business issues - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

• How to Win the IT Infrastructure and Operations Talent War

  The future of your organization rests in the hands of your Infrastructure and Operations talent. Gartner lays out a battle plan to win the war for those tech pros.

• Top tech stories of 2013: Big Brother, wearables, and the struggles of aging tech giants

  Politics collided with the world of technology this year as stories about U.S. government spying stirred angst both among the country's citizens and foreign governments, and the flawed HeathCare.gov site got American health-care reform off to a rocky start. Meanwhile, the post-PC era put aging tech giants under pressure to reinvent themselves. Here in no particular order are IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 tech stories of the year.

• Fixing Healthcare Requires Netflix-Like Disruption

  Healthcare is broken. No one disputes that. No one lacks perspective on how to fix it, either. The challenge, though, is disrupting a system that makes more money treating sickness than it does preventing it. Technology and innovation can play a part, but so can flipping the entire care model on its head.

• Does a Hybrid Offshore IT Outsourcing Model Make Sense for Your Company?

  In theory, a hybrid offshore deal combines the best of pure outsourcing and a captive IT services center. In reality, it's more complicated -- and not for everyone.

• 'Tis the Season To Ramp Up Your Job Search

  While it may not seem logical, the holiday season is the perfect time to focus on your job search. Networking opportunities abound and there's less competition with other job candidates.

• The year in tech quotes

  With 2013 coming to an end, we took our annual look back at quotes from news stories over the last 12 months. Here are a handful that stuck with us through the year:

• Why Are So Many IT Projects Failing?

  A recent study reports that 50 percent of companies had an IT project fail in the last 12 months. Business leaders who blame IT are missing the real project management issues.

• CIOs Opting for IT Contractors Over Hiring Full-Time Staff

  The Bureau of Labor Statistics paints a dark picture of the IT job market, but theres a bright spot -- CIOs are hiring more skilled IT contractors.

• 8 Tips to Organize Your Office (and Yourself) for Better Productivity

  If your workspace is in chaos, you could be losing productivity and your job performance will likely suffer. These eight tips can help you keep it all together and get the most out of each hour of the day.

• CIOs and CMOs: Feuding in the C-Suite

  Survey finds that CIOs and marketing chiefs don't see eye-to-eye on much at all.

• What Contract IT Workers Miss About Being Full-Time

  A survey of contract and freelance IT professionals shows healthcare and 401k plans are the most-missed perks of traditional employment, while there are many things they don't miss at all.

• Wall Street Beat: Does Twitter IPO signal a tech bubble?

  Despite the frothy headlines stirred by Twitter's initial public offering, tech is not in a bubble of the sort that arose before the 2000 dot-com crash.

• How many data scientists does the world really need?

  The buzz is all about Big Data and how best to use it to generate actionable intelligence. To do this, companies will need to hire loads of highly trained, highly paid data scientists -- or will they?

• 12 recent technologies that have yet to live up to their hype

  Sony Betamax ... the Apple Newton... push technology... Web TV... electric vehicles.... What do all these things have in common? They were all heavily promoted technologies that didn't live up to the hype surrounding them. And they are not alone.

• Why Good Employees Leave (And How You Can Keep Them)

  If you're losing good workers and you're not sure why, the problem may lie with your firm's management style. The good news is that you can make small changes that will make a huge difference when it comes to employee retention.