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This article presents an interview with Geir Ramleth, chief information officer of Bechtel. When asked about how he is able to work so quickly, particularly at a global company, he explains that because they run 75 to 100 large projects at any given time and that the projects are basically a large short-term enterprise, there is a tremendous need to grow quickly. He says they have to get in, start up quickly, maintain for a busy period and then get out. He believes that concepts such as Web 2.0 and SaaS may help address their need to develop business applications faster.

This article focuses on the growth in information technology (IT) and computer security budgets of companies in the U.S. Firms in the financial services industry lead in the percentage of their IT budget that is allocated for security. Rob Webb, chief technology officer and chief information officer at Equifax, is typical of executives handling IT. Webb is spending a good portion of his IT budget for security. For many of these firms IT security investment is not being looked as purely spending but rather as opportunity for innovation.

Presents a roundtable discussion by several executives in the U.S. regarding their interest in radio frequency identification systems. Sean Campbell, partner at IBM Business Consulting Services Group; John Keith, senior vice president of information technology applications at Unilever; John Nallin, vice president of information services at United Parcel Service.

This article focuses on the views of several individuals on the information technology (IT) industry in the U.S. The way author Nicholas Carr sees it, the second major shift in supply models for business IT holds both perils and promises as the industry starts to wrap its collective consciousness around the implications of the new utility, or on-demand, business model. Jeffrey Rayport, chairman of Marketspace LLC, the advisory and business-development arm of the Monitor Group, says that the industry is in the second phase of online commerce, which he calls Internet 2.0. Despite all the hype, it still represents only 5 to 8 percent of all economic activity in the market. For professor Chris Trimble, companies must go beyond introducing new ideas and focus on organizational structure.

Presents an interview with several venture capital (VC) executives in the U.S., including Ann Winblad, co-founding partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Investments that they are making in 2005 and plans for 2006; Reaction of chief information officers (CIO) toward venture capitals and its influence on VC investments; Changes in the investment landscape in the last year; Types of risk CIO face if they do not manage open source solutions in 2006. INSET: ANGELS OF VENTURE CAPITAL.

Since 2003, strategic chief information officers (CIO) in the U.S. have focused primarily on keeping their companies economically solvent by using technology to enable more efficient business operations that cut costs without compromising performing. Many CIO have been encouraged to emphasize bottom-line results that maximize profit margins in a tough economy. However, with the economic problems being experienced by the country, the new management imperative is to ride the wave of growth by giving greater consideration to top-line issues. In the 2005 annual survey conducted by the journal, Optimize, a shift from defense to offense strategies is being underway by CIO. Businesses are asking their information technology shops to contribute to revenue growth, expand market share and improve customer satisfaction. Many companies have linked compensation and bonus structures to these initiatives. A full 72% of CIO surveyed said that they are involved in revenue-enhancing initiatives or plan to launch these initiatives in the next months. Looking ahead to 2006, 55% of CIO surveyed said they need to improve security and risk management and 48% said they must improve governance processes and procedures.

This article features several executives in the IT industry. Professor of computer information systems at the University of Michigan Business School M. S. Krishan is spending a lot of his time researching the enormous pressures that businesses face from outside markets on global competition, from both business-process outsourcers and offshore outsourcing. Michael Raynor, a director of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and part of Deloitte Research, the thought leadership arm of Deloitte, continues to explore and push the boundaries on disruptive innovation and strategic flexibility. For the first time, he is taking a closer look at what happens when these two frameworks are studied together. While disruptive innovation is characterized by the ability to predict and take action to exploit new and emerging trends, strategic flexibility refers to what managers do with whatever is left over and cannot be predicted. Every company likes to think of itself as innovative. But when it comes down to it, very few treat innovation as an activity that must be supported by critical business processes. Peter Skarzynski, CEO of Strategos, believes this is a critical mistake. The oversight, he says, is the reason that many companies fail to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. INSET: Reader's Voice.

An Optimize survey of 600 CXOs finds the role of the strategic CIO is gaining visibility in businesses. With CEOs recognizing the critical role of technology-enabled business strategies in their operations, they are recruiting executives equipped with both business and technology smarts to lead their IT organizations and to bring creative ideas to strategy-planning sessions based on what technologies can deliver and ways that business processes can be enhanced to meet corporate objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the increase in the number of employees being laid-off by telecommunications companies in the United States. Reasons behind the companies' decision; List of firms issuing layoff announcements amid profit warnings; Statistics on job cuts in the industry; Suggested approach in corporate downsizing. INSET: Layoff Etiquette 101.

