Mary K Pratt

Industry leaders say IT outsourcing professionals need skills in technology, finance, law, negotiation and project, change and performance management.Knowledge of Hindi or Chinese is a plus.

It's a dangerous world out there. In Computerworld's Vital Signs quarterly trend survey, 31 percent of IT executives placed disaster recovery/continuity planning at the top of their priority lists, while 27 percent identified data security/privacy as their No. 1 issue.

Zipcar - the largest car-sharing company in North America, offering self-service, on-demand cars by the hour or day

You walk into the office, the security desk gives you your computer, and you go sit wherever you want. Laptops, widespread wireless connectivity, voice over IP and increased bandwidth could create this call centre of the future today.

Moving from mid-level executive to Chief Information Officer is a tough task, but some who have made the leap offer their advice.