Business Technology Roundtable

You may think that the worldwide economic downturn has negatively impacted most CIO's budgets, but so far that hasn't been the case. According to the latest market study by IDC, worldwide IT spending remains on course to grow by 6 percent this year in constant currency, that's only slightly down on last year's pace of 7 percent growth. Strong performance in software, storage, enterprise network and mobile device markets has offset weaker trends in PCs, servers, peripherals and telecom provider equipment. However, the strength of the U.S. dollar in the first half of 2012 means that IT spending is on course for growth of just 4 percent this year. Including telecom services, it's now estimated that total ICT spending will increase by 5 percent this year in constant currency to $3.6 trillion (that's growth of 2.5 percent in U.S. dollars). "In spite of economic uncertainty, which continues to inhibit enterprise investment in some tech segments, the conti...

As Thanksgiving approaches on November 27, many U.S. companies are heading into an extended four-day holiday weekend. If you're an executive or CIO ask yourself the following question: If your web servers, databases or network infrastructure failed over the holiday weekend who would you call for help? Despite the proliferation of smart phones and ubiquitous network services, many IT staff members are impossible to reach over holiday weekends. And commuting into the office for an IT or network emergency is the last thing most employees have in mind when they sit down for Thanksgiving turkey. Secure, Safe and Sound On the other hand, I will rest easy this holiday weekend because our company depends on multiple managed service providers (MSPs) -- a group of companies that remotely monitor, manage and troubleshoot our Web servers, databases and network systems. In most scenarios, our MSPs mitigate an IT or network issue before it becomes a major problem. We pay a flat monthly fee to o...