Andrew Jackson, President

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Every now and then one gets the opportunity to help others in a creative and fun way. Here was ours.

Three years ago, I received a request from one of our senior recruiters, Amber Weiss, to open our offices on a weekend in January to a group of computer professionals who were going to develop web sites for charities. I was surprised when she told me that they would camp out at BravoTECH all weekend. I was not sure I heard correctly: "They will eat, sleep and work without leaving?" She nodded and told me, "Many will stay the entire weekend and some will come and go, but we need to have our place open 24x7 with provisions for overnight guests." This sounded like an adventure, so our staff and many other volunteers organized the first Dallas-based Microsoft Charity Challenge.

Today it is an annual event that BravoTECH would not miss being a part of. Each year it is bigger and better organized, and the numbers continue to grow. This January we hosted more than 100 developers and twenty charities. We created a video to thank everyone who participated.
View video.

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Religion in the Workplace

Religion in the workplace can bring up some of the most difficult issues employers will face. By understanding the law and balancing business needs with an employee's desire to practice his or her religion, managers can handle these issues before they become a problem.

Our sister company, Imprimis, will host the Dallas Human Resource Management Association's upcoming "Symposium on Religion in the Workplace" on Thursday, April 8 from 8:00 a.m. – Noon. Register and view agenda

Survey Identifies CIOs That are Destined to Succeed

Capgemini's fourth annual Global CIO Report surveyed 490 Chief Information Officers and found that CIOs fell into one of three camps. The first two camps viewed the IT function as a Technology Utility and as a Service Center. These two approaches benefited organizations by providing technical competence, low risk, maximum predictability, and reliability. However, the CIOs in these groups tended to be focused inward, largely isolated from the drivers of business value.

The third group – the Business Technology Camp – was voted by Capgemini as the most likely to succeed in 2010 and beyond. This forward-looking type of CIO sees the IT function as a competitive lever of the business, driven as much by factors such as customer engagement and revenue generation as by internal needs. (Source: Information Week, February 25, 2010) MORE

Technology Trends in 2010

Consumer-focused tools will continue to permeate the enterprise, according to a recent survey of 300 IT and business professionals by CompTIA, an IT industry association. Other trends included using social networks to sell, alternative productivity apps, and the virtual office. (Source: CIO Insight) MORE

Cloud Software Spending Will Surge

Total software spending will grow gradually in the next five years (we've seen predictions between 3% and 6% in the U.S.) but the cloud computing market is expected to grow rapidly, said investment advisor Piper Jaffray. The firm interviewed 100 CIOs and IT managers and produced a 320-page report entitled, "The Future Is In the Cloud." Companies will continue to support on-premises systems, but the number of cloud-based offerings will evolve at a rapid pace, the report said. (Source: Information Week, Feb. 23, 2010) MORE