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Back when I was at university, I had two particularly interesting lectures in the same week; one from the school of management, and one from the school of marketing. What made them so interesting was the timing as well as the content of the two lectures. Management said, “perception is not reality”. Marketing said, “perception is reality”. (I agree with both statements.)...

Software: Ah, what a day. Do you know you’re the 53,184th person today asking me for an account balance? What is it with humans, can’t you even remember the transactions you’ve performed over the last month? Anyway, your balance is $13,587.52. Is there anything else that I can help you with? Customer: Hmm, I would have expected a balance of at least $15,000. Are you sure it’s 13,500? Sof...

Three recent events have cast serious doubts on the viability of public cloud computing in the Australian marketplace. These events have raised critical concerns about the security, reliability and regulatory aspects of emerging cloud platforms in both public and private sectors. Security meltdown at Sony PlayStation network. This massive security intrusion has put not just the credit cards...

One of the most valuable IT professionals is the resilient project manager or program director. This is the person who can ‘jump tall buildings in one bound’, ‘walk over hot coals unaided’ and can deliver the solution or issue the tender while meeting OTUB (On Time Under Budget) requirements. (The role is gender neutral). Such is their value that astute CIOs ‘ring-...

IT departments continually struggle to replace antiquated business systems. As a result, business processes are supported by inefficient and ineffective technologies that diminish business performance. A common cause is that replacement systems fail to meet expectations and as a contingency, legacy systems must linger on to prop up the shortfall. This imposes the costly burden of maintaining duplicate systems and requiring complex and unwieldy integration. Successful replacement of legacy assets requires a clear strategy and dedicated support for a holistic decommissioning process.

The evolution of the social web 2.0 is creating a plethora of technologies for conducting transactions, with eBay, Amazon and PayPal being the most prominent players. The global financial crisis has sped up a trend towards specialised markets for peer-to-peer transactions and towards radically new business models that have the potential to transform entire industries. Consumers and SMEs are driving the change, and traditional banks and established corporations must re-focus part of their competitive edge on those areas that complement peer-to-peer transactions. Peer-to-peer exchange is as old as recorded human history, but traditionally it was limited in scope, leading to the creation of financial institutions that perform the role of a broker of trust between sellers and buyers, a role that is now being challenged by web based alternatives.

The market for third party mobile device management platforms is immature and there are differences in capability between products, but these middleware platforms are producing positive outcomes. While this market will commoditise quickly, the real risk for IT departments is that they design their applications and mobility strategy in such a way as to (yet again) lock themselves into a specific device/OS combination. The device shouldn’t matter.

The calculated process by which the Facebook message is intended to corral investors, marketers, users and others into the world of ‘social’ is breathtaking. The reality is more complex, less easily believable, and should make any organisation involved with social media ask questions. Because Facebook (and social media generally) is still developing, it is necessary for organisations using the media to set their own metrics and build knowledge.

Over the past two years, IBRS has come to the conclusion that many IT departments are at war with consumer mobile device trends. We have been inundated with enquiries regarding mobility and mobile devices. Questions range from how best to support secure email on iPhones, or how to manage a fleet of iPads, to how to plan for Android application deployment. These enquiries have one thing in c...

Technical debt is a metaphor for the ongoing cost of bad IT decisions. As with debt in the real world, interest is paid on technical debt in the form of increased cost of operations and maintenance, poor quality solutions and loss of enterprise agility. Prudently managed technical debt can be a useful tactical tool, however uncontrolled technical debt can rapidly become an overwhelming burde...