Businesses need to take social media more seriously

To an increasing degree, people put their thoughts onto social media where the world can see them. If it’s you they’re thinking about, says Dave Paulding of Interactive Intelligence, what are they saying?

Believe it or not, approximately half the country, that’s around 30 million people, has a presence on the leading social media site, Facebook. And while for some, the perception is that these sites are lightweight platforms, in truth they are excellent business tools. If used well, social media can also help businesses stay close to their customers. There is a famous anecdote about an American business traveller stranded by the cancellation of his flight. Frustrated that the airline’s service desk could not help him get home he tweeted about the experience. A rival airline picked up the message, offered a seat on its next flight, and won a new loyal customer.

… Continue Reading

Back-up is not just for data

Businesses need to virtualise and protect their workloads along with data as a key part of disaster recovery programmes according to Rob Aherne, UK channel manager for PlateSpin at Novell.

“Most businesses by now have a good understanding about the importance that their digital data plays in their organisation,” explains Aherne. “And in the past years there have been enough media scare stories of data breaches or system failure to put the issue of disaster recovery to the top of the IT managers’ agenda.

… Continue Reading

The rise and rise of social networking

It’s easy to forget that just a few short years ago the concept of social networking over the Internet was in its infancy. Now with a Hollywood blockbuster dramatising the birth of Facebook, and Twitter playing a key role in the recent spate of revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East, have the social networks come of age both as a social and a business tool? Matt Bailey reports.

… Continue Reading

Removing the mist surrounding the cloud

The hype surrounding cloud computing is expected to reach unprecedented levels over the next few years. According to recent research by analyst Gartner, CIOs view the cloud as their top technology priority for 2011 and it expects the number of organisations using on-demand computing to rise to 43 percent within four years. Despite being lured by the prospect of achieving significant cost savings and efficiency gains, not all organisations are ready to embrace cloud computing and some lack an adequate contingency plan in the event of it all going wrong. Neil Cross, managing director of leading managing services and cloud computing provider, Advanced 365, says that businesses should consider the following key factors before seeking to introduce cloud computing as part of their IT strategy:

… Continue Reading

Gartner highlights the 10 critical myths and realities of Master Data Management

The adoption of master data management (MDM) promises many benefits ranging from business agility and improved business performance to increased revenue and lower IT and business costs. However, according to Gartner, achieving these benefits often entails overcoming formidable technical, organisational and political hurdles.

… Continue Reading