Project Management

Secure Computing has reported an ingenious new type of phishing scam that uses VOIP telephony to entrap its victims. Dubbed "vishing", the fraud sees a randomly dialled user phoned by an automated system to be told that their credit card has been used illegally.

When I joined Pacific Blue Cross in 2003 as VP of IT, the CEO and I agreed on two foundational principles: 1. Technology has no value by itself, and 2. Technology management must switch its focus from operational to business enabler. These principles may seem self-evident, but the truth is, when there's a flurry of projects, all of them important to some aspect of the business, technology management can all too easily get swept away in putting out fires. This seemed to be what was happening at Pacific Blue Cross when I arrived.

With predictable regularity, a new one will come along. Just like its predecessor, it will trumpet that it can get your system in shape, easily and quickly. The models look great. Testimonials abound. The guru is basically saying:

The completely wireless office has remained the holy grail of wireless aficionados for years, but when will all the workers in a company be able to cut the wires and operate with voice, data and video running over Wi-Fi to the cellular network, or an assortment of other networks?

CIOs can use many of the disciplines already at their disposal within IS to help make their enterprises more successful at change management.

Roy Bernhard is a Jack of all trades: inventor, entrepreneur, chief technology officer, general manager, hiring guru

Canada's software piracy rate decreased three percentage points from 36 per cent to 33 per cent in 2005, falling below the worldwide piracy rate, which remained stable at 35 per cent, according to the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

Corporate IT managers have about five years to prepare for a shock wave of technology change that will sweep across the global economy and drive unwitting CIOs crazy.