships, and IoT protocol. Some companies have already found success.
A team at Stanford University has presented a model of a monolith 3D stack that incorporates logic and memory together which, they say, can be mass-produced.
IT shops are looking mostly to their existing software providers for an assist when extending enterprise apps to mobile -- and finding compelling ROI along the way.
With the cloud brokerage market expected to reach $160 billion by 2018, traditional IT companies vie with cloud brokers to tap into the growing customer demand.
Colleges and universities miss a significant opportunity to capture the attention of their primary web audience-teens and young adults-when their websites aren't designed to perform well on mobile devices.
Python, an open source scripting language, has become the most popular introductory teaching language at top U.S. universities, according to a recent survey by Philip Guo, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Rochester.
Proponents of the teach children to code movement say the payoffs are immediate: Children learn a new way to express themselves, as well as problem solving and building block concepts at a young age.
Community banks embrace new marketing strategies to supplement traditional advertising
Much has been written about the promise of artificial intelligence (AI), which has made something of a comeback as business analytics began to take off. Now, a number of startups have cropped up to work on an AI algorithm technique known as deep learning.
If traditional distributors are to gain traction in the cloud-based IT economy, they will have to overcome competition from unexpected corners.
Channel partners with experience in software-defined data centers have a good opportunity to build integration services and consulting work around the VMware NSX architecture.
Getting ready for mobile really boils down to one thing - taking some sort of action and not letting fear or uncertainty overwhelm you. Yet many organizations aren't doing much and meanwhile, employees are increasingly using mobile devices to do their work. It's up to the CIO to step up to the plate
Adaptive learning technology, which produces a personalized training experience, is starting to find its way into the corporate space.
We all remember when cloud computing was all about migrating non-critical applications from on-premises to the cloud. Quick ROI, instant business and IT benefits! Now the third phase has arrived.
It's no longer wise -- or safe -- for IT to stay entrenched in the old approach of merely deploying and maintaining a company's hardware and software. Technology has taken center stage in helping to transform a business and enhance its competitive edge.
Mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets are convenient for workers who want to connect to their corporate network outside the office. However, this near-constant connectivity limits the control IT departments have over what employees do.
Any IT leader worth his or her salt is going to be constantly thinking about whether they are staying relevant to the business. Operating according to the status quo doesn't cut it any longer.
More and more businesses have their heads in the cloud lately, so it only makes sense that partners do too. But managed cloud services is different from managing on-premises systems, and some partners are finding themselves having to make adjustments.
As college and university professors continue to move from the traditional lecture format to a facilitated learning model, officials are rethinking the classroom setup. Students collaborate at tables while instructors move freely through the room. The lecturer's desk is no longer the focal point.
To make it easier for robots navigate non-standard landscapes, MIT grad student Julian Straub has developed an algorithm to identify the major orientations in 3D scenes.
Microsoft partners are looking to the vendor's big data tools, such as the Azure Intelligent Systems Service and Azure Machine Learning, to meet the needs of increasingly 'data-driven' customers.
CMOs face an uncertain future. Reasons why include the blurring lines of responsibility across functional groups and a fever-pitch pressure on marketing to demonstrate ROI, according to Lisa Nirell, chief energy officer of EnergizeGrowth, a Washington, D.C.-based marketing consulting firm.
Most college students take a breather at the end of the school year, maybe travel, see a part of the world. But Matt Guthmiller, a 19-year-old freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, plans to see the entire world this summer - from the cockpit of a small single-engine plane.
While channel conflict is nothing new, a 2013 study by industry group CompTIA found that six out of 10 channel companies said conflicts had increased in the previous two years, with 21% saying conflicts had risen significantly. Another 8% said they experienced no conflicts at all.
Matt Guthmiller, a 19-year-old freshman at MIT, is combining his passion for computer science with his love of flying by taking a 28,000-mile solo flight around the world later this month. If he succeeds, he will become the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe on a solo flight.
There's no escaping it: from retail to health care to utilities to transportation -- the number of connected devices is increasing every day and has the potential to transform and revolutionize how many industries work.
Technology comes second. First, Build support by selling your vision to staff and community.
See how schools are using Skype, Twitter, and other social media to create authentic learning opportunities.
With companies operating 24x7 and employees increasingly working from mobile devices, the pressure on IT staff to stay in touch even when they are on vacation is becoming almost an unspoken requirement.
You can't blame IT and business leaders if they're feeling a little paranoid about security these days. Headlines are rife with disastrous breaches
Electronics recycling (e-cycling) has come a long way since the 1990s, with far less hardware being tossed into landfills, or exported in containers to Third World nations where toxic components can pollute soil, groundwater, and (if burned, as often happens) the air.
The market for 3-D printing is booming, but consumer applications have room for growth
Facing "pretty serious shortages" in some allied health professions got officials at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston thinking: Why not train some existing employees so they could get high-skilled, higher-paying jobs?
Thanks to the cloud and proliferation of mobile devices, business units operating outside of IT's purview is growing.
Augmented reality (AR), a technology that superimposes computer-generated images on top of real-world views, is gaining traction as a useful training tool across a wide variety of employee roles, particularly where simulation, training, and skills development are needed.
The role of a vendor's channel account managers, or partner account managers, is to manage the relationship with channel partners, including growing revenue and negotiating contracts. Yet sometimes those relationships don't work as smoothly as they should.
Partners give their take on a range of Azure management tools that are offered by Microsoft, third-party vendors and the open source community.
IT channel industry workers in a variety of job roles are, by and large, satisfied with their salaries and careers. They're a highly compensated group, making on average more than three times the U.S. per-capita average and 21% more than the average IT manager at their IT organization customers.
Interactive content is giving marketers a new avenue to connect consumers to brands.
Zoe Youl has taken multitasking to a new level. The 24-year-old registered nurse is working toward a postgraduate certificate in intensive care, while at the same time keeping up with her required 20 hours a year of continuing professional development (CPD).
Just when you thought it was safe to assume the economy was looking fairly positive, a 2014 IT salary survey by Janco Associates and eJobDescription.com debunks that theory, with a less than rosy picture of the IT job market.
Burgers and technology are terms that usually aren't synonymous, but when The Habit restaurant chain wanted to ensure consistency in the quality of its food as well as enhance the customer experience, it was a tasty pairing.
The Windows 7 end-of-life date may not compel every customer to migrate operating systems -- however, for those who do decide to migrate, the transition should run more smoothly than the XP migration.
Stone Street Capital in Bethesda, MD, deployed a cloud-based gamification platform called Hoopla last year to incentivize sales people to record all activities leading up to a deal.
While many marketers still track conversions based on the last click, almost 54 percent of them are interested in implementing a different methodology, according to a just-released survey by Impact Radius of 146 high-ranking CMOs and company principals.
Deploying constituent relationship management systems across the enterprise to create the fabled "360-degree view of the student experience" and improve retention initiatives
For a 19-year-old-kid who just flew a small plane around the world - setting a record in the process - MIT student Matt Guthmiller seemed to have mixed emotions that his extraordinary six-week journey had come to an end.
With a focus on reducing concussions, a fledging company is rethinking some of the ways that football players' protective gear is used and assessed
Compared with the Windows XP transition, the migration from Server 2003 may be more laborious and complicated for solution providers. Adding to the challenges, customers' attitudes remain mixed -- despite Microsoft's looming deadline.
Banks are swapping teller lines and velvet ropes for digital kiosks and coffee machines.
For many men, shopping with their wives is akin to having someone scratch their nails across a chalkboard. Now there are apps that help compute whether online purchases are an appropriate fit and they are a win-win for consumers and retailers alike.
Marketers will have a laser focus on small and midsize businesses (SMBs) this year, with 70 percent of respondents in a newly released survey by the CMO Council saying the market is extremely important to their businesses.
As organizations look to modernize their IT infrastructure, data center choices are expanding. Cloud, colocation, modular, outsourcing, virtualization and more efficient servers are all vying for your attention, and figuring out the right direction is fraught with challenges, to say the least.
Seeing his mother struggling to complete a task while online banking one day gave Eyal Cohen an idea. Why not create pop-up balloons that would provide step-by-step-instructions? With that, WalkMe was born.
Solutions providers have traditionally marketed their businesses by promoting the vendors they specialize in. But as more companies find themselves increasingly turning to cloud services, providers are responding by seeking vendor products they can white label as their own.
