What Is Your IT Budget This Year?

I don't really expect an answer to that question. It is more of question to ask your self.

For some the answer is "as little as possible" for others it is "what ever I need to meet my business goals." The right answer is somewhere in between.

An Ounce of Prevention

Benjamin Franklin said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In the world of business technology prevention takes the form of computer system security in its many forms.

The cure for the consequences of inadequate security can be very costly and in some cases sadly there is no cure. The cost to your business can be very high.

A recent study The Finacial Management of Cyber Risk reports that the cost of a security breach can easily be in the millions.

Let's take a look at the key forms of security that you should have:

Do Your Trust Your IT Provider? You Really Should

Who do you consider your most trusted advisers? Your Attorney, Your CPA? I certainly hope so. Your banker, maybe not that much anymore. There are no doubt others you have come to rely on when you need good advice.

And how about your IT Provider, Computer Consultant, Software Gal? They come in many shapes and sizes, sole practitioners, small and large firms, or your wife's nephew. Do you trust them for advice?

The thing is your IT provider may be the most important adviser you need. In this day and age the effective use of  business information technology, or the failure to do so, can make or break your business. You really do need a business technology professional who you can trust. So it begs the question do you trust your IT provider?

If you don't, here is how you should go about finding an IT provider that is right for your business.

IT success, circa 2010: just say the magic words - Business IT Alignment

It seems that Business IT Alignment is one of the hot buzzwords for 2010.

Joe McKendrick IT expert who writes for the on-line tech publication ZDNet wrote yesterday that for IT Success circa 2010: just say the magic words "Business IT Alignment."

This is surprising to me and not in the same breath. I am surprised because to my mind business IT has always had no meaning or value outside how it forwarded overall business goals. This is apparently a notion not shared by all IT people. At the same time I am not surprised that this is on peoples minds, obviously the era of endless IT budgets is over. 

In a recent study published by BusinessWeek Taking the Temperature of the CEO-CIO Relationship reports that Forty-seven percent say they have neutral or negative perceptions of the CIO-business working relationship.  This is obviously a two way street.

Entrepreneurs Can Change the World

Your Business Advisors - What Should You Be Asking Them Now

If you are reading this blog you have either survived the last year and are ready to ride the next wave, are starting something new and are paddling hard to catch the next wave, or you are sitting on the beach wondering what to do next. In any case it is a very good idea to have a team of business advisors on your wing ready to guide you toward the next big win.

The question we pose here is what should you be asking them, or what should they be talking to you about. What are the important answers you should be getting from your Accountant, Attorney, Tech and New Media experts that will boost your success in the decade ahead?

How Many Customers Owe You Over $5K For Over 90 Days? - "Focus Reports"

You have a loan payment or a big payroll coming up. The cash is not there. You pick up your AR Aging Report, to look at what should be collected and it's 100 pages long. You feel a migraine coming on.

I see this problem everyday. Business owners and managers flooded with computer reports that give them to much or to little information.

Take a simple but essential report like your AR aging report. Given the default paramters, most software packages will just happily print out everything. There has got to be a better way. And, there is.

So ask the question, make the demand, I want an AR aging report that will give me only a list of all customers that owe me over $5,000 for over 90 Days?  While you're at it give me their phone numbers and date of last payment.