Stephen Sweeney
Stephen Sweeney’s passion for technology started when he was thirteen and the proud owner of a new Commodore 64 – 8 bit CPU, 64k memory, Basic 2.0, and Jumpman! Today, he’s no less excited about business and technology, but with three kids doesn’t get much Wii time. He’s committed to converting to Mac and iPhone … someday. His technology career started as a Data Warehouse developer in 1992. His current interests include the role of technology in business and innovation. He’s been known to proclaim, “For many companies, technology, information, and innovation ARE the business; they just don’t realize it yet.” Stephen serves as the Chief Operating Officer of RSA Corp. Stephen has a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at UVA, where he received several honors and distinctions. He is active in the Houston-area technology community including organizations like the Houston Technology Center and the Rice Alliance for Entrepreneurship; and serves as a Director of the West Ranch Management District in Friendswood, Texas. He is married to an amazing French-Canadian woman, who is far more charming than he. Follow Stephen on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/scsweeneyContact:Email Stephen Sweeney
Some companies might attempt to cut employee costs by using long-term independent contractors without considering the potential ramifications related to the misclassification of an employee. Misclassification has serious implications and penalties from the IRS and will ultimately cost your bottom line. Consider payrolling your contractors through a third-party payroll service to eliminate these risks and ensure compliance.
Companies continually seek new ways to go green with efficiencies, recycling and building improvements. How can IT help make business more eco-friendly? For companies with applications running on multiple servers, virtualization is a great way to maximize computing resources, reduce power consumption and eliminate server room expansion.
Harry S. Truman once demanded, “Give me a one-armed economist.” Evidently his economic advisers couldn’t offer straightforward answers, beginning a string of caveats with “On the other hand…” Trying to make sense of the range of Houston 2009 economic predictions brought this quote to mind. more…
Virtualization for the small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) supports the need for IT to optimize server environments, without the need for additional or extensive hardware investments. It also provides a new approach to disaster recovery and improved back-up capability. more…
Thomas Wailgum describes 7 Ways to Get More For Your Increased SAP Maintenance Fees in his Enterprise Software Unplugged blog for CIO magazine. His blog is based on ERP analyst Ray Wang’s report for Forrester Research. In July, SAP announced that enterprise support would increase from 17 percent to a whopping 22 percent.
All in all, I believe the advice is sound, particularly in light of the current economic downturn. Companies are and implementing cost-cutting measures to prepare for and/or react to reduced revenues in core business and more expensive capital, as born out by successful cost cutting measures by Pfizer. more…
Dwight Silverman’s Tech Blog post on Houston businesses dealing with lack of electricity prompted me to reflect on how RSA is managing through Hurricane Ike … and how our business decisions in recent years have affected our Business Continuity Plan. more…
Deciding to establish new vendor relationships is risky, and even the most thorough vendor selection process doesn’t mitigate all risks. How can a decision-maker alleviate these risks? more…