As a newly minted Microsoft managed partner in the southeastern United States, IT solution provider eGroup is starting a new chapter in its relationship with the company. That relationship can be very valuable for Microsoft channel partners, but it takes work and requires a progressive approach.
New tools available to enhance business intelligence, data mining and analytics practices
Creating podcasts out of actual World War II-era events offers one example of a collaborative project that is propelling students out of their textbooks and into the real world.
With changes to the US healthcare system already underway, albeit at a snail's pace, it is now is the perfect time to examine how the regulatory and compliance landscape may change with it.
If you tried to contact 911 using a public safety smart phone app during Hurricane Sandy and were unsuccessful, there's a good reason: Most of these apps don't work.
Business types are finding all sorts of uses for social networks, but some say they are the ones who are being used.
Mozilla's anti-phishing capabilities resonated with Datamation's readers, who awarded it the product of the year in the anti-spam category.
Virtual course delivery is only one of many options afforded by an LMS, which allows educators to transfer online a host of educational and administrative tasks.
With the launch of the iPad Mini this week and overall tablet sales expected to skyrocket in 2012, industry observers say the time has never been more ripe to consider purchasing insurance for your devices.
The U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) have awarded a $21.4 million contract to security software firm Invincea, Inc., to secure Android-based smartphones and tablets for the military.
E-invoicing in the cloud is still going through some growing pains.
With BYOD initiatives firmly under their belts, enterprises are shifting their approach and are now focusing on using mobile apps more strategically to increase revenue, reduce costs, and gain a competitive advantage.
Conventional wisdom says that, due to its smaller market share, the Mac OS X is far less susceptible to security threats than its operating system counterparts. But times are changing, along with Apple's market share.
Biomedical information comes at health professionals in petabytes. The CDC is working on responding to potential terrorist attacks and natural disasters using Big Data and electronic health records to focus on bio-surveillance and disease outbreak prevention.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., announced a new line of Windows 8-based devices under the ATIV brand Wednesday, including the first publicly-revealed Windows Phone 8 smartphone.
Educational games move from margins to mainstream.
Augmented reality is gaining traction as a disruptive technology, especially in the mobile space.
Most people associate the Internet of Things with consumer products, such as refrigerators, thermostats, cars and wearables. But IoT has crept into the office, too. While there's a lot of value that can come out of IoT, these devices lack basic security capabilities. experts say.
Once primarily considered places for people online to chat, catch up and share photos, social networking sites now are an important tool for finding employment.
Electronic invoicing can be a 'no-brainer'
Fellowships and scholarships are tough to find, but they can help keep graduate students out of the poor house
In an age where people expect access to information anywhere anytime, it is critical for marketers to leverage the mobile channel to reach their customers and respond immediately.
The state of the economy ranked as the main challenge solution providers are facing, according to a recent SearchITChannel survey, but channel companies that are reinventing their businesses are finding they are able to differentiate themselves and experience growth.
Organizations switch to LCD monitors that perform head and shoulders above their older CRT counterparts.
Mobile payments at the point-of-sale are not quite ready for prime time, but they are coming. It is time to watch the area of near-field communications to evaluate how it will affect your business and your own shopping habits.
Why companies are turning to customers for help with design.
SAP has launched new enterprise resource planning (ERP) products geared at enterprises wanting to deliver speed and simplicity while considering adoption of SAP's Business Suite.
Your phone might soon be all you need to pay for items at the store. Mobile wallet service Isis will conduct its first trials at several retail stores in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City on Oct. 22.
Virtual worlds are finding a niche in the workplace for purposes such as training, simulation and prototyping
Virtual desktop infrastructure is not just for low-resolution desktops any more. VDI also delivers high-resolution, multi-monitor 3D desktops that are well suited for a variety of applications, while remaining a cost-effective solution.
iRobot, Humanistic Robotics, and QinetiQ’s robots track down lethal ordnance
Mobile developers are far more interested in developing apps for iOS than Android, according to a survey of more than 3,600 Appcelerator Titanium developers.
Verizon's LTE network is available in more markets and has a better reliability rate, however, according to findings by independent analytics firm Root Metrics
Ta ta to tapes -- if you've got the bandwidth
Now that cloud computing is no longer a novelty, enterprises that have decided to adopt the technology need to figure out whether to go with a public or private cloud infrastructure.
Advances in communication technologies have not only created greater opportunities to reach new markets and suppliers, but also a workplace that is becoming virtual, with team members located around the world.
Depending on who you ask, anywhere from under 10% percent up to 23% of businesses have mobile device-friendly websites. At the same time, right now 10% of all Web traffic originates from mobile devices - and one thing's certain: That figure is only going to grow.
It is not surprising some people might not want certain statements preserved for posterity, and that websites are updated and information altered; after all, the Internet is ephemeral by nature. Yet in doing so, we are doing a disservice to future generations.
Evernote made two key announcements at the company's second annual Trunk Conference on Friday in San Francisco.
In the ongoing battle between Apple and PC, there's been a major score - more frequently, professionals in media and entertainment are making the switch to PC.
Companies need to give employees ''some framework to set expectations, because there are practically no conventions.''
Telepresence takes higher education to a new level, making it possible for geographically dispersed faculty, students and expert speakers to see and hear one another as if they were in the same room.
The integration of two formidable trends in IT - social and mobile - is driving workplace collaboration and improvements to the technology that enables it, bringing the modern enterprise into the digital age.
Disaster planning is often overlooked and done haphazardly. Partnerships can ward off downtime.
smartphones or PDAs are helping mobile workers be more productive outside the office.
You know the saying that everything is for sale if the price is right, and managed service provider and VAR businesses are no exception. But there is much to take into consideration when learning how to sell a small business in the VAR and MSP space.
Some good starting points for those new to the discipline
Email-managment, filtering and archiving systems help companies retain messages and perform the appropriate compliance audits.
Tracking IT assets across a higher ed institution is tricky business. Depending on the college or university, it may be done by an internal audit group or IT, or a combination of both.
As organizations start to tackle big data issues and their computing needs increase, the demand for supercomputing capabilities is growing. Many of today's applications need much more computing capacity than in the past, in order to analyze and mine greater amounts of data.
Google has created a free, online spreadsheet that is in beta. Reaction from users.
A new template helps corporate customers hone in on their business needs before commencing a round of RFPs from vendors.
More and more people dissatisfied with their careers are hitting the books for new and different degrees. How to make the switch?
Which apps are making money? It's no secret app revenues vary across mobile platforms, but there are factors that determine how much money an app makes. Here are some tips, along with a look at who the top-grossing developers are.
Hosted applications are helping many companies get a new lease on software without any of the installation, cost headaches.
As agencies ramp up telecommuting, safeguarding federal assets remains an IT priority.
Schools eye thin clients and cloud computing as a way to reduce costs and ease maintenance.
Intellectual-property negotiations move from the back room to the auction block.
The Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson celebrates 150 years of the church building in Hudson, and what keeps it alive.
food assmbly business takes the time and worry out of dinner preparation
Spam can be a drain on productivity. Managed service providers are one way to take on unwanted e-mails.
Rust costs companies billions of dollars a year. It can be prevented.
Pricing and the ability to get more bang for the buck are among the factors driving enterprises to eye the use of solid-state drive (SSD) technology for their data centers.
Robots ready to help kids diagnosed with autism, attention issues, and even those who suffer from abuse and behavioral disorders.
The latest tablets are suitable for advanced computing tasks
As boomers move toward retirement their financial needs will be shifting. Older clients are changing their focus from asset accumulation to asset protection, and local banks are learning that they need to grow customer relationships and third-party partnerships.
When the need came to increase data storage capacity at United Water, officials wanted to make sure that all of their mission-critical data would continue to flow steadily.
'Tis the season for websites to crash and burn. Here are some strategies used successfully by retailers to make sure they don't go down. Ever.
Media and entertainment companies need efficient data storage to compete and thrive, since they produce and archive hundreds and hundreds of hours of video content. As such, it should come as no surprise that they need a reliable, efficient and highly available storage system that provides massive scalability and data integrity. In this age of high-resolution, digital, file-based workflows and tremendous media growth, selecting the right storage platform is crucial to their success.
Are PDAs the new laptop?
As several recent, private sector breaches have illustrated, personally identifiable information, or PII, is not immune to cyber threats. Cyber threats have the attention of government watchdogs as well.
Secure identity provider HID Global announced Tuesday that it has completed two pilot programs that enable employees to open doors using NFC-enabled smartphones.
