Human Resources

IT and business executives are burdened with the ever-increasing cost of IT without clear evidence of the value derived from it. Traditional performance methods, like ROI, only capture the financial worth of IT projects and systems. But problems emerge when traditional monetary values are used to measure IT value, as information systems often generate intangible benefits. Will the IT black hole ever end?

Good news! IBM has a solution for your baby-boomer problem. You know, that one you

With the UK predicting that it will be facing a shortage of up to 500,000 professionals with top-end networking skills within the next three years, South Africa (SA) can brace itself for some serious head-hunting from UK companies - a situation that could exacerbate a local shortage. This is according to Org Geldenhuys, a director of Pretoria-based IT recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment.

Technology job cuts for the first three quarters of the year were up 18.8 percent over the same period in 2004, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement company.

It makes perfect sense. If you have already adopted outsourcing as part of your IT strategy, why not use outside expertise to manage the outsourced elements?

Work longer hours to save jobs: that's the deal Patrick Starck, the chief executive officer of the French subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Co. is offering workers there. He's surfing a wave of criticism of the country's 35-hour working week rule, which stands accused of imposing a "competitive disadvantage" on French industry. By linking working hours to the job cuts threatened by the company's restructuring plan, Starck is hinting at a way of implementing the plan that is better for the workers.

The position of IT architect has become increasingly important to the ever-changing IT industry, and is one that established corporations and startups are seeking. The job requires network professionals to acquire new skills, and it could provide additional career opportunities.

There really is an Uncertainty Principle for IT systems. Uncertainty arises from the fact that users will not know what they really need until they begin to work with a new system. The traditional waterfall approach to building systems (finish one phase before falling into the next) ignores this principle, and ignores the inevitable business changes that occur between freezing the specifications and delivering a system. But the waterfall methodology continues to be widely used.