Presents an interview with Senator Ernest Hollings in the United States. Sponsorship of a legislation prohibiting foreign companies from acquiring a US telecommunication corporation; Concerns on the Deutsche Telekom AG deal; Sentiments on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Interviews elantic Communications Inc. chief executive officer Michael Gallagher about his company. Gallagher's career history; Basic strategy behind his company; Target market; Plans to target other major metropolitan markets along the East Coast of the United States; Primary competitors of the company.

Focuses on the shortage of labor in high technology industries and the manner by which companies compensate for the shortage. Growth of demand for information technology (IT) specialists; Efforts to hire and retain IT specialists; Projected number of IT jobs to be created in 2000; Move of the United States Congress to raise the quota for H-1B visas for overseas labor. INSET: Erin Goes High-Tech.

Reports on the entry of regional Bell operating companies into the long distance service industry in the United States. Bell Atlantic Corp., SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. as among the companies entering the long distance market; Bells' desire to enter the market since the approval of the Telecommunications Act.

Focuses on the convergence of telecommunication services with the Internet in an effort to improve customer service. Factors influencing the need to Internet-enable telecommunication services; Cost considerations; BellSouth Corp.'s investment in Internet-based customer service; MCI WorldCom's creation of a customer service Web site. INSET: Getting Fresh.

Focuses on the United States' Telecommunications Act of 1996 as of January 25, 1999. Background on the law's history; Provisions; Impact on telecommunications industry.

Reports on the steps taken by United States Internet service providers in digital subscriber line (DSL) format to reduce customer dissatisfaction. Price reduction; Simplification of installation; Evaluation of DSL providers based on provisioning, operations, support and service.

Part II. Features various Web sites relevant to travel and hospitality industry in the United States. Includes Microsoft's Expedia Travel; Sabre Group's Travelocity; Preview Travel site. INSET: TerraQuest: Treks for virtual vacationers..

The article discusses issues related to the shift from a product-based software industry to a service-based one. According to the article, the shift will pose a fundamental threat to organizations that are too dependent on current business models and technical development paradigms. Michael Cusumano, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, says that the factors responsible for the shift include aging software companies, the saturation and commoditization of many product markets and the proliferation of Internet technologies.

The article talks about the partnership of Sallie Mae with Computer Associates which aims to implement its service support processes including incident management, change management, problem management and release management. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library's (ITIL) incident management guidelines have been credited by Sallie Mae. Vice president Jo Lee Hayes of enterprise technologies, said that information technology should be aligned with the business, manage the necessary cultural change and keep ITIL implementation simple. The need for a unified and automated change-management process was one of Sallie Mae's main drivers for ITIL.

The article focuses on Volkswagen (VW) Financial Services' use of service-oriented architecture (SOA) into its processes. The company has been dealing with a problem on integrating its legacy systems with its new SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI). Integration team manager Daniel Matthies of VW Financial Services launched a pilot project using SOA technology from Software AG. The launching is to integrate SAP XI with all of the company's processes. These processes include business-partner management and customer relationship management.

This article provides information on author Patricia Seybold, who is a believer in looking to customers for innovation. In her book "Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company's Future," she claims it is time to tap into the customers' expertise. She said customers know more about their context, desired outcomes, needs and constraints than business managers or owners can ever hope to learn. According to the author, Seybold contends that progressive companies and chief information officers will think about providing tool kits and/or opening up their intellectual property to customers to let them design customized solutions.

This article talks about how businesses recruit and retain individuals who are knowledgeable in information technology (IT). A poll by the Robert Half Technology Group showed that 13% of the chief information officers surveyed plan to add IT staff in the fourth quarter of 2006 and only 3% are looking to cut staff. Mary Finlay, deputy chief information officer at Partners Healthcare System, is taking tangible steps and offering incentives to keep the pool of talent she has. She has also started a career-growth initiative where IT employees receive 40 hours of training, which includes everything from shadow training to leadership education.

This article focuses on the information technology (IT) project launched by chief technology officer Frank Giannantonio at TicketsNow. He joined the company six months ago from Lands'End. TicketsNow has experienced sales growth by 382.4 percent in three-years time. The company has a good following among the secondary ticket market. At present it needed to upgrade its Web site to meet demand. Web site traffic rose 35 percent from June 2005 to June 2006, to 1.8 million visitors. Giannantonio launched the new Web site in mid-July 2006. The new Web site is a success.