As with cloud computing in general, there are pluses and minuses to consider.
Business-class travel is growing more luxurious and more costly. Is it worth it?
Mobile is gaining momentum as the next go-to channel for marketing campaigns, with 80 percent of smartphone users indicating they are very receptive to receiving location-based text messages from marketers.
IT can help sales and marketing groups explore and use new 3D tools
The issue of how to keep computers cool generally calls to mind the techniques used in enterprise data centers; that is where energy has traditionally been concentrated, so to speak. Yet, improved cooling from the inside out is crucial to reducing the carbon footprint of computers.
The head of marketing for one of the world's largest point-of-sale systems providers said he doesn't believe near field communications (NFC) will gain significant traction in the near term and will be just one payment option for consumers.
Some simple but crucial ways you can set yourself apart from the tech pack.
The government shutdown is over and the country is no longer in a state of limbo, but the future of supercomputing in the United States remains up in the air.
Is your district ready for server consolidation and virtualization? Here is a must-consider checklist to get you started.
A biometric banking encryption device offers a new way to conduct transactions.
For many fast-growing businesses that reach a certain data threshold, it can be difficult to figure out whether a data center solution is the right answer - and at what cost.
The technology to combat computer hackers is improving, but the most potent weapon is still the individual company's adherence to best practices.
A home-office staple finds favor with Corporate America.
You may not know these five products and services. You should.
Government organizations find that IP phones can cut energy use.
CTOs have learned that cloud computing is invaluable for many business processes, and political campaigns are no different. Cloud computing is playing a critical role in the race for president this year and even in other political campaigns.
A case study on how Farleigh Dickinson University upgraded its storage needs from direct-attached Storage (DAS) to a storage area network (SAN).
Typically, developing a software application for beta testing can take months, even with newer agile development methods. But application visualization can be done within a matter of hours to give users some insight into what that system will look like and how it will work.
It comes as no great surprise that advertisers display little respect for online banner ads. But don't write them off just yet.
Be prepared to fork over at least $100,000 for that in-the-same-room feeling
There has been a plethora of news stories about teachers and educators who have found their jobs compromised because of what they blog about or misleading information that shows up about them on the web.
Marketers, take note: Social engagement is not about the quantity of followers, but the quality and timing of your interactions with them.
The phenomenon of bringing your own device to work will this year move beyond the initial phase of workflow and personal productivity functions toward using apps that enable a variety of business initiatives
But will the machines and their ilk take away jobs -- even white-collar ones?
As each day passes, consumer mobile devices become more ubiquitous in the workplace. It is getting easier to use them at the office, too, as new apps for smartphones and tablets enable communications, business processes, and workflow. But with workers continuing to blur the lines between what data is personal and what is related to the business come a set of management challenges.
School districts are testing the waters with Google's Chromebooks, because the web-based laptops allow students to work anywhere, anytime.
Cash-starved developers, take heart. A new site has launched that claims to be the first of its kind dedicated to helping you find project funding.
It's no secret that people love the thrill of a contest. Whether it's scoring double rewards points for purchasing NFL-licensed apparel at Sports Authority, or being entered into a trip sweepstakes for liking the neighborhood grocery store on Facebook, game-based offers are seemingly everywhere consumers click.
Think the CMO is in charge of new customer communications channels, such as social media and mobile? Think again. More than half (58 percent) of C-level executives believe the CEO is responsible.
Move over desktops and laptops. Tablets are making big inroads in the medical profession.
The presidential candidates may disagree about Iraq, health care and taxes, but their campaigns demonstrate a clear consensus that the rise of Web 2.0 tools offers the chance to engage interested citizens, one market niche, one voter, one message at a time.
Firms are discovering what works -- and what doesn't.
As if it weren't enough of a challenge dealing with the BYOD phenomenon on top of corporate-issued smartphones in the enterprise, now mobile device management (MDM) plans need to be re-examined as iOS and Android are being widely embraced--while Blackberry use is on the decline.
telepresence is the new videoconferencing. It gives busy business executives the ability to conduct business without having to travel.
Users report significant ROI as ERP and CRM on the cloud become A 'significant' trend.
Mobile connected devices are the most sought after gifts this holiday season but when it comes time for out with the old, in with the new, BYOD workers need to deal with the data still sitting on discarded devices.
An independent study on mobile device management (MDM) finds that although smart phone penetration continues to rise in the workplace, so too does the annual IT labor cost.
Microsoft issues its monthly security updates, including two critical fixes
Shopping apps like Catalog Spree and Google Catalogs are changing the way consumers view and use traditional product catalogs. But while the apps promise spiffy features, convenience, and even eco-friendliness, industry observers say the experience is neither perfect nor has it reached critical mass in terms of page views.
Reaction has been lukewarm to the news that Apple has removed its 39 laptops and notebook entries from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), a voluntary registry promoting greener electronics, of which it is a founding member.
By 2020, school will be less of a citadel than ever, and kids will be doing more and more of their learning in the real world.
Just as thin clients move computing power from a laptop into cloud-based servers, robots also no longer need to carry around information or handle processing-intensive tasks such as vision recognition internally, which means they can be built lighter and at less cost.
The University of Arizona and other early adopters see 10 Gig-E top-of-rack switches as the answer to bandwidth requirements.
Supply chain disruption has become a huge concern for the automotive industry. Suppliers operating in countries exposed to a higher risk of natural disaster face the fastest-growing business continuity risk when it comes to global sourcing, according to a report from BSI Supply Chain Solutions.
Portability, cost and functionality are making businesses take notice of netbooks for their field and remote workers.
The hybrid cloud model offers a flexible way to meet clients' IT needs. But there are several factors channel partners should consider when building a hybrid cloud environment.
Security software provider Sophos has introduced an enhanced version of its Mobile Control product, which it says provides improved risk mitigation features, including the ability for IT to remotely wipe a corporate device if an employee leaves a company or does not comply with its security policies.
Some 20.5 million new jobs will be added to the U.S. economy by 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in health care, construction, education and computer and information technology. More high schools are recognizing the need to start training students in these fields early.
Automation is a must for managing a hybrid cloud environment. Channel partners are tapping commercially available products and homegrown capabilities to get the job done.
A host of innovative technologies can increase student engagement and problem-solving skills and build confidence.
There is no contest: it costs $400 a day to operate a seaglider robot vs. $40,000 a day for a research ship
The fundamental friction between sales and marketing is alive and well: A new study of senior marketing executives by the CMO Council issued marketing failing grades in a number of areas related to customer information systems.
Watching television has been a social activity since its inception. Now add to that the enormous popularity of consumer social networks, along with the rapidly growing use of mobile devices--smartphones, tablets, and ultrabooks--and the convergence of all channels appears inevitable.
A four-year struggle over jurisdiction between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was something Lisa Archambault of Townsend never anticipated when she filed for divorce and custody of her son.
Making the move to VoIP can be expensive, but users say the flexibility and additional features are worth it.
IBM created a lot of buzz when its Watson computer debuted on the game show Jeopardy! The episode demonstrated the notion that a computer could challenge humans by understanding natural language and answering questions on a variety of topics.
Keeping up with pre-teen traffic for "Camp Rock" made relying on a build-out and load balancing of physical servers impractical. Virtual servers, content delivery network helped save the musical.
VARs, resellers, technology, CompTIA, MSP, Google, Gartner, Forrester, IDC, Ovum, Hoover's, research, markets
The overall jobs picture is bleak, but for unemployed IT pros willing to consider consulting, opportunities (and paychecks) may abound.
The good news is companies are becoming increasingly familiar with predictive coding, but the more unsettling news is they are facing up to $20 million in annual e-discovery expenses.
Pretexting, the art formerly known as social engineering, involves gathering an individual's personal information under false pretenses. And it's not just a problem at HP.
Dell recently rolled out a program that will allow U.S. customers to trade back eligible equipment they have purchased from the company - as well as from IBM, Microsoft, HP, Sun Microsystems and Cisco - in exchange for a fair-market-value rebate toward the purchase of new hardware.
With the number of mobile devices in enterprises on the rise, it has never been more important to have a thorough and updated bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy in place.
In a move seen as industry changing--if not a surprise--Verizon Wireless subscribers soon will be able to use wireless services on up to 10 devices under a new plan the company announced.
Students use Kinect to design games and experience virtual worlds.
