http://i-structure.comCIO Updates from Infocrossing Inc.Copyright © 2010 Infocrossing Inc. All rights reserved.en-USDriving Efficiency with Adaptive Outsourcing Forrester® Research demonstrates that more than 25% of North American customers are dissatisfied with their outsourcer’s ability to hit cost and SLA targets. And failure rates for outsourcing can range from 25%-50%. Forrester’s review of failed contracts found that the single biggest reason for failure is a lack of flexibility. One of the main problems is that vendors can take a rigid approach to outsourcing engagements that does not consider all of the facets of a client’s technology lifecycle. A company who is an early adopter of a new technology can have substantially different requirements than one ...http://i-structure.com/page/237.aspx10/19/2009 The dynamic business environment today demands that the business adapt continuously to serve customers better, maintain high growth, build and retain the competitive advantage. It is imperative for the business to become more agile and flexible to address these objectives. IT must quickly adapt to the demands of these changing business needs. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is the key technology which has the most profound impact in building agile and flexible IT systems. SOA is a principle of creating software functions as reusable and configurable services, to enable alignment of business processes and related IT assets to meet change in ...http://i-structure.com/page/196.aspx04/09/2009 In our current economic downturn, CIOs are struggling with a growing list of IT projects and problems in the face of time, money and, in particular, personnel constraints. Frequently, we hear “I want to focus on new projects strategic to my company, but I am weighed down with daily operations and keeping my current systems running.” Inevitably, IT systems maintenance required to keep business running takes precedence over new, strategic initiatives (e.g., in-house applications development) that could create competitive advantage or spur business growth. There is frequently a degree of mismatch between skills and tasks, resulting in the misapplication and/or underutilization of ...http://i-structure.com/page/195.aspx03/03/2009 In Part 1, we discussed that operations maturity embraces all the processes, people and tools used to manage, support and optimize the performance of computing operations. This month in Part 2, we will take a deeper look or review of the systems operation’s maturity against the following six actions an organization can take to make in different in operations maturity. Standardization of Processes Standardizing processes is an essential first step toward operations maturity. Haphazard, one-off systems management approaches do not deliver predictable, reliable results, nor do they permit effective analysis and avoidance of problems. ...http://i-structure.com/page/135.aspx04/09/2009 The lack of a combined business and technical definition of cloud computing is the underlying cause of confusion for most of the market. To understand the confusion, it is beneficial to look at how the industry has attempted to define cloud computing. There are as many variations on the definition of cloud as there are vendors/companies embracing this new approach. Two notable examples from Gartner and Dell could not be more different: Gartner defines cloud computing as “a style of computing where massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered ‘as a service’ to external customers using Internet technologies”. ...http://i-structure.com/page/221.aspx03/23/2010 How it worked then Ten years ago, you could assume that the chief information officer would report to the chief financial officer. More often than not, a company’s board would develop a strategy that included an outline for the flow of information. Together with the CFO, members of the board would then decide on a budget for the IT department, with some input from the CIO, in order to make sure that the budget and plan were realistic. The CIO then spent his or her budget, and as long as the standard for information flow was met, no one complained. Support ...http://i-structure.com/page/227.aspx10/19/2009 Surviving in business is tough and remaining competitive means adapting to our quickly and ever-changing environment. Today, CIOs are under an increasing amount of pressure to do the impossible. They’re expected to cut operating costs to the bone while adding new, cutting-edge information services demanded by clients — and to do both in a fast-paced, hypercompetitive global marketplace. Surviving in this environment requires making the best use of available resources in a way that can be leveraged into a competitive advantage. If done well, the enterprise not only survives but it thrives and prospers. One of the ways that successful companies are ...http://i-structure.com/page/203.aspx10/19/2009 Software as a Service, or SaaS, is a buzzword that you are probably hearing with increasing frequency, along with cloud computing (perhaps an even more “nebulous” concept). Contrary to a common misuse of the term, SaaS does not refer to any hosted application accessed over the Internet. Rather, it refers to an architecture in which a piece of software has a single code base used by a variety of different customers, yet customizable to some degree for individual needs. Google docs, for example, is really more of an example of cloud computing than SaaS. Many in the industry draw a ...http://i-structure.com/page/136.aspx04/09/2009