Jeff Kaplan

One of the fundamental challenges facing network professionals is balancing ongoing responsibilities with reacting to daily events.

Jeff Kaplan, senior consultant with the Cutter Consortium

Software as a service has moved quickly from a peripheral idea to a mainstream phenomenon. While it

A recent study by Deloitte Consulting has sparked renewed debate about the business value of outsourcing mega-deals. The study, published in April, found that nearly 75 percent of the 25 large companies surveyed have had negative experiences with their mega-outsourcing projects.

It seems like nearly every IT/network supplier and service provider is adding managed services to its portfolios. Yet almost every supplier and service provider I talk to admits that selling managed services has been harder than expected. Why the disconnect? Bad packaging, pricing, positioning and salesmanship.

When people look back at 2003, some might see it as the beginning of an economic recovery that sparked renewed growth in the IT and telecom industries. However, there are numerous indicators that these industries are not only experiencing renewed life, but are fundamentally recreating themselves.

Given the tenuouseconomic and political climate, most IT organizations are pleased to have survived the past year's...