Technology

Cloud computing

Is cloud computing transforming the industry?

The IT services now known as cloud computing have been around for decades, but they never grew beyond a small fraction of total industry revenue. Now, however, their time has come: over the past few years, a dizzying array of hardware and software available as services over the internet has emerged.

Consumers and businesses have embraced a multitude of cloud services, from mature sales force management services to email and photo editing to the latest smartphone applications and the entire social networking phenomenon. Further, researchers project an imminent inflection point in the adoption of cloud services by organizations both large and small.

As cloud adoption becomes widespread, its characteristic of enhancing business agility is likely to lead to an increasing pace of change for all industries worldwide. Adding fuel to the interest in cloud computing is that cloud services advance “green” agendas: they allow fuller utilization of shared infrastructure capacity, thus consuming less power and lowering the carbon footprints of their users versus alternative IT approaches.

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Social networking: creating a presence

Some organizations are creating a presence on social networks to promote products and services and to communicate directly with their customers.

• But when an organization creates a profile for this purpose, how does it define and communicate its privacy practices for the information it collects?
• And how should employees who communicate with customers on an individual basis use the additional personal information available to them from their customers’ profile?

These are all questions companies using social networks as a sales or promotion tool should be asking.

Organizations also need to be aware that social media sites can be abused for fraud purposes and that the information that is collected by the site is not in the control of the organization and will likely end up “living” longer than the organization intends or expects.

Policies and training are key 

It is important that organizations develop and communicate thoughtful policies that address interactions among customers, employees and job candidates. 

Merely disabling social network use in the workplace is not a sustainable solution 

The reliance on these policies is especially paramount in an environment where regulatory requirements do not easily align with technology and its common uses. Awareness campaigns and training must accompany the policy changes.

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• Social media strategy, policy and governance

Information security in a virtual world

Business is moving into the virtual world as more and more data is transmitted over the internet, and cloud computing, social networking and mobile devices become more prevalent.

Our 14th annual Global Information Security Survey confirms that information security is one of the most important issues facing organizations today.

Overall, we have identified three trends with a significant impact on the role and importance of information security:

• Physical boundaries are disappearing as more business data is transmitted over the internet
• The pace of change continues to accelerate
• Companies are moving from the more traditional outsourcing contracts to cloud service providers

Are you prepared for the risks?

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Getting information technology right

Information technology functions need to strike a balance between risk and performance.

But reality often falls short of this goal.

That’s because IT’s influence on the business has evolved so quickly that many IT functions are still struggling with how to marry their technical expertise with a new business perspective.

Top IT leaders are now facing broad challenges, including:

• Increasingly complex IT and business operating models
• Cost efficiency and transparency demands
• New regulations and new forms of threat
• Corporate responsibility expectations

Our research suggests that successful firms are focusing on these key issues and formulating their response at the enterprise level.

Learn more about getting IT right:

• Straight talk about IT performance
• Information security in a borderless world
• Information security services

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