This article states that DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois has installed an encrypted virtual private network (VPN) SSL tunnel, using 180 access points to residence halls, 130 access points to student common areas and two VPN appliances from Aventail. This information technology infrastructure will give students a more secure wireless network. The VPN connects the campus' 40 buildings and 25,000 students. When students access a URL, they are redirected to a portal. When authenticated, they are assigned an IP address, allowing access to internal resources and any public sites over the secure tunnel connection.

The article reports that Google leads the 2006 American Customer Satisfaction Index, produced by the University of Michigan. For the fifth year, Google lead in customer satisfaction with a score of 81 on a 100-point scale. Yahoo remains in second place, but decreased four points to 76 from 2005. In June, Google performed 44.6 percent of all searches in the U.S., while Yahoo did 28.5 percent. According to Larry Freed, author of the report and CEO of ForeSee Results, the convergence of services is leading to increased competition among the providers.

The article reports on the decision of Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) to deploy a business intelligence system from Information Builders to its retail operations. When Jeff Neville joined EMS in 2005 as chief executive officer, the company had expanded to 80 stores in 16 U.S. states. He initiated a plan for the company that started with simple dashboards and is evolving to provide seamless integration between EMS headquarters in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and remote employees, suppliers, customers and partners at its mills and factories. The business intelligence system helps optimize pricing strategies, improve shelf arrangements and simplify discounting policies, according to Neville.

The article focuses on the business operation of LexisNexis Risk Management in response to the increased possibility of identity theft and fraud in financial transactions. The company provides identity authentication, collection and recovery services. It also offers advanced analytics that increases transaction processing while improving security and integrity. According to Jim Swift, chief operating officer of the company, increasing the availability of information also increases security threat. He said that with advanced analytics, his company can provide recommendations on managing specific customer portfolios.

The article focuses on a survey conducted by Spherion Corp. concerning the career plans of information technology professionals in the U.S. Almost half of information professionals included in the survey plan to search for new jobs in 2007. Chief information officers want to address the issue because of its implications for the business technology industry. The views and efforts of Jean-Louis Ecochard, vice president and chief information officer of Nature Conservancy, to promote information professional staff development are presented.

This article reports on statements made by authors Robert Kaplan and David Norton about corporate alignment. They stated that efforts would not succeed unless organizational units are aligned with the strategy. Entertainment alignment pose challenges to executives. Executives must address the overall lack of understanding of the business strategy through working as a unified team. According to Norton, chief information officers must work with chief executive officers to position information technology and strategy as a management process.

This article reports on a survey on information technology (IT) spending conducted by Goldman Sachs. The survey analysts say that IT spending levels are consistent with 2005. The survey states that there is no notable acceleration expected in 2006. Areas in information technology that will obtain growth include communications technology, 3G, and network updates.

The article reports on the centralization of information technology (IT) projects at the sheriff's department in Broward County, Florida in 2004. The record-management system deployed by chief information officer Patrick Doliny lets deputies file event reports and arrest affidavits that tie back to the centralized system. A project- and portfolio management software from Pacific Edge Software was incorporated into the IT infrastructure of the department. A methodology was developed by Doliny which includes the processes of initiation, planning, activation, controlling and ending.

The article discusses the importance of e-mail intelligence in managing messaging overload. Most companies manually filter through millions of e-mails to find relevant or critical messages, but Jon Rolph, managing VP of training and knowledge management at consulting firm International Network Services, has automated the process. Rolph analyzes mail and identifies new business opportunities through linguistic and statistical analysis using software from Clearwell Systems.

The article discusses that many information technology (IT) companies are considering open-source software investment. Gartner predicts that by 2010, Global 2000 companies will consider open-source products in 80% of their infrastructure-software investments and 25% of their business-software investments. IBM and a dozen software, media, and open-source companies agreed to collaborate to develop Open Ajax, a common framework to standardize development tools for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.

This article highlights the impact of business intelligence on the ability of Burt's Bees to absorb a sudden uptick in business as of February 2006. Executives of the firm credit business intelligence with playing a critical role in the 35% annual growth and $100 million sales in 2005. Burt's Bees, which makes more than 130 products, signed distribution contracts with national chains CVS and Walgreens in 2005. The deal represents a break from previous distribution channels mainly composed of specialty health-food stores, college bookstores and online retailers.

