Just how aware are businesses of Service Oriented Architectures, and how much benefit do people see from being able to have such an environment? Quocirca's research points to high levels of ignorance in many areas - a great deal of education is needed to drive forwards SOA's capabilities for general adoption. However, the research also shows that those companies that have gone down the SOA route are gaining real, tangible benefits. ...
07/09/2006 | SOA_2006.pdf | VIEW
Utility companies are under increasing pressure to deliver value to both customers and shareholders whilst satisfying the demands of regulators. A key component in improving business performance is better asset management. This paper looks at the challenges posed by asset management in utility companies and what can be done to optimise business performance through better asset management. ...
06/09/2006 | Final_Report_Utilities_and_Asset_Management.pdf | VIEW
Mobile or remote working is not new, nor specific to the use of mobile technology, but the increasing dependence on instant access to IT has led to an increasing demand for mobile data services. Operators recognising the long term decline of voice revenues are keen to offer potentially lucrative mobile data services, but will mobile data rapidly follow the path of voice services to become a cost conscious commodity, or are there additional services mobile operators can offer to add value and build loyalty? Certainly mobile data services can be complex, and in a rapidly maturing technology sector, it is valuable to be insulated from the effects of rapid change and unnecessary complexity. But ultimately mobile or remote access should be regarded as just one aspect of IT usage within a regular business environment, and not a separate entity in its own right. ...
02/08/2006 | transition_report_-_final.pdf | VIEW
The fourth update to Quocirca's Grid Index shows how initial pilots of Grid computing are now moving towards full implementations. However, large-scale Grid implementations, covering an enterprise's total IT infrastructure, are still rare. Organisations are going for discrete cluster Grids in specific areas. ...
26/06/2006 | Grid_Computing_Update_(June_2006)_final.pdf | VIEW
Small and medium sized organisations have similar issues to large companies when it comes to the processing and storage of information and data, yet often have little capability to attract, retain and maintain the skills for managing their data assets compared to large organisations. Blade systems offer an effective way to address the specific challenges faced by smaller organisations in managing their IT assets, and allows then to gain greater value from them. ...
24/06/2006 | IBM SMB Blades final.pdf | VIEW
Email is now more important to companies than ever - sensitive information is committed to email both inside and outside of the organisation. However, growth in overall email volume, driven by more sophisticated spamming attacks, as well the need to filter out malware and to ensure content is suitable for purpose means that we now must re-address how we view email within the organisation. ...
22/06/2006 | Symantec_email_document.pdf | VIEW
Blade computing is becoming a more important part of the IT Director's arsenal. Whilst often seen as a way of providing ‘servers in a different form factor', blade computing in fact offers significant benefits in flexibility and responsiveness to business needs as well as big savings in power, cooling and floor space. This paper looks at the particular challenges in public sector IT - the need to find efficiency savings at the same time as offering better service to citizens - and discusses the particular circumstances in which blade computing will be right for the public sector IT manager. ...
12/06/2006 | Quocirca_Blades_Paper_Version_Final.pdf | VIEW
IT in the UK public sector is under intense scrutiny and needs to deliver better results: much investment has been made which has too often failed to deliver. Projects have a history of being protracted and complex, offering significant challenges to all involved. The questions being asked are: has the government lost its way? does it really know how to obtain success from these big projects? This paper looks at the challenges posed by public sector IT and suggests better ways of managing these projects to deliver benefits quickly. ...
12/06/2006 | Intersystems_final_report.pdf | VIEW
Many technology sales cycles get bogged down in the IT department. Whilst it is unlikely that a sale will get anywhere without buy in from IT management, their approval is no guarantee of final success. Getting to “yes” requires accessing and influencing other key decision makers especially those in the finance department. And along the way, there are plenty of others who can say “no” ...
20/04/2006 | IT_Investment_Decision_Making.pdf | VIEW
Taking the Right Attitude to Secure Mobile Technology. When companies extend their business IT operations to mobile employees, their risks are increased as valuable software, data and devices are taken out of the protected perimeter of the office, and placed in the pockets, pouches and briefcases of users. Business processes may run more efficiently, and employer and employee have more flexibility in how they conduct the working practices, but do both parties gives sufficient attention to their responsibilities. There is a tendency to believe that where there are challenges with a particular use of technology, the solution is to apply yet more technology, but this is of little benefit if the attitudes to its use are complacent or irresponsible. ...
01/02/2006 | Mobile_Security_&_Responsibility_-_Jan_'06.pdf | VIEW
