Business continuity is the investment made by a business to be proactive in avoiding the risks associated with a disaster. Typically, this investment is an operating expense that serves as an insurance policy on an ongoing basis.

Too often, projects start without clearly knowing the work required. Even high-level requirements are not enough to gauge the depth and complexities of most projects. Low-level requirements bring more clarity, but experience has shown that it is often not enough. Also, the longer the project, the more likely requirements will change to match changing business needs. So, how do you ensure projects are completed on time and within budget?

Most companies lack good visibility into their spending. Visibility into your spending gives your company a competitive edge by providing insight on how to manage and maximize cash flow, manage and forecast business costs, and monitor supplier performance. Studies show that only 4% of companies have a real-time look into their spending, and 69% have limited to no visibility.

From project initiation to delivery, expectations should be monitored and managed to ensure success. What are expectations, and who owns them? Expectations are a two-way street between the client and project team, brought together through clear and constant communication. Project expectations are the client’s vision of the results of the service or action provided. This can be stated or unstated. Either way, expectations are critical to project success.

Insider theft is on the rise. Displaced workers are abusing their corporate data access to steal, exploit and damage information networks. In a survey of 800 worldwide CIOs, more than 40% agreed that displaced employees were the biggest threat to vital information. International companies are estimated to have lost more than $1 trillion in intellectual property last year. What steps are taking to ensure your most precious asset – your data – is protected?

The Standish group reported in 2009 that only 32% of IT projects were considered successful, leaving 24% to be cancelled before completion and 44% considered challenged. For many troubled projects, the source of the problems can be directly linked to a failure in implementing basic project management processes. Let’s get back to the basics. Here are the five basic processes for project management.

While we’ve seen recent indications of economic recovery, some are skeptical that IT spending will follow the trend. For the past year CIOs have been strapped with tighter-than-ever IT budgets. This week Microsoft’s CEO offered his thoughts on why we will see growth in IT spending, but we will not see recovery. Here’s what you ought to know.

In the past year, most businesses have taken steps to “hunker down” and be a survivor. Many businesses are taking the opportunity to strengthen themselves to emerge stronger when the economy fully recovers.
De-risking your business is a simple framework that can be used to analyze your business and adjust your execution plan. Here are five areas to de-risk.

Technology executives are key business strategy players in today’s mid-market companies. In recent years, we’ve raised the bar for the qualifications for the ideal CIO. But, are our expectations realistic? Are we looking for a superman or superwoman?

Scrum has been around for nearly 20 years but has recently gained ground as a front-runner in the agile methodology practice group. Due to its approach to project requirements and fast iterative development cycles, Scrum will gain even more popularity as businesses are adopting lean processes, streamlining controls and cutting out waste. It brings a faster, more complete development modules and project owner involvement to ensure that current and future business goals are met.