John runs a small marketing firm. He, along with five other employees, manages most of the company's operations from sales to customer service. When John decided to use Internet as a marketing medium to attract more customers, he knew he didn't have the expertise to build a website himself nor could he afford to hire someone full time. He decided to outsource this activity. But where will he find someone who can do this work? He could ask around or advertise his requirement. Then, he remembered purchasing his computers over the Internet on eBay. It was easy. He went on the website, searched for computers, bid on them and got them delivered. It was cheap and faster too.

Introduction

Corporate Performance management (CPM) provides a blend of technology and processes that enable enterprises to plan, monitor, measure and manage performance so they can better align execution with corporate strategies. This is a crucial objective for every business especially during times of slower growth and lower profitability, frequent mergers and acquisitions, global competition, and greater scrutiny of accounting practices. Companies in every industry are seeking ways to get a clear, accurate view of operational performance. Essentially, they need an effective, reliable approach to connect operational performance to financial results.

Middle-sourcing is a term that helps to illustrate how firms in Singapore and SE Asia can benefit from the technology waves in China and India, and create a new niche area for business. As a regional hub (with similar time zones with that of India and China) with a wired-up populace and strong e-government infrastructure, Singapore can leverage its position as a middleman and become specialists in managing outsourcing relationships that have started in India and China....

A recent report by the US-based Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) validated what were probably not far from the minds of most CIO and IT executives around the globe; basically....

Two of the major issues facing CIOs are the harmonizing of IT and business strategies, and compliance. Online fraud falls into both of these categories and as a result CIOs are faced with a delicate balancing act...

This article will show you how to use techniques for visibility and verification to do most things – setting up processes and systems, doing QA and acceptance testing, and requirements gathering.

Microsoft Office on Windows Operating system is the most popular office productivity tool on personal computers. But it is not the only option in the current open source environment. Linux is fast becoming a fierce competitor to Windows OS and Open Office a viable alternative to MS Office.

Lately, a variety of PowerBuilder customers have been asking whether or not they should stay with PowerBuilder or go to .NET. This really isn’t a valid question because PowerBuilder and .NET are not mutually exclusive...

Countries in Asia Pacific have either legislated or are looking into legislating dual or multifactor authentication requirements for online transactions. Through investing in authentication and identity management solutions, organizations can reduce the cost of enforcing controls, achieve compliance with regulatory guidelines, and reaffirm customer trust. This article argues the case for effective risk management through identity management.

One of the most frightening facts in the security landscape is that both the diversity of threat types and their destructive power are simultaneously growing...

Master data management is still a mystery for many. This article aims to clear the air by explaining what is master data management, the challenges and drawbacks associated with it, and why this is of strategic importance to CIOs...

Over the past few years, identity theft has been enabled by network technology and has grown from a specialised criminal craft into a huge and lucrative industry – one that is adept at maximising revenues, minimising risk, and developing innovative ways to stay ahead of the competition. The goal of this article is to give you a comprehensive view on the best practices which enterprises should adopt to win the war against identity theft...

For today's banks and brokerage firms, addressing the ‘world as it is’ means keeping pace with the changing structure in organisations -- providing technology to address growth, compliance, and deliver expanded repertories of services.

With organizations running many disparate systems – including Windows servers, UNIX servers, AS/400 systems, and IBM-compatible mainframes – the issue of interoperability has become increasingly important. As a result, businesses in Asia continue to rank the integration of diverse applications and the automation of business processes among their most pressing IT needs...

To the business consumer of information systems, the relationship with the IT personnel who build and maintain those systems can be a paradoxical experience: on the one hand, a partnership with IT delivers significant productivity benefits by automating routine tasks and improving access to information. On the other, the process of building automated systems often requires freezing business policies into software systems, limiting the business sponsor’s flexibility to adapt their operations to dynamic market conditions, individual customer demands, or changing regulatory environments. This article analyses the inherent disparity between business and IT and how implementation of business rule management systems can bridge the gap between the two.

We expect our application lifecycle management tools to be well integrated. So why are we so worried about upgrading those tools? This is because when we do, the integration breaks. The Eclipse Application Lifecycle Framework (ALF) Project is going to fix that once and for all...

There is a strong buzz among Asian governments about the miracle of software innovation to transform economies. It is expected that local software houses will continue to be a part of the region’s strategic national agenda and allow for great economic success. The impact of driving a successful software business will not only impact the lives and pockets of developers but it can transform an entire population. Gain better understanding on the know-how of building commercially successful software...

The new buzzword these days is “Web 2.0”. While the definition of Web 2.0 may vary amongst individuals, we all agree that it is no longer the yesterday’s one-to-many Internet that we have somehow accustomed to. Blogging (as in Windows Live Spaces), Video-sharing (as in YouTube.com, or Windows Live SoapBox), Music-sharing (as in MySpace.com), Photo-sharing (as in Flickr.com), Podcasting, Instant Messaging (as in Live Messenger), Real Simple Syndication (RSS), Wiki, and the list go on. Today’s web is highly interactive, complex, and interconnected; a system that provides for fast changing many-to-many interactions, allowing anyone to actively contribute to its contents using an assortment of mobile and wireless devices rather than just consuming them previously from a fixed wired desktop computer. Such is the Web 2.0 era, creating many new business opportunities while bringing Internet to the next stage of its evolution...

It is virtually impossible to avoid the hype surrounding Virtualisation. It is perceived as the hottest theme of IT at the present moment which seemed to have reached a crescendo in 2006. The “V” word has been thrown around a lot in recent times. IT vendors have been promoting it as a type of silver-bullet to solve many pressing IT problems. Is server sprawl a problem? Virtualize! Storage issues? Virtualize! Want to streamline network management? Virtualize! Know how to smooth software testing and deployment?

Information and communications technology (ICT) is playing a crucial role in the 21st century. ICT—and high-quality software developed by local ISVs, in particular—is empowering countries and companies in Asia. Ideas and innovations that drive ICT should be nurtured and protected, promoting a virtuous circle of sustainable economic growth—particularly in developing countries...