This article reports on the decline in the revenue growth of outsourcing companies in 2005. Revenue growth for 2005 was 15.2% as compared to 16.4% in the previous year, according to the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals. Smaller outsourcing firms saw revenue growth rates of 33.9% in 2005. Employment within the outsourcing industry increased by 15% in 2005. An average outsourcing company has about 10,000 employees.

The article considers the advice of John Mahoney, chief of research for IT management at Gartner, for chief information officers. Mahoney encourages chief information officers to be more innovative with their Web-based and consumer devices while considering major world events in 2008 such as the U.S. presidential election and the Olympics. It is also advisable for chief information officers to look beyond traditional business technologies such as games to develop productive ways to tackle business.

The article presents forecast on information technology (IT) organizations in the U.S., according to Gartner. By 2010, IT organizations will have a much bigger influence on the company's top and bottom lines. IT departments will be 30% smaller than its size in 2005. IT shops will de divided into: technology infrastructure and services; information design and management; process design and management; and relationship and sourcing management. Chief information officers, under the new organizational structure, will be required to be operationally competent in all areas of business.

The article provides information on how chief information officer Bruce Carver has successfully managed to craft the business-aligned information technology (IT) strategy of automobile products supplier Dana Corp. Prior to his appointment, the company had a fragmented and decentralized IT environment, with more than 30 help desks, 70 data centers and 8,700 off-the-shelf and custom applications. He was faced with the challenges of organizing the company's 46,000 workforce in 28 countries. He began implementing the 12 life-cycle management processes and is in the final stages of implementing a portal network. To create an efficient IT marketplace, he opted to narrow the vendor list by 10% and developed a preferred supplier program with 12 of the company's top providers.

The article discusses the findings of a study from Booz Allen Hamilton regarding research and development (R&D) spending and sustained innovation success. The study contends that there is no direct association between R&D spending and a company's success. Analysts found that companies have greater success when they focus on the effectiveness of innovation. It also reveals that R&D spending continues to increase.

The article reports on the first citywide deployment of broadband over power lines (BPL) technology in Manassas, Virginia in 2005. BPL is the transmission of high-speed communications services over the existing electric infrastructure, and on-demand service is already available throughout the city. The Congress is encouraged with this type of technology to improve broadband access in rural areas.

This section focuses on the decision of Yahoo! Inc. to invest 1 billion U.S. dollars in China's largest electronic commerce (E-commerce) company Alibaba.com Corp. and to integrate its Chinese operations into the online auctioneer. The investment, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter pending customary closing conditions, gives Yahoo a 40 percent share of the company and 35 percent voting rights. The companies say by joining forces, they will create one of the largest Internet companies in China and the only one with positions in key growth sectors, such as business-to-business E-commerce, consumer E-commerce, online payments, communications and search. Alibaba currently has 15 million customers which include 100,000 businesses that pay between 250 and 10,000 U.S. dollars per year for Alibaba's online services.

This article focuses on the findings of a study on customer satisfaction on electronic business (E-business)sites by the University of Michigan. The survey reveals that customer satisfaction with E-business sites rose 4.7 percent since 2004 and 20.5 percent from 2000. Yahoo! Inc. has seen a steady growth in revenue, from 717 million U.S. dollars in 2001 to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2004. Satisfaction for Yahoo in 2005 is up 2.6 percent from 2004.

This article focuses on the naming of Joe DeTullio, former chief information officer (CIO) of Universal Music Group (UMG) and Seagram Spirits and Wine Group, as CEO of Royalty Services, a joint venture between UMG, Warner Music Group (WMG) Inc., Lightspeed Venture Partners Co. and Exigen Group in the U.S. Royalty Services is developing an end-to-end royalty transaction processing service for UMG and WMG. DeTullio says his experience as CIO, particularly focusing on information technology (IT) and business alignment and an integration implementation with line of business managers, will come in handy. Royalty Services will process millions of transactions now handled by the IT departments at UMG and WMG.

The article reports on the resurgence of tools such as customer-relationship management (CRM), supply-chain management and knowledge management, according to Bain & Co. A recent report found the use of business process reengineering moved from 19th position in 2002 to 10th this 2005. Meanwhile, total quality management advanced to seventh in satisfaction rating. CRM jumped from the seventh-most-used management tool in 2002 to the second-most-used tool today. Strategic planning tools ranked first among the 960 global executives surveyed for the report. The need to get closer to the customers is driving CRM use, according to David Shpilberg, partner and head of global information technology practice at Bain. Two-thirds of respondents claim insufficient customer insight is hurting their business performance. Indeed, Shpilberg has seen significant learning curve improvements since they early CRM implements. In the survey, CRM implementations had the fewest shortcomings.

