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.

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