Tags:
Strategy,
Security,
Risk Compliance Governance (GRC)
Who's on first?
Hackers may grab the headlines, but most computer security breaches are inside jobs involving little or no technical knowledge.Fraud or access to confidential information usually happens when basic security procedures governing access to information...
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Tags:
Strategy,
Collaboration,
Communication
No business is an island
Knowledge may be power, but for many organisations, this means hiding the secrets of its innermost workings from colleagues as well as competitors. This is not to say that we should all be throwing open our doors – that’s just transparency gone mad....
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Tags:
Innovation,
Entrepreneur,
Strategy,
Growth,
Data management
Ask the right question
Taken literally, "thinking outside the box" could mean saving serious money. Or at least, it can if you ask the right questions of the right people. Take all those hundreds – if not thousands – of separate bits of information that your business...
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Tags:
Strategy,
Bottom Line,
Know-how
The no-nonsense guide to software
Let’s be blunt: IBM is not the first name you think of when it comes to software. But Big Blue is the world’s second largest software provider, has the broadest portfolio of software products for business and a network of experts on stand-by. It...
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Tags:
Innovation,
Data management,
Strategy,
Change
The little shop that could
Time for full disclosure: when asked to write about The White Company, I jumped at the chance. Our household is filled with the company’s stuff. We like what it sells, how it markets itself and, living in the wilds of Wales, its mail-order...
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Tags:
Innovation,
Entrepreneur,
Communication,
Strategy
The rise of the answering machines
Does anybody like calling a helpline? Probably not, but businesses still need them. After all, if customers are going to spend their money on a product or service, they want a line of communication with the companies providing them. But many...
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Tags:
Know-how,
Strategy,
Bottom Line
In fear of finance
Finance directors like numbers. But there’s much more to the role these days than just “keeping score”. It’s a question of “decision support” – those numbers, properly interpreted and communicated to people throughout the business, can mean the diffe...
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Tags:
Strategy,
Growth,
Data management,
Security
Data basics
1. What is a data policy?It sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare, but a data policy is fundamentally a company-wide agreement on how and where data is stored, and who has access to which parts and for what purpose. By setting clear limits on how...
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Tags:
Change,
Growth,
Strategy,
Data management,
Innovation
Charity begins at home
Here’s something you may not have realised: charities are in one of the most competitive industries in the world. They have to fight tooth and nail for every bit of money that enters their books. Here’s another: they are among the most regulated and...
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Tags:
Data management,
Change,
Growth,
Strategy
What makes your IT special?
It was a nice problem to have. Three years after introducing CitySpace in 2003, a virtual learning environment for students, London’s City University found itself deluged by demand. Logins were running at more than 100,000 every month, courtesy of...
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Tags:
Know-how,
Strategy,
Entrepreneur,
Change,
Collaboration,
Growth
Paint by numbers
When Firwood Paints, based in Bolton, won a DTI-backed e-Commerce Award in September 2005, it was as the region’s best end-to-end integrated business. The company’s new website (www.firwood.co.uk) forged a dynamic link not only between a...
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Tags:
Innovation,
Strategy,
Data management,
Risk Compliance Governance (GRC)
Looking for answers in all the right places
We’re all familiar with the pain involved in hunting through piles of bank statements and phone bills, searching for a particular transaction. Multiply that task by several million, and you have some idea of the difficulties many businesses face in...
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Tags:
Know-how,
Strategy,
Bottom Line
Everything you need to know about IT … just don’t be too afraid to ask
Barely a decade ago, you could still find taped above office computer terminals the weary legend: “Abandon hope all ye who press Enter here”. What was barely funny then is now an odd cultural artefact, and now completely anachronistic. IT brings...
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Tags:
Innovation,
Strategy,
Change,
Bottom Line
All change?
“Every company is under pressure to continuously develop in modern retail,” says James Gurd, Home Shopping manager for UK-based houseware and hardware retailer, Robert Dyas.“You want to stay faithful to the values of the organisation but you can't...
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Tags:
Strategy,
Data management,
Know-how,
Collaboration
Share and share again
What does your organisation actually know? Answer: rather more than you think it does. And there’s the rub, because that knowledge isn’t being put to the most effective use. Sure, you know what’s happening. Your business has grown. It now employs sco...
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Tags:
Strategy,
Growth,
Innovation
The way we work tomorrow
Like the paperless office, the demise of the book is one of those future scenarios that was widely-prophesied a few years ago on the strength of IT and internet expansion, but hasn’t exactly come about as predicted.Instead, some of the more heartenin...
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Tags:
Growth,
Know-how,
Strategy,
Security
Jumping the software hurdles
Start with a strategy: The right software can make a big difference to a company’s potential growth. So why are managers so often seduced by technology that fails to match their business needs, ending up with inappropriate, disconnected systems?Most...
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Tags:
Strategy,
Security,
Risk Compliance Governance (GRC),
Innovation
Top security for an insecure world
Heard the one about the man who walked into an Israeli bank and stole £400,000 without anyone noticing? For Graham Jones, chief operating officer of business security experts Integralis, the story is a powerful reminder of why his company exists....
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Tags:
Strategy,
Growth,
Collaboration
Building blocks
Professional, determined and competitive – these are the values that led Travelex, the world’s largest foreign exchange specialist, to choose England rugby international player and world champion, Jonny Wilkinson, as its latest brand...
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Tags:
Strategy,
Know-how,
Innovation
An old model for success
There’s a memorable passage in The Living Company, by Arie de Geus: “When I entered my first place of work [in the fifties]... I felt a slight level of discomfort. The theories back at business school had mentioned labour, but there had been no talk...
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Tags:
Risk Compliance Governance (GRC),
Know-how,
Strategy
The No-Nonsense Guide to IT risk
Some business risks simply aren’t worth taking – just look at Enron's accounting, BA's aircraft livery or even Coca-Cola's New Coke launch. Others are essential, sparking growth and innovative ideas – from the personal computer to the iPod. The...
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Tags:
Strategy,
IT Investment
Going the distance
Once upon a time, gambling was a relatively simple affair. Corner betting shops, dog races, casinos – the familiar, traditional, controlled side of the business was the norm. Then, some time around 1998, the gambling and bookmaking industry started t...
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