The article focuses on the study, IT Investing for High Performance, conducted by Accenture. In a survey of chief information officers (CIO) from some 300 Fortune 1000 companies, Accenture found that many companies are replacing legacy systems rather than buying new systems. It is a problem for many of the companies, according to Accenture CIO Frank Madroson. Respondents indicated that they spend 39 percent of time running and fixing applications and 14 percent of time building new applications. Many CEO and chief financial officers are reluctant to invest in new technologies, Madroson noted. They associate new implementations with the deployment delays and cost overruns of a few years ago--areas where performance metrics can help. The study noted a correlation between metrics and high performance. Some 46 percent of high-performing information technology organizations have access to IT performance metrics, while three percent of low-performing IT organizations reported access to the same metrics.

This article provides information on offshore-outsourcing statistics as of June 2005. Gartner forecasts that 7 percent of IT spending will be globally sourced by 2007. Deloitte Research reports that 2 million financial-sector jobs will be outsourced by 2009. Author and strategist Michael Treacy predicted that outsourcing will be a long term trend and half of the tasks that companies accomplish internally now will be outsourced or eliminated within 20 years. Specifically he said, 50 percent of blue-collar roles will go offshore and 80 percent of clerical roles will disappear. And while professionals will compete for their jobs on a global basis, 20 percent of professional roles will be eliminated or sent offshore. Thirty percent of the work in the IT sector, Treacy said, will disappear in the next 10 years through improved tools, packages and automation while another 30 percent will be outsourced, including operations, maintenance and programming. The remaining 40 percent will be focused on architecture and high-level application planning and implementations.

This article discusses the findings of a survey conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton and CFO Research Services on the views of chief financial officers (CFO) on collaboration. According to the survey, growth, rather than cost control, is the most common agenda for CFO. After years of axing nonessential programs, CFO are now tasked with seeking opportunities to fund activities that promote growth. The data, based on a survey of 1,600 senior financial executives, reveals that collaboration is top-of-mid for CFO. In order to promote growth, 66% of those surveyed say they need to collaborate with operations, 52% say they must collaborate with information technology and 51% say its more critical to collaborate with sales.

This article reports that existing management and human-resource (HR) practices may actually hinder an employee's ability to contribute to strategic goals, according to Mark Huselid, co-author of the book The Workforce Scorecard. If companies were thinking strategically, they would be investing disproportionately in core elements of their business, such as research and development or sales and marketing. But, he finds that many executives take a one-size-fits-all approach in which everyone receives the same treatment. The risks are significant. With this approach, companies tend to overinvest in nonstrategic positions and underinvest in strategic positions, leaving firms vulnerable to companies that are more thoughtful and get it right, he added. To maximize the power of their workforces, according to Huselid, companies must meet three challenges: view their workforce in terms of contribution rather than cost, replace benchmarking metrics with measures that different levels of strategic impact and make line managers and HR professionals jointly responsible for executive workforce initiatives.

The article deals with the 2004 survey conducted by A.T. Kearney among business and information technology (IT) leaders on how integrated their IT planning is with the overall business strategy. One-quarter of the 200 North American and European executives reported that their process was fully integrated and developed simultaneously, one third remarked that it was partially or not aligned. In 2002, one third of the participants cited a fully integrated IT planning process, while one-quarter reported partially or not aligned. Also telling, 30 percent of the business leaders surveyed now, versus 17 percent of technology executives, remarked that one-fifth or more of their IT budget is wasted each year.

This article focuses on issues surrounding industrial productivity. Most businesses place importance in productivity over the other aspects of their company. So much attention have been given to the concept of productivity that sometimes, the big picture is clouded from view. This practice can be observed in the Information Technology departments of companies. Productivity have taken precedence over strategy and innovation and thus, the work sometimes suffers. Innovations and strategies are vital to a company, the two being key components to a company's competitiveness. As of May 2005, it was reported that industries were investing 30% less than in 2002. This severely limits the capabilities of the IT departments, since most of them were barely able to escape basic operational activities, innovations and ideas weren't being explored at all.