Using big data to save lives
Like everything else, video is going mobile. Mobile video starts on smartphones tripled year-over-year from 2011 to 2012, according to a newly released report by Adobe Digital Index.
Some phishing attempts are truly ethereal: near flawless representations of official communications. Others, however, are mere mortals. And then there's the absolutely absurd. A look at the pantheon of scammer emails
Among the factors to consider, as companies ponder Windows 7 migrations, is whether to run a 32 bit or 64 bit version of the operating system. We look at the reasons why and what companies are saying.
For users who want to retain the touch and feel of a traditional keyboard on their touchscreen device, Tactus Technology has unveiled a tactile layer component that creates dynamic physical buttons that rise out of the surface of the screen
Software requirements can’t be too vague, but they can’t be so detailed that nobody can read them, either. The people charged with gathering and documenting software requirements may have the best of intentions. But more often than not, the final product is either lacking in detail or way over the top—and not what the end user wanted.
Anyone who creates software for mobile devices has to weigh the time and resources available to support multiple platforms. Recent research shows that the Apple iOS devices are still garnering more attention – and development time – than Android or other alternatives. But it depends which survey you read.
An increase in the number of remote and branch offices is a sign of positive growth for companies. From an IT management perspective, however, it can be a huge challenge, especially when it comes to ensuring limited downtime.
Social media, once largely off- limits in K-12 schools, is now being embraced by teachers and administrators for its ability to enhance learning, much to the delight of students.
With some 243 million Americans--or 77 percent of the U.S. population--expected to own mobile phones by year’s end, mobile advertising is the next logical place for companies to spend ad dollars.
Card-linked marketing (CLM), in which consumers receive targeted advertising through their online and mobile bank statements and cash-back offers based on purchase history, is a "suitable replacement" for traditional marketing strategies, according to a newly released survey by Cardlytics.
Any way you look at it, 2003 was a real bad year for network security. Although corporate concern over cyber threats jumped dramatically, so too did the number of cyber attacks against companies and their machines.
Cloud-based security has gained mass appeal for businesses small and large, and channel partners are taking notice. In this three-part handbook, we provide a range of tips and insight on the cloud-based security market and the areas in which channel partners can develop business practices.
Organizations find themselves pondering data center growth when they expand their operations or perform equipment refreshes. Among the options vying for their attention: finding a partner for colocation, retrofitting an existing data center or building a modular facility.
Managed service providers are reselling security as a service offerings from third-party providers to expand their service portfolios in the IT security arena.
Strategic alliances with your channel peers could be the key to expanding your business. However, it takes more than a handshake to create a successful partnership.
Financial vertical specialization is a potentially rewarding pursuit for managed services providers willing to make the investment.
As baby boomers retire, an influx of millennial workers are entering the workplace. Now representing one in three American workers, evolving business practices to accommodate this generation is a must for the survival of legal firms.
From a sensor that alerts you when you leave a window open at home to one that tells your insurance company how fast you drive, Internet-connected devices are entering every aspect of our lives.
Cyber breaches make headlines and capture attention. But as organizations focus their energy and resources on preventing and minimizing external data breaches, other security best practices can get overlooked.
Just as colleges are looking for ways to integrate technology into classrooms to increase student engagement and collaboration, this move toward expanding the functionality of mobile devices is gaining steam. The technology exists—challenge is more a matter of melding it with the business strategy, industry observers say.
Channel executives contend workspace as a service offers the ability to support BYOD environments and provides a less jarring shift to the cloud than desktop as a service.
In the relatively mature managed print service space, printer security creates a compelling differentiator, experts say.
Many organizations remain puzzled about how cloud computing should integrate with their overall business objectives, creating an opportunity for cloud providers to step in and help.
The term "smart city" has come to mean different things in the tech lexicon, but it is most meaningful in use cases that improve services and quality of life for its residents. Global cities including Singapore, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, and Rio de Janeiro—and smaller ones like Bristol in the U.K. and Jakarta in Indonesia—have deployed projects that improve air and traffic quality, and experts say they are ahead of the curve in their smart city efforts.
Technologies are helping municipalities deliver services more efficiently and, in the process, allowing them to become more transparent and open.
Technical issues like network availability and stability usually pale in comparison, say IT execs from the likes of GE, UPS and Merck.
What is the difference between iBPM and BPM? Is iBPM simply an extension of the old BPM ways, or is truly something unique?
Before MSPs take on HIPAA compliance work, experts advise they understand the regulatory framework they're subject under, obtain certifications and mitigate the risks.
HIPAA business associates can expect more compliance penalties in 2017. MSPs should take steps to ensure they are meeting the requirements.
Erroneous sales data may pose potential conflicts between some vendors and their partners; however, most vendors seem more interested in keeping the peace.
These days, you can swipe your credit card at a restaurant table, avoid long lines at the cash register and conduct the transaction in the clothing aisle — all thanks to mobile checkout.
Channel partners can capture a slice of the growing IoT managed services market if they can overcome the steep learning curve.
Managed services providers are seeking the right mix of automated tools to boost efficiency, optimize business processes and reduce the cost of delivering services to customers.
When Facebook announced in April that companies could start using its Messenger mobile app for free, it set off what is looking like The Year of Bots 1.0, as a number of companies have started experimenting with how bots and chatbots could fundamentally change the way their communications and customer service are handled.
The explosive growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and data analytics technologies may transform business productivity, but they’re also spurring concerns about IoT security. These devices are showing up in corporate conference rooms, offices and building camera systems — and security experts say the industry isn’t doing enough to protect them.
It’s common for mobile and internet service providers (ISPs) to put data caps on companies, causing users to experience slower connections once they’ve gone over their limit. The process is also known as data throttling. Another practice is for ISPs to charge more after a customer has exceeded their limit for each gigabyte of data used. Some ISPs may even cut off a customer’s service altogether.
With the ability to deliver systems faster, cheaper and often of better quality, DevOps and agile teams are gaining momentum in many organizations. According to Gartner, DevOps was “by far the most popular search term on Gartner.com related to IT operations in 2015.”
As the cloud matures, some partners find it advantageous to verticalize their offerings to specific industries.
Technologists are always looking for ways to simplify the IT environment and network operations so they become more efficient, and hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) may just be the "it" technology of 2017.
Channel executives are responsible for making tough decisions that impact the fates of their companies. We asked a few company chiefs to name the top influencers that shape their leadership.
Secure Designs encountered Seceon while on the hunt for the right SIEM tool. Seceon's Open Threat Management fit the bill and paved the way to a strategic partnership.
Machine learning projects are creating a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' for partners. Get ready with the right range of skills and experience to take part.
By now, most savvy organizations have figured out that they have to embrace digital transformation to provide a good customer experience. One of the keys to making this transformation possible in the enterprise is ensuring your business becomes more agile. But many businesses find that figuring out how to make the change can be elusive.
In the past, IT service managers might have gotten away with storing important info in their brains; today, having solid MSP documentation is essential to growing your business.
Supermarket retailers are increasingly testing out new technologies to create a better digital shopping experience beyond their point-of-sale (PoS) systems. Smart grocers are innovating and offering customers more digital functionalities so they can glean granular insights about and add to the shopping experience.
The overwhelming pace of technological change can leave CIOs and high-level IT managers with little time to think about IT learning opportunities that can help them keep up with the latest trends in mobile, cloud, analytics and digital technologies. Luckily, summer is an ideal time for executives to explore different learning opportunities.
Companies are not just talking about the importance of engaging students in computer science and learning to code; they are doing something about it. In March, the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) rolled out its micro:bit computer to almost one million middle-school students in the U.K., for free.
Managed service providers are reselling security as a service offerings from third-party providers to expand their service portfolios in the IT security arena.
Those who have lived through previous hurricane seasons and experienced the pain of lost data, know that backup is crucial, and that you shouldn't underestimate the value of being prepared for a natural disaster.
When you adopt cloud services, some of your data is inevitably out of your direct control. Here's what you need to know.
When the time comes to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) integration in a particular business unit, you’d think the chief information officer (CIO) would be the obvious go-to person — but it’s the chief data officer (CDO) who should be on your radar. AI activity often falls under the care of the CDO because it involves using data, technology and analytics to make informed research and product decisions.
Disruptive technologies have become commonplace in the software industry, and lately, artificial intelligence (AI) is on many companies’ radars.
Preparing higher ed faculty to embrace all capabilities of today’s learning management systems
The rise of cloud computing adoption has given way to a countertrend: reverse cloud migrations. Service providers discuss the factors driving their customers' unclouding projects.
