Expert Advice

A well-rounded board is an absolute necessity in these economically trying times. The average board of today usually consists of at least one person who has expertise in the company's business; a high-profile person who brings credibility and gravitas to issues; a financial person who, among other t...

"Brought to you by ..." Ahhh, the golden age of advertising. The ads themselves were social markers, drivers of our conversation, definers of what was -- and was not -- cool. We took them at face value, we obeyed their siren songs, and we sampled, and we bought, and we sang the jingles. Back in a...

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard has undoubtedly made a significant improvement to the security of cardholder account numbers and other sensitive information within the payment card infrastructure. The standard lays out a strong set of requirements that merchants, acquirers and proce...

2009 was the first year since 2005 that the number of data breach incidents recorded actually dropped. If that makes you feel a little more secure -- there is a counter side. The same site reports on personal records that have been exposed: 220 million records in 2009 as compared with 35 million i...

With the plethora of available technology tools promising to improve the customer experience, it's safe to assume that many of you have deployed more than one of them to increase your chances of success. The implementation of myriad technology applications can provide significant benefits if they ar...

As the number, power and flexibility of mobile devices has increased, so has their use for shopping. In 2008, a Nielsen survey found that 9 million people in the United States "have used their mobile phone to pay for goods or services," and many more expect to do so soon. In a 2009 survey by Deloitt...

In this age of phishing, hacking, identity fraud, and other forms of cybercrime, answering two simple questions -- "Who are you?" and "How can you prove it?" -- is fast becoming a critical requirement for all online business activities. Moreover, solving this "identity management" challenge has beco...

Recently, I was involved with the implementation of a replication solution at an electric utility company. This implementation was the center piece of a disaster recovery implementation for one of their power plants. Normally, when a replication solution is implemented, data recoverability at the re...

SaaS has become an increasingly popular model for cloud computing adoption, with 68 percent of U.S. respondents in a recent study reporting adoption of SaaS at some level, and 62 percent of global respondents reporting plans to move toward SaaS in the next year. SaaS and cloud computing represent a ...

Hope was a slogan and a sentiment that played a major role in the U.S. presidential election of 2008, and hope continues to be the mindset of technology advocates pushing for cloud computing in the public sector. As a former government employee with a long history in the intelligence field, I can ea...

After an exceedingly tough year for businesses in virtually every sector, reports of online sales Cyber Monday offer hope for the turnaround so many people have been waiting for. The Internet has been called by many "the great equalizer." One of the best things about selling online is that virtually...

In an effort to beef up internal controls and data security, service organizations have sought out SAS 70 reports to demonstrate their level of compliance. When businesses choose to outsource critical processes, the SAS 70 helps them assess and select potential providers. This assessment tool can ...

2009 is expected to be the first year when mobile phones start gaining real traction in holiday shopping. Nearly one in five consumers will use a mobile device to assist in their holiday shopping this year, according to Deloitte's most recent Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends Shop...

For years, IT departments have had full control over their own infrastructure -- for better and worse -- and are naturally uncomfortable with anything that prevents them from being the sole resource for their own infrastructure. They have been trained to maintain tight control because of the comple...

A trend is not a fad. A fad comes and goes quickly, while trends have staying power. Great ideas become trends when they are widely adopted beyond their original driving force. Such is the case with the marketing trend of direct digital marketing -- relevant digital marketing communications that are...