Outsourcing
Businessweek, 3/29/04: Ban Outsourcing? Bad Idea
Such legislation in the U.S. could derail India's moves to open its economy
The uproar in the U.S. over the outsourcing of jobs to India is deafening. On Mar. 5, California state Senator Joseph Dunn greeted an application for a tax exemption by Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY ), India's premier software-services company, with an accusation that such companies "want to steal jobs" and "taxpayer dollars." On Mar. 10, U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick chastised India for demanding that the U.S. keep the door open to Indian information technology services while still being "one of the world's most closed economies." And Democratic Presidential hopeful John F. Kerry, an erstwhile free trader, has labeled outsourcers "Benedict Arnold" companies after the Revolutionary War traitor.
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Help Desk
Forrestor, 3/17/04: Automating Without Losing Customers
Deliver Positive Self-Service Experience in Contact Centers
by Elizabeth Herrell
with Stan Schatt and Benjamin Gray
Maintaining strong customer relationships in contact centers does not mean high operational overhead and large pools of agents here or abroad. Automating a percentage of customer interactions provides organizations with a competitive edge and reduces reliance on expensive assisted services. Many companies fail to embrace technology to automate their contact centers because of concerns about negative customer response and difficulties in supporting self-service channels. But technology improvements and advanced applications signify that now is the time to consider unifying customer support across both assisted and self-service channels to deliver world-class services that support sustainable customer relationships.
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IT Management
Gartner, 3/18/04: Online Server Backup Services Cost Less and Deliver More
Abstract: U.S. online server backup services enhance their value propositions to users by offering competitive alternatives to in-house server backups.
By Adam Couture and Stan Zaffos
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Security
Computerworld, 3/21/04: Vulnerable remote users: a hacker's delight
Opinion by Brian Foster, Symantec Corp.
Laptop sales are rising, more and more employees are working remotely, and corporations are enjoying productivity increases from their borderless workforces. In fact, mobile technologies -- and their eager adoption by companies across the globe -- have enabled corporations to do business not only anytime and anywhere but also all the time and everywhere. According to a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence, more than half of companies in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific have remote users. Moreover, that number is expected to increase to 80% by 2006.
Yet the same study reported that 49% of surveyed employers cited remote security as a major concern. As many organizations have realized, remote connections are essential to accomplishing business tasks, which underscores the importance of securing those connections in order to protect corporate assets.
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Computerworld, 3/22/04: Why you should sweat the small stuff
By Kim Girard
It's never a good night for the IT department when the first person to get hit by a new virus is the CEO.
That's exactly what happened when the W32.Blaster Internet worm slipped onto the notebook of ABM Industries Inc. chief Henrik Slipsager. Slipsager was booting up during a business trip in Los Angeles in August 2003 when the error message that defined the Blaster popped up, paralyzing his machine and millions of others across the globe. The CEO began calling cell phones of top IT staffers in San Francisco looking for help.
"It was 5:30 on a Wednesday," recalls Sean Finley, assistant vice president and deputy director of electronic services at ABM, a $2.3 billion company that provides janitorial, lighting and security services to high-rise buildings. Finley, a 15-year veteran of the company, says he called an ABM Web site administrator in Los Angeles. "I said: 'Listen, you've got to do me a big favor,'" he recalls. Slipsager left his notebook with a hotel bellhop as the employee raced there with antivirus software. The CEO's computer was fixed. But after that night, the way ABM dealt with viruses changed.
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 3/22/04: Users Want Microsoft to Feel Patch Management Urgency
New Windows Update Services gets eager looks
News Story by Carol Sliwa
Users of Microsoft Corp.'s management products showed keener interest in short-term deliverables than in the long-term strategic initiatives that the company outlined here last week at its annual management conference.
They packed sessions on Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 and the newly renamed Windows Update Services, formerly called Software Update Services (SUS).
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San José Mercury News, 3/21/04: Microsoft Change? Don't Hold Your Breath
By Dan Gillmor
This week, barring unexpected developments, the European Commission is expected to tell the world's most powerful monopoly that it can't keep abusing that status. The monopolist in question, Microsoft, won't be especially alarmed.
After all, government competition authorities, especially in Microsoft's home nation, have failed repeatedly to make a dent in the Microsoft fortress. Why should anybody expect anything different this time?
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Tilting @ Windmills?
C|net, 3/22/04: Novell sets sights on 'complete Linux desktop'
By Stephen Shankland
SALT LAKE CITY--In the 1990s, Microsoft defeated Novell in the market for server operating systems. Now Novell is taking the battle back to Redmond, Wash., launching an attack on Microsoft's desktop stronghold.
"We're focusing on building a complete Linux desktop as an alternative to what you've been using," Novell Vice Chairman Chris Stone told Novell loyalists at the company's BrainShare conference here. "We believe that in the next 12 months, we will see the widespread adoption of Linux on the desktop."
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