Software costs don't end with purchase and installation. Here's what to think about when considering an enterprise-wide deployment.
For decades, scientists have worked toward the 'holy grail' of finding a cure for cancer. While significant progress has been made, their efforts have often been worked on as individual entities. Now, as organizations of all kinds seek to put the massive amounts of data they take in to good use, so, too, are the health care industry and the U.S. federal government.
Channel partners active in hyper-converged infrastructure see an expanding set of use cases, although mission-critical applications may lag behind other HCI candidates.
Partners may pursue a number of business model transitions over the course of their business lives, including resell to services, services to managed services and MSP to cloud.
Vology has used a combination of acquisitions and organic growth as it transitions from a product-oriented approach to an IT services provider business model.
Teacher training in today's on-demand world means online.
Software defined networking is on channel partners' radars right now and while SDN is a nascent technology, it is one that observers say will change the face of networking.
Someday, in the not-too-distant-future, a robot could potentially be performing your liver transplant or take out your appendix – or at least portions of it, thanks to the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), which is so far revealing in tests the ability to sew more precisely than an experienced surgeon.
For higher-education institutions, which have data policies dictating what information can and cannot be moved off-premises, a new data storage and processing solution may seem increasingly appealing: the hybrid cloud. This model, which offers a blend of traditional IT, public and private resources, enables schools to keep sensitive data on-premises and internal IT staff to be more efficient at meeting demand for computing power.
With summer travel season in full swing, it’s imperative for airlines to have scalable infrastructure and solid business continuity processes that ensure they can handle downtime events. Though airlines are under considerable pressure to keep costs down, they also need to stay current with the latest technologies, such as the cloud, big data, virtualization and mobility. A scalable IT infrastructure may be the best option for airlines, as it will afford them greater flexibility and responsiveness, enabling them to better serve their customers in the event planes are grounded.
Much has been written about how cyber security risks are on the rise and becoming more complex, and how organizations are grappling with warding off attacks while staying in compliance with regulations. Enter managed security service providers (MSSPs), which are often billed as the panacea that helps enhance an organization's security operations.
Channel firms say security talent is hard to find and expensive to acquire. Learn how executives are overcoming the cybersecurity skills gap.
Cloud vendor management poses a difficult set of challenges for SMB customers, opening up opportunities for channel partners to act as liaisons.
Channel partners now have more to add to their cognitive computing arsenal with the introduction of four new competencies from IBM that promise to improve speed to market.
A technology-first approach to digital transformation is a recipe for disaster. Start instead by overhauling your organization with a customer-centric end goal in mind.
Even with a shortage of IT workers, some employers are still discerning in their hiring requirements and are either seeking certified candidates or offering to pay for their employees to become certified.
Despite high demand, channel businesses have largely avoided developing a focus around security services. Learn how companies can do more.
Because the hospitality industry is fueled by providing positive customer experiences, it’s crucial that all technology is kept up to date and properly managed. Hospitality technology is needed to run all hotel management company systems, including back office, guest and meeting rooms and property.
Before selling unified communications-as-a-service solutions to healthcare organizations, channel firms should understand the industry's strict regulatory framework.
While blockchain remains a nascent market in the channel, some channel companies, including Project Radium, are finding blockchain consulting opportunities in enterprise projects.
DevOps is not only having a big impact on IT, but on entire organizations,Some 63% of infrastructure and operations professionals indicated they have implemented or are already using and expanding DevOps, and another 27 % are planning to implement it, according to Forrester's Q1 2017 Global DevOps Benchmark Online Survey.
A successful digital transformation can deliver significant rewards. But these common misconceptions can undermine your company’s ability to achieve desired results.
DevOps challenges are creating demand for IT consultancies such as Nebulaworks and Entisys, which both cite cultural changes as a significant customer pain point.
Ensono, a hybrid IT services provider, migrated an electronics firm's SAP and Sitecore applications to a private cloud and Amazon Web Services, respectively.
Cloud firms work busily to align their businesses with Europe's data protection legislation, but many observe a lack of urgency among clients in face of the hefty GDPR penalties.
In today’s world, where digital disruption is the norm, many businesses find themselves looking to IT support services for help with their technology needs. Often, this method provides a cost-effective approach for an enterprise IT budget. Is outsourcing IT support services the right move for your enterprise? Consider this list of pros and cons.
In hindsight, NSI would have done a few things differently during its transition from a reseller to an MSP. NSI president Tom McDonald shares lessons learned from the journey.
Open source has entered the limelight at work. Not only is it frequently being used in businesses – but it’s helping people build their professional reputations, according to the recently released 2017 GitHub Open Source Survey.
The hybrid cloud has emerged as a popular model at a time when utilizing IT-as-a-service (ITaaS) is also gaining momentum. By combining the use of both private and public clouds, hybrid cloud environments can offer organizations the best of both worlds.
Delivering reliable access to networking resources requires a holistic look at the network, from wired and wireless gear to network security.
With Lync 2010, Microsoft adds more features to its unified communications platform to take on IP PBX systems.
The launch of AWS Managed Services was met with speculation over whether the offering might encroach on channel business opportunities, but partners report the service hasn't hurt them.
Educators offer ideas for improving storage through consolidation, virtualization.
A host of innovative technologies can increase student engagement and problem-solving skills and build confidence
Fueled by cloud security concerns, the CASB market is expected to boom into a $713 million opportunity by 2020. However, not all customers yet understand the technology.
Channel partners looking for a niche in big data may find opportunities in consulting, predictive analytics system deployment and software implementation.
As fake news dominates headlines and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to alter images, video, or photographs is rampant, media outlets, political campaigns, ecommerce sites, and even legal proceedings are being called into question for the work they generate. This has led to various efforts in government, academia, and technological realms to help identify such fakery.
Cloud services provider dinCloud has launched a full-service virtual robot assistant that will provide quality assurance and monitoring of e-commerce websites, applications, and business processes.
Early adopters say the expense and time spent to revamp a data center's switching gear are well worth it; benefits include killer bandwidth and more flexibility
The growing market for IT services has compelled vendors such as Dell EMC and Cisco to rethink their traditional partner programs, which previously focused on reselling products.
For developers, serverless computing is development nirvana. It means they don’t have to worry about infrastructure when deploying code; all computing resources—such as managing, provisioning, and maintaining servers—are dynamically provisioned by the cloud provider.
For years, the specter of failing to “keep the lights on” haunted IT leadership, but now, the worry has become how to develop an agile IT staff. There’s growing recognition among C-level executives that a business’s ability to be competitive and successful is strongly intertwined with how IT performs.
Herman Brown has been CIO for the San Francisco Attorney General’s Office for less than two years. But in that time, he has instituted an “open door policy” that emphasizes trust and support, and working with the business units to resolve individual, department and agency concerns, and ultimately, help them be more successful. .
Meet the CIO of 2018, a new breed of CIOs who are proving once and for all that not only can they transform their organizations to digital businesses, but they are transforming themselves as well. In the process, they are putting to rest the age-old perception that IT is a cost center that exists to keep the lights on as its leaders are increasingly becoming more integral members of the business.
Channel partners looking for a niche in big data may find opportunities in consulting, predictive analytics system deployment and software implementation
Formal software verification relies on mathematical theorems and reasoning and uses deductive techniques to check the most critical aspects of a system. Proponents say this technique is making hacker-proof software possible.
With only a couple of weeks remaining until the May 25th deadline for the European Union’s General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR), countless reports have come out issuing dire warnings about failure to comply with the new law. All the reports have one constant theme: many companies still aren’t prepared...
For decades, scientists have worked toward the 'holy grail' of finding a cure for cancer. While significant progress has been made, their efforts have often been worked on as individual entities. Now, as organizations of all kinds seek to put the massive amounts of data they take in to good use, so, too, are the health care industry and the U.S. federal government.
Is artificial intelligence the next big channel opportunity? The hype around AI is definitely increasingly, but experts aren't yet sure where partners will fit into the market.
IT automation, sometimes referred to as robotic process automation (RPA), is meant to make our lives work a little easier by automating interactions we just don’t always have time for.
Customers across a broad range of industries are growing increasingly interested in deploying OpenStack private cloud technology but often lack the in-house expertise required.
Customers across a broad range of industries are growing increasingly interested in deploying OpenStack private cloud technology but often lack the in-house expertise required.
