In the mainframe era, computer systems were housed in a specialized room and closely tended by IT professionals — a tightly controlled setting known as a “glass house.” Today, IT equipment is often housed in any available space and managed as time permits or issues as arise. Few organizations have the IT operational rigor of [...]
Information technology has historically played a supporting role in most organizations. IT systems and applications help to automate and streamline workflows and provide employees with the information they need to make decisions and serve customers. In this traditional model, technology is vital to operations but not necessarily core to business strategy. That’s changing rapidly. Smart [...]
You probably know all the obvious reasons for enlisting a managed services provider (MSP) to oversee your IT environment. MSPs not only fix things when they break, but also identify potential problems and correct them before there is a failure. They help you control costs, minimize downtime and free up internal sources for other projects. [...]
When the notorious thief Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he reportedly replied: “That’s where the money is.” Hackers have a similarly simple motivation for targeting senior executives and other key managers. They have the best data. Law enforcement officials and information security experts have noted a significant rise in the number of [...]
In our last post, we discussed new accounting standards that will change how organizations recognize revenue. Accounting Standard Codification (ASC) 606 was issued in May 28, 2014, by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to make U.S. and international standards more consistent. The changes go into effect Dec. [...]
An impending new accounting standard represents one of the most significant changes to corporate finance in years. Although compliance will require significant effort throughout an organization, IT departments will have to do some of the heaviest lifting. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are changing the way companies [...]
In the previous post, we discussed the prevalence of unlicensed software in the workplace. This has not gone unnoticed by the software vendors, especially Microsoft, which is why software license audits are on the rise. Simply responding to an audit is costly enough for a small to midsize business, but penalties and true-up costs can [...]
Is every copy of software installed across your organization properly licensed? Very few can answer this question with any level of certainty. According to a 2016 survey conducted by BSA and IDC, 39 percent of all installed software was not properly licensed. Even in highly regulated industries, software license noncompliance was alarmingly high. For example, [...]
Back in the mainframe era, end-users typically accessed applications via “dumb” terminals that allowed them to enter data and perform various functions. They had little control over the computing environment or their data, relying on IT to develop and implement software, enable access, back up data, and more. Today’s end-users have a broad array of [...]
Neil Sedaka obviously wasn’t singing about changing cloud service providers — but he could have been. While the cloud is all about flexibility and agility, it’s not that easy to switch from one service to another. You need to plan for this possibility up front, and include it in your cloud strategy. In our last [...]
