Showing headlines posted by rsmiller

As we head into 2013, the data versus instinct debate will continue to rage, but as baseball stats geeks have learned, no matter how many metrics you create, you can't come up with a perfect formula for success -- probably due in large part to the human factor.

One company found that switching to a cloud-based phone system from a hard-wired pbx, not only cut the monthly phone bill in half, it put end users in charge of most of their phone maintenance.

Oracle made a big splash yesterday when it purchased cloud-based marketing automation firm Eloqua, but I'm not convinced buying a few cloud pieces gives Oracle the agility and simplicity it needs to be considered a real cloud company.

This week, we look at shutdown tips for the end of the world, the 10 worst outages of 2012 and why developers need to embrace their CMS.

It's that time of year when tech journalists turn toward predictions for the new year. I look at what we can expect in mobile in 2013. For starters, say good-bye to RIM. It will be the last we see of them.

Some believe big data will be a boon for decision making, while others see it as so dense, it will only lead to confusion and inertia. This infographic, based on research from Pew, looks at the pros and cons of Big Data.

This week we look at a new developer crowd funding site, if cloud security fears are overblown and the hottest tech companies to start a career.

Ignoring disruption doesn't make it go away. IT departments need to face the fact their role is changing and they need to assess the very core of their business proceses to be prepared for the fundmental shift taking place from internal IT projects to externally facing mobile software projects where the competition might not be who you think.

This week, we look at why Darth Vader would have made a darn good IT project manager (in spite of his obvious brutality and ruthlessness), if Agile is for everyone and the double-edged sword of code optimization.

Blackberry has been losing market share for years and there's really no good reason to believe that the release of Blackberry 10 is going change that.

I'm not sure what Microsoft was thinking when they priced the Surface Pro starting at $899, but if they want to compete in the tablet market, and especially with iPad, they are going to have to do better than that.

This week we look at how Steve Jobs ruined one CIO's life, why the mobile app development business is harder than it looks, and top tech trends for 2013.

IT pros need to understand their role is changing in the face of the cloud, but that doesn't mean they don't have one.

When your company goes BYOD, it's easy to think it's an employee-friendly approach, but you might not have thought through all the implications for both employer and employee. Here's how enterprise mobile management vendor Apperian addresses the problem.

I wanted to like Windows 8, but the frankly, the live tiles remind me of animated gifs on a 90s web page. And the different sizes bug me too. I'm not trying to be mean here, just honest.

No matter how positive Agile methodology may be for an organization, it can't fix core problems of a dysfunctional company. That takes additional help.

SharePoint 2013 marks the first time Microsoft is leading with cloud, and encouraging customers to move from on-premises to the cloud. With promises of updates every 90 days, the cloud is going to get features, the on-prem folks might have to wait to see for some time. But are core customers ready to move with them?

Why won't email die?! While we have reasonable communications alternatives from social and collaboration vendors, email numbers continue to go up. This is in contrast to consumer email usage which is projected to drop over the next 4 years. Why are we willing to forgo email for social at home and not at work?

This week, 10 steps to secure cloud services, why the little things matter when it comes to developing apps and tablets are kicking laptops to curb.

This week, the link between Hooters and a cutting edge eDiscovery ruling, and why developers would do well to follow designers and step away from their computers before they write a single line of code.