Do you specialize in the retail vertical? Then AI should be in your domain of expertise as your customers seek to enhance their shoppers' experiences.
The number of new international students studying on U.S. campuses declined by 3% in the 2016-17 school year while the number of graduate students declined by 1.3%, according to a recent report from the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.
Channel partners look forward to differentiating through new AWS competencies around IoT, containers, machine learning and blockchain.
Interest in hiring open source workers is on the rise, with 60 percent of companies surveyed looking for full-time hires, compared with 53 percent last year, according to the 2017 Open Source Jobs Report.
Have a succession planning strategy in place? If not, you're hardly alone. Get tips on why and what you should consider when planning for the future of your business.
Bug bounty programs reward individuals for finding and reporting software bugs and are increasingly becoming a core part of an organization's vulnerability management strategy. The prevalence of such programs has created vulnerability management service opportunities for channel partners, who can weigh in with forensic and remediation services to determine whether a bug is legitimate and then fix it.
Channel partners look forward to differentiating through new AWS competencies around IoT, containers, machine learning and blockchain.
Digital transformation is increasing pressure on IT to innovate more quickly and efficiently so organizations can improve processes and create new products. With only so many IT bodies and so many hours in a day, there’s a not-so-new tool they are frequently turning to: low-code development platforms.
The number of new international students studying on U.S. campuses declined by 3% in the 2016-17 school year while the number of graduate students declined by 1.3%, according to a recent report from the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.
In August, a supercomputer known as the Spaceborne Computer was launched into space in a joint project between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to determine whether an off-the-shelf computer would last in the harsh conditions of space.
Cloud enablement companies, such as PlumChoice, BitTitan and NetEnrich, have emerged to help small channel firms provide the migration services their customers are asking for.
Why you should update your traditional IT metrics to look across functions and the entire DevOps value chain.
No longer do traditional IT services fall solely under the purview of on-premises data centers. Workloads are increasingly being transferred to the cloud in order to meet changing business requirements and achieve greater agility and flexibility.
Business analytics is one of the top disruptive technologies today and it’s no wonder. Analytics platforms give organizations insights, so they can make better business predictions.
Channel partners can make arguments for the integrated security suite and the best-in-class point product method, but the decision ultimately rests on a customer's specific needs.
With digital transformation initiatives and an increased number of apps making their way into organizations, some are turning to low-code development platforms to help ease the burden on corporate Information Technology (IT) departments.
IT departments are no strangers to disruption. But how can they keep pace with accelerating technological advancement while maintaining core operations?
Digital transformation and a renewed emphasis on customer experience have CIOs seeking a more agile approach to delivering IT services.
It’s a very good time to be a Linux professional. Linux is back on top as the most in-demand open source skill and hiring these professionals has become a higher priority for 83% of hiring managers this year compared to 76% in 2017, according to the newly released 2018 Open Source Jobs Report.
IT leaders find themselves in need of new skills and strategies, thanks to digital transformation. Here’s how to keep ahead of the curve before digital disruption curtails your career aspirations.
The rise of open source software in the enterprise is highlighting a shortage of IT professionals with relevant coding skills.
The confluence of edge computing and IoT are generating a broad range of partner opportunities. Learn about the scope of the edge computing market and skills needed to pursue it.
Chances are, if you’ve dealt with a company’s customer service department or emailed someone and gotten a response from their “personal assistant,” you may have already unknowingly experienced what it’s like to interact with a chatbot.
With tech giants soaking up all available talent, enterprises are scrambling to staff up for an AI-fueled future by partnering with universities and grooming talent from within.
Keyword search is becoming obsolete as a new subset of cognitive computing emerges: cognitive search technology. This innovation makes search more intelligent by delivering the most relevant information to natural-language queries within large data sets.
With the rapid pace of change in technology today, it’s not easy being a chief marketing officer. Digital disruption is impacting every industry, and CMOs are under pressure to keep up in order to provide personalized customer experiences.
As cloud use matures, more companies are considering scaling back and starting a reverse cloud migration process. Here is one IT officer's 'unclouding' experience.
Not surprisingly, mobile security ranks among the top challenges IT faces when it comes to protecting small and mid-sized businesses. What is surprising, however, is that only 16% of SMBs worldwide responding to a recent Techaisle survey say they’re prepared to deal with mobile security challenges.
Open source experts say it comes as little surprise that the top 500 supercomputers in the world are running Linux, and there are several aspects that make it a good environment for supercomputers: it is free, it is modular, and it allows for customization far more easily than commercially available operating systems.
Expand your MSP security portfolio by offering security awareness training, an important layer to clients' overall security initiatives.
From approaching an acquisition target to dealing with snags at the eleventh hour, M&As are intensive journeys. Experts share their top considerations when buying channel firms.
Cloud and open source are changing the world and can play an integral role in how companies transform themselves. That was the message from Abby Kearns, executive director of open source platform as a service provider Cloud Foundry Foundation, who delivered a keynote address earlier this summer at LinuxCon + ContainerCon + CloudOpen China, known as LC3.
Partners responded optimistically to the Open Data Initiative from Microsoft, citing potential opportunities to help customers derive greater value from their data.
Tools for non-programmers are speeding up development and allowing users to solve their own problems.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are all the rage right now. No matter what industry you’re in, deploying AI applications is becoming a business imperative and many organizations are finding that establishing an AI Center of Excellence (COE) can help them cope with the new technologies and skills needed to help them meet their objectives.
Now considered essential to business success, digital transformations are redefining the business-IT relationship, reshaping technology portfolios, and revolutionizing how work gets done.
Channel firms are playing a role in visionary initiatives that could redefine customers' products and services. Read how DXC is helping BMW drive autonomous vehicle development.
Digital transformations are struggling to produce value, delivering less profit than expected, thanks to several pitfalls unique to the digital journey and an inability to pivot midstride.
Deception technology is far more sophisticated than the traditional honeypot. Today’s deceptions look and feel like the real deal, but will attackers take the bait?
https://www.cio.com/article/3601471/perfect-strangers-how-cios-and-cisos-can-get-along.html
"Remote" has become the operative word in the months since the coronavirus pandemic hit, providing momentum to technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) toward enabling immersive and collaborative experiences in sectors ranging from telehealth to automotive and other manufacturing, and even in the military.
The complexity of operating multiple clouds has opened opportunities for consultants and service providers, who aim to instill a more holistic management approach.
Partners can extend their existing services into the realm of IoT, but they should brace themselves for massive device populations and gear up for security.
Blending IT and business professionals in agile teams with autonomy over outcomes is fast becoming a key factor for digital success.
Sometimes the intricacies of tax laws are mind-boggling, even to lawyers. Sarah Lawsky, a law professor at Northwestern University School of Law and Jonathan Protzenko, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, were working to translate Section 121 of the U.S. Tax Code, which stipulates how much a taxpayer can deduct from their income taxes from the profit of the sale of a home, into programmable code.
IT leaders are looking to leverage technology to fuel innovation and business transformation in the new year, with budget bets built to suit.
In 2018, girls and women are getting the message they belong in computer science as much as boys and men, thanks to a greater push for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curricula in schools and a vast number of programs available to them outside of school.
Organizations that have adopted AI expect it to transform their businesses and provide a multitude of competitive advantages: improved efficiencies, agility and responsiveness, and predictive capabilities.
While NVMe technology has yet to gain the customer traction that industry watchers expected, channel partners believe it will become the de facto standard.
With the IT landscape growing more complex, liability insurance policies may be a necessity for MSPs. But MSPs should ensure they get the right coverage for their business model.
Successful digital transformation requires strong leadership. Here’s how to helm your company’s digital journey through considerable organizational change.
One of the biggest benefits of open source is the ability to collaborate and partner with others on projects. Another is being able to package and share resources, something Michelle Noorali has done using Kubernetes.
These days, cloud computing is getting higher grades in higher ed. Yet a recent study found that campus IT decision-makers have lingering doubts about security, data migration and storage costs.
As digital transformations become increasingly customer-centric, organizations are looking for leaders to drive change with the customer in mind. Enter the CDO.
When it comes to vertical markets, healthcare offers a wealth of opportunities for MSPs. IT services providers share tips for building a healthcare-focused practice.
MSP software vendors have been busy building ecosystems of third-party integrations around their remote monitoring and management tools. Are these integrations benefiting MSPs?
Firefighters are using satellites, AI, drones, and cloud computing to fight wildfires more intelligently.
