personnel - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

• Employees Engage in Rogue Cloud Use Regardless of Security Policies

  Studies show that employees are engaging in rogue use of the cloud, even when IT organizations say they have clear formal cloud policies and penalties for violation of the policies.

• Can Apple survive without Steve Jobs?

  Stop me if you've heard this one: Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave from Apple.

• The world according to Michael Arrington

  Ah, AOL -- just when it looked like you were about to slip into boring mediocrity, you surprise us yet again with your antics.

• Did HP board have hidden agenda in removing Hurd?

  By now everyone knows that HP CEO Mark Hurd was forced to resign following an investigation into an alleged sexual harassment scandal.

• Your Leadership Portfolio: The View from C-level

  Former senior IT leaders who rise to head of the function are often surprised by the competencies that they are expected to have at the C-level.

• It takes a quality IT group to deliver good yogurt

  IT infrastructure and services are not the first things to come to mind when you think of Danone Group, the US$3.5 billion company known for its Evian water and Dannon and Stonyfield yogurt brands. But when it comes to packaging and delivering water and yogurt, IT services and the automation they provide are indispensable.

• Five outside-the-box ways to cut IT costs

  Every time the economy turns downward, IT shops take a hit.

• Working With and Communicating to the Board of Directors

  The IT leaders who make up the CIO Executive Council are finding themselves more often called upon to address the boards of directors at their companies. For many this is an alien environment, full of high-powered, short-attention-span executives with little affinity for technology. CIOs want to learn how to be more effective in their communications with the board and improve their success in conveying the challenges, opportunities and successes in helping achieve business goals that their department offers. We turned to some of our more board-seasoned members for insights in wowing the board.

• Gavin Michael: The Lloyds TSB Global Villager

  Commuting between Australia and the UK is just another challenge for Gavin Michael, the CIO of retail banking at Lloyds TSB.

• An Objective Method for Evaluating Project Managers' Performance

  Project managers are ultimately responsible for making sure projects are completed on time, on budget and with the features and functionality specified by the project's stakeholders. So one would presume that project managers' performance would be evaluated based on those same criteria. It sounds obvious, right?

• Provident Financial IT director on Climbing Obstacles

  Penny Jones didn't choose IT as a career -- it chose her. She stumbled upon her first IT job, working for retailer Littlewoods when she was 19, almost by accident. Having spent three years since leaving school in undemanding admin roles, she took the position in operations because it was better paid and looked like a promising opportunity.

• Platforms for IT Change

  The Eurostar connects Britain to Europe, but the beating heart of rail travel in Great Britain has always been the Midlands. For decades Crewe was synonymous with locomotive construction, and major rail companies to this day base their head offices in the Midlands.

• Would You Fire This Person?

  The people who make a manager's life difficult aren't the ones who are incompetent. You can spot them and eliminate them without angst. It's semicompetent people who keep their managers awake at night.