Back in 2015, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg envisioned a time when people would be able "to send full rich thoughts to each other directly using technology." That's what a brain-computer interface (BCI) does, and while aspects of it have been depicted in movies, it is not the stuff of science fiction.
Effective digital transformation requires strong leadership. Here’s how to helm your company’s digital journey through considerable organizational change.
Master MSPs emerged more than a decade ago as a means for channel firms to develop managed services, but experts are split on whether the traditional model continues to hold sway.
Channel partners can use unified communications APIs to help customers simplify business workflows. Learn about this niche opportunity and what trends will shape the market.
Building a cybersecurity stack can mean assessing dozens of vendors. An effective vetting process can help partners avoid missteps in their search for security products.
Small to midsize businesses have specific IT staffing needs, but just how much IT staff is required to get the job done, and what parts should be outsourced vs. kept in-house? Experts weigh in.
The Microsoft-Oracle cloud interoperability pact has unlocked new customer segments in the channel, according to managed cloud service provider Ensono.
Colleges are not producing large numbers of CS majors, and many of those who graduate with a CS degree are opting to go into industry rather than academia, which can pay twice as much as what professors earn. This is causing a perfect storm: a shortage of computer science teachers is making it harder for many students majoring in the discipline to get into the classes they need to graduate.
A DigitalOcean partner program is arming MSPs and other channel firms to pursue customers in the SMB space. The program also facilitates partner-to-partner collaborations.
IT leaders are increasingly launching application rationalization initiatives to cut operational costs and improve resiliency and agility. Here’s how to weed out the waste and reinvest.
Marketing is a stumbling block for most MSPs. Use these tips to resolve a range of problems involving company websites, marketing plans and advertising investments.
Industry observers say both technologies are poised to significantly improve application performance and enable huge amounts of data to be processed in real-time.
Digital journeys are rife with hurdles and setbacks. From reorganizing the ranks to insisting on value, here’s how to reboot a digital initiative gone awry.
When it comes to targeting SMBs, partners often trip up in their sales and marketing efforts. Channel experts discuss sales and marketing for MSP businesses and the common mistakes.
With organizations accelerating their digital transformation initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, metrics for enterprise service management (ESM) in 2020 were broadly focused on aligning the business and reducing downtime. In 2021, the most important ESM metrics will be those that measure more specific business results, and that do so proactively—especially as organizations extend the application of ESM to other areas beyond IT.
With organizations accelerating their digital transformation initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, metrics for enterprise service management (ESM) in 2020 were broadly focused on aligning the business and reducing downtime. In 2021, the most important ESM metrics will be those that measure more specific business results, and that do so proactively—especially as organizations extend the application of ESM to other areas beyond IT.
Nielsen released predictions for the next decade at the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2019 and CPG and retail supply chains will need automation, blockchain and enhanced analytics to improve security.
The coronavirus pandemic has been a litmus test of leadership under pressure. CIOs from the healthcare industry and beyond share tips for leading through crisis.
Companies are increasingly looking to IT to develop new products and services. Here’s how to transform your IT organization into an innovation engine.
Tech-savvy boards lead to better business outcomes. Here’s how IT leaders can help ensure their boards are among IT’s biggest supporters.
When it comes to Gen Z, a report from tech recruiting firm Dice finds, don't treat them like millennials.
Some people may roll their eyes at the idea of needing a code of conduct in the organizations to which they belong, but let’s face it, we live in a world where lines are crossed and people don’t always behave as they should.
SAP boldly stated an ambitious S/4HANA migration plan for existing customers. While SAP partners are on board with the transition, they recognize the challenges involved.
Attuned to racial inequities and the benefits of diversity, some IT leaders are overhauling pipelines, rethinking retention, and encouraging Black IT pros to grow their networks and careers.
Not only are researchers using supercomputers to analyze large data sets and conduct experiments, but they are more frequently applying them to help secure grant funding.
People, not just software, should take nothing for granted with data and system access. You can train them to do that.
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably gotten a few emails this week alone purporting to be from Amazon, PayPal, Netflix, and others, informing you that your credit card has expired, and you need to click this button to update the information. Hopefully, you thought twice before you clicked. If you didn’t, you’ve probably been phished.
Blockchains have to be trusted in order for them to succeed, and public blockchains can cause problems you may not think about, according to Bruce Schneier, a fellow and lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, in his keynote address at December’s Hyperledger Global Forum on “Security, Trust and Blockchain.”
It takes more than good flavor and a hearty crunch to sell the salty snacks churned out at Frito-Lay. Corporate executives knew that capturing best practices and corporate information would give employees something they could sink their teeth into.
Smart mirrors integrate displays, sensors, and a camera, and offer Internet connectivity and touchscreen features, according to Allied Market Research. They are gaining momentum in a number of industries, including higher ed, because of features including design, convenience, safety, and the ability to provide a better customer experience,
Great CIOs don't just talk about technology; they bring the conversation back to the ROI.
Organizations with diverse corporate boards perform better, innovate more, and attract and retain better talent. Women IT leaders are ready and are heeding the call.
A report by Enterprise Strategy Group identifies what MSPs should seek in their cloud vendor relationships. The report warns that some alliances can undermine key business goals.
AI used in robots and drones that can go into hazardous and dangerous areas can be valuable because it means humans don't have to. But it is also being used in tools to detect mental health issues.
A new system classifies behavior to help self-driving cars better anticipate what other cars will do so they can drive more safely.
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles operated by a computer or a remote control device, are being eyed more frequently for use in emergency first response because they can survey dangerous places and take pictures that would otherwise be difficult to capture. They can also save lives. Police and fire departments have been early adopters. But there are privacy concerns about use of surveillance technologies. The key is finding a balance as drones could prove invaluable, especially with first responders.
The technology gained momentum in the 2010s as companies started moving workloads off premises and cloud giants emerged.
AI is great for solving yesterday’s endpoint attacks, but the jury is still out on solving tomorrow’s.
Here are 15 visionaries who have changed how we work and in some cases, how we live, in the past decade.
You probably don't know it, but if you wear a Fitbit and check the number of steps you walk on an app on your smartphone, you're using a digital twin, a concept that is gaining a lot of traction right now.
A new report by the Brookings Institution counters previous analyses showing less-educated, lower-wage workers would be most exposed to automation.
Once considered an option for IT or other technical or repeatable tasks, today, contract workers perform a broad range of job functions.
Software bug bounty hunting is big business, and more and more companies are offering sizeable sums to researchers, developers, and hackers who find bugs in their operating system, code, or application.
The overall economic and employment impact of coronavirus is affecting service provider staffing -- some more than others, if at all. See why and gain tips to help with hiring.
As MSPs mature their practices, many firms develop a standardized approach their client onboarding processes. Burwood Group and Ensono offer insight into their strategies.
Hackers have exploited MSP software tools such as remote monitoring and management as a conduit for cyberattacks, leading some vendors to issue new security measures and resources.
IT leaders’ pandemic response has increased their visibility and importance, making them more marketable in landing new gigs, promotions, and greater stakes.
The pandemic and 2020 presidential election are giving criminals plenty of phishing opportunities. Learn about phishing countermeasures that partners can take to protect customers.
Channel partners can expect demand for archival cloud storage to grow as vendors mature their offerings. Learn about this cloud storage category's strengths and limitations.
Farming is often an inexact science. As global demands on agriculture continue to grow, John Deere and others are looking to change that with precision agriculture technology.
With the use of AI and machine learning growing, expect IT service management to be transformed in a number of ways.
In this time of uncertainty, many organizations have turned to robotic process automation (RPA) to meet changing customer needs, and the technology is expected to ride a tidal wave of growth for years to come.
All around the country, more and more police agencies are interested in drones, among other spying technology, and civil rights and other observers say there need to be rules in place to balance public safety with individuals' right to privacy.
Experts weigh in on whether this class of tokens—which already has use cases in the consumer world—will translate to the enterprise and have staying power.
Building or scaling a data center is no small undertaking – in fact, building one from scratch could be the largest project a company ever undertakes.
New emphasis on business value, agility, and customer experience has IT leaders remaking the IT skills mix, with upskilling strategies aimed at unearthing hidden talent within.
As the pandemic sparked a surge in e-commerce demand, Radial needed to expand its capabilities. Learn how Presidio helped Radial with a VDI cloud migration to VMware Cloud on AWS.
Mainframe systems provide a potential target for modernization initiatives, as well as an area of focus for channel partners with the right skills.
Numerous MSP-targeted cyberattacks have driven home the need for improved internal security practices. Here's how MSPs can secure their operations.
With a technology staffing shortage that shows no signs of letting up any time soon, companies like DXC are turning to an often untapped talent pool: individuals with autism, or who are on the autism spectrum.
In theory, many businesses—even very large ones—could operate without a physical office. But are they operating optimally? Depends on whom you ask.
MSP marketing tools can draw on a variety of free and paid options. Here is a look at what three MSPs use today -- and the marketing tools they can't live without.
With online recruitment trending upward, experts offer tips for making sure companies see your resume before the other applicants.
AIOps is becoming the go-to technology for unifying monitoring capabilities because it presents a single source of the truth, according to industry observers.
Managed services providers must navigate a complex market to find the right tools for cybersecurity. Three MSPs discuss products they deem essential to their businesses.
Channel firms and customers outside the EU are still figuring out what they need to do to comply with GDPR personal data regulations, despite the law's May 2018 enactment.
Leveling up in the age of content streaming, multiple devices and high college student expectations about Wi-Fi
MSPs are facing financial uncertainty due to the pandemic. Industry experts offer advice on managing the pandemic's impact and preparing for hard times.
Annual joint World Economic Forum and McKinsey report highlights small group of global manufacturers at the forefront of technological innovation
Shifting business needs and faltering progress are just a few reasons why an IT project needs course-correction. Here’s how to recognize the signs and make difficult changes for the good.
Channel partners have been rethinking employee productivity, collaboration and skills development. Learn how Ensono, SADA Systems and AllCloud have adjusted their approaches.
CIOs are increasingly being called on to boost bottom lines by driving new revenue. Here’s how five IT leaders have transformed IT into engines for business growth.
The hype around AI applications in healthcare spans decades, but the latest wave of AI tech suggests real-world traction. Firms like Perficient are using AI in their offerings.
When a Florida-based insurance firm needed help handling surges in call-center volumes, it piloted InsurBot.ai, a chatbot that employs IBM Watson technology.
Before the pandemic struck, The Dice 2020 Tech Salary Report found that 60% of technologists who were unsatisfied with their jobs reported feeling burned out. Working remotely can aggravate employee burnout, according to Dice.
To truly transform, legacy staff must learn new skills in support of new technologies and business objectives. Here’s how to motivate and train for digital success.
Learn what remote monitoring and management software features and functionality MSPs and internal IT departments should consider to support client IT infrastructure and endpoints.
Since 2007, technology services provider NWN has been helping the town of Cary realize its digital aspirations and modernize its IT. Get insight into their enduring partnership.
At the beginning of 2020, many aspects of 5G technology remain abstract, but channel partners can benefit by preparing their customers for future deployments.
The programming language has a relatively simple, clean syntax that's easy for non-programmers to learn and understand.
Training cobots to mimic human behavior will mean they can eventually perform more than just mundane, repetitive tasks. Ensuring human safety, however, is tricky, and that is one of the challenges.
Even if your company has an IT generalist on-staff, cybersecurity, networking, and cloud computing are creating specialized demands.
Hackers have exploited MSP software tools such as remote monitoring and management as a conduit for cyberattacks, leading some vendors to issue new security measures and resources.
Channel firms have an important role to play under the California Consumer Protection Act, which many believe is a sign of nationwide data privacy laws to come.
IT orgs are increasingly turning to an ‘everything-as-a-service’ IT delivery model to streamline operations and free up resources for innovation.
The switch from on-premises and in-person business to contactless and virtual creates new opportunities for automation and growth.
CISO Exchange opening day focuses on more consistent cyber security initiatives
Customers' AI applications pose the risk of producing prejudiced results. Channel firms, however, can step in to educate organizations and reduce harmful biases within AI systems.
Experts examine what’s new in the world of financial fraud and what companies are doing to fight back.
A few factors are conspiring to make finding DevOps pros a complicated business. Hiring managers face off-the-charts competition for anyone with relevant experience. Then there's the general lack of agreement over what responsibilities specific DevOps roles include, or should include, which makes filling jobs anything but straightforward.
Co-managed IT services give MSPs an opportunity to partner with the internal IT staff of their clients. Get insight into how to successfully implement a CoMITS offering.
IT leaders lend advice on optimizing IT for value when budgets get lean — without impairing growth projects.
Professional services automation tools offer MSPs and IT consulting firms with a variety of integrated applications they can use to manage projects, billing, assets and inventory.
MSPs are building out their cloud businesses more decisively than ever before. Learn about the benefits of and considerations for investing in managed cloud infrastructure.
Experts examine what’s new in the world of financial fraud and what companies are doing to fight back.
With the world slowly returning to life in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a new normal is emerging, and with that, much discussion and many studies imagining the future of work.
Perhaps you are a skilled technologist. But beware: If your personality is as scintillating as a dish rag, you could jeopardize your open source projects.
The pandemic has underscored the importance of thriving through hardship and uncertainty. IT leaders discuss how they’re adjusting their leadership practices to help foster this key IT trait for the long haul.
Effective digital transformation requires strong leadership. Here’s how to helm your company’s digital journey through considerable organizational change.
According to DataRobot report, nearly half of tech pros are concerned about AI bias, yet many organizations still use untrustworthy AI systems
Success in the digital era requires the right blend of business, IT and soft skills. IT leaders are rethinking their hiring and training strategies to truly transform.
The pandemic has seen organizations doubling down on true transformation. Here’s how digital initiatives are reshaping technology strategies and revolutionizing how work gets done.
The cybersecurity skills gap and demand for process automation are powering the growth of the SOAR market. Learn how partners can benefit from these multifaceted platforms
Millions of people suffer from the effects of spinal cord injuries and strokes that have left them paralyzed. Millions more suffer from back pain, which makes movement painful. Exoskeletons are helping the paralyzed to walk again, enabling soldiers to carry heavy loads, and workers to lift heavy objects with greater ease.
Financial organizations will employ some form of AI by the end of 2021, if they don't already.
The pandemic has accelerated the need for CIOs to pitch in on the bottom line. Here’s how tech execs are transforming into more revenue-focused IT leaders.
Business performance improves when technologists are empowered, when they have the right environment, and when points of friction are removed.
Amid solid Google Cloud growth, MSP partners such as SADA Systems, Onix and Pythian say their alliance with the public cloud provider gives them a competitive edge.
Colorblindness, or color vision deficiency, affects approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women in the world, according to the Color Blind Awareness organization. This means there is an entire population of users who struggle to use the Internet.
If you're thinking you have been hearing more lately about quantum computers, you have: researchers have been leveraging them since the Covid-19 pandemic began to help make data-informed decisions so state agencies can develop public health interventions.
Wipro continues to invest in an AI-first approach to data and analytics. Learn about Wipro's strategy, which includes a framework for using AI across the data and analytics value chain.
Operational efficiency has taken on greater urgency since the pandemic began. CIOs are leaning into automation, digital tech, and the cloud to remove friction and create value.
As organizations expand their multi-cloud environments, they'll look to partners for support and expertise. It's time for the channel to board the multi-cloud train, experts say.
Data is king in the enterprise, so it’s no wonder business analytics remains one of the top disruptive technologies today. Analytics platforms give organizations insights so they can make better business predictions. Big data and analytics software is on a growth trajectory.
Energy harvesting technology allows IoT devices to work without a battery or wired power supply by capturing radio waves and converting them to the small amount of electricity these devices need to operate.
Machine learning and statistics are playing a pivotal role in finding the truth in human rights cases around the world – and serving as a voice for victims, Patrick Ball, director of Research for the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, told the audience at Open Source Summit Europe.
We are living in the future – it is just unevenly distributed with “an outstanding amount of hype and this anthropomorphization of what [AI] technology can actually provide for us,” observed Hilary Mason, general manager for machine learning at Cloudera, who led a keynote on “AI in the Real World: Today and Tomorrow,” at the recent Open FinTech Forum.
The non-profit Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) issues a semi-annual study on Trends in IT Security, which looks at what is happening in the security market and ways end users and channel firms should be adjusting to the new security reality. A look at what the channel needs to know
Blockchain and its ability to “embed trust” can help elevate trust, which right now, is low, according to Sally Eaves, a chief technology officer and strategic advisor to the Forbes Technology Council, speaking at The Linux Foundation’s Open FinTech Forum in New York City.