“We know UK businesses are ready to do more than just talk about this issue because it’s on the agenda of every CIO we speak to,” explains James Rigby, MD of SCC. “The consumerisation of IT is already happening in the workplace and it’s happening in every company right now. There are many fundamental questions that organisations have to consider. For example, do they know how many staff-owned smart phones, iPads and laptops are already on their networks and do they know what they’re doing on them? These are big questions and there are compelling reasons as to why it is necessary to know the answers.”

The consumerisation of IT, which is the process that brings personal productivity and social networking elements – both hardware and software – into the workplace environment, is a hot topic. The most recent available Gartner research says it is an issue that needs to be understood so business IT can cope with the demands placed on its networks today and in the future. As consumer technologies increasingly penetrate the workplace, organisations must have a strategy that copes with consumer email and communication services like instant messaging (IM) and voice over IP (VoIP); blogs, social networks and other web 2.0 services; unmanaged mobile devices; network management and remote connectivity.

The generation currently entering the workforce now regard such technologies as part of everyday life and as a result SCC is working with major brands to create an opportunity from this challenge. The company reports that forward thinking companies are exploring ways to meet the issue head on by subsidising employee laptops – wrapping business and productivity benefits together with a desirable staff benefits package.

Meanwhile, the company points out that the major issues driving the IT industry today are part of a bigger consumerisation picture. Whether considering virtualisation, Desktop as a Service, cloud computing, VDI, Windows 7 or collaboration – each represents aspects of the consumerisation of IT and all need to be wrapped into an organisation’s vision for its business strategy.

An overwhelming 96 percent of the respondents to Fortify Software’s poll at this year’s DEF CON 2010 hacker conference said they believed the cloud would open up more hacking opportunities for them. This is being driven, says Barmak Meftah, chief products officer with Fortify specialist, by the belief that cloud vendors are not doing enough to address the security issues of their services.

“89 percent of respondents said they believed this was the case and, when you analyse this overwhelming response in the light of the fact that 45 percent of hackers said they had already tried to exploit vulnerabilities in the cloud, you begin to see the scale of the problem,” he said. “While only 12 percent said they hacked cloud systems for financial gain, that still means a sizeable headache for any IT manager planning to migrate their IT resources into the cloud.”.

According to Meftah, when you factor in the prediction from numerous analysts that at the start of 2010 twenty percent of businesses would have their IT resources in the cloud within four years you begin to appreciate the potential scale and complexity of the security issues involved.

“In the many predictions,” explained Meftah, “twenty percent of organisations would own no appreciable IT assets, but would instead rely on cloud computing resources – the same resources that 45 percent of the DEF CON 2010 attendees in the survey cheerfully admitted to already having tried to hack.”

Breaking down the survey responses, 21 percent believe that Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud systems are viewed as being the most vulnerable, with 33 percent of the hackers having discovered public DNS vulnerabilities, followed by log files (16 percent) and communication profiles (12 percent) in their cloud travels.

“More than anything, this research confirms our ongoing observations that cloud vendors – as well as the IT software industry as a whole – need to redouble their governance and security assurance strategies when developing solutions, whether cloud-based or not, as all IT systems will eventually have to support a cloud resource,” he added. “It is of great concern to us that the message about software assurance has still to get through to everyone in the software development community, and the DEF CON survey results strengthen our resolve to get this message across to as large an audience as possible.”

www.fortify.com

This year’s A level results show that the number of students studying ICT and computing courses is down for the sixth year running, despite there being an overall skills shortage across the UK of skilled IT professionals. Davin Yap CEO of software company comments: “If this worrying trend continues we won’t have any choice but to look oversees to fill the shortfall.

The UK more than holds its own on the IT world stage and the quality of our technology graduates is very high but a lack of fresh blood will just make a scarce resource even scarcer,” he said. “The Government needs to recognise the value of the UK industry as a major export resource and encourage students to study more useful subjects such as technology as opposed to ‘basket weaving’ courses which are of little value to the wider economy.”

And as number of GCSE ICT students drops again, the need for the addition of information security topics has been raised by IT professionals. Fears have been expressed by the Royal Society that ICT GCSE lessons are ‘too boring’.

Symantec’s Tony Osborn believes that this pattern can be ended by putting a greater focus on teaching students about cybercrime and information security. “Students today have grown-up surrounded by computers. By the time they reach GCSE level they are already skilled enough on a computer to do most jobs. If we are going to extend their interest in ICT we need to find topics that make the subject appeal to them, as well as teach them. Information security should be included within the curriculum. As a volunteer speaker for the charity, ChildNet, I have been into many classrooms and taught students of the dangers that surround them online. Talking to them about topics such as poisoned Facebook applications, dirty music downloads and credit card phishing attacks gains their interest far more than the more bland aspects of ICT ever will.”

In addition, there is a responsibility on parents to increase their knowledge of internet threats as children are often far more knowledgeable than parents in these areas. Osborn concludes: “Students too often look at ICT without realising there is a fun and rewarding side to it. We should be aiming to make them aware of information security both to educate them about the risks and to urge the next generation of cyber security experts to step forward.”

NASA acknowledges that the ITIL framework is the agency’s springboard for improving service delivery, mitigating disruptions, increasing productivity and enabling the achievement of IT business objectives. Additionally, ITIL helps NASA to meet the reporting requirements of the US Office of Management and Budget.

Janine Eves, OGC contract manager and publisher at ITIL publisher The Stationery Office, comments: “We’re thrilled that an organisation of NASA’s stature understands the value of ITIL. Whether in the public or private sector, ITIL is the proven solution for IT service management across the world. Earlier this summer, for example, we were able to announce our support for a new project to increase the use of ITIL in China, so we are consistently seeing evidence of ITIL’s global value.”

ITIL Version 3 provides the best practice for modern IT service management. Five titles – ‘Service Strategy’, ‘Service Design’, ‘Service Transition’, ‘Service Operation’ and ‘Continual Service Improvement’ – now form the core of ITIL practice. OGC will continue to update the core ITIL Version 3 guidance through controlled releases in the future.

www.tso.co.uk

The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) has selected Hornbill’s Supportworks ITSM Foundations service desk software for its new centralised service desk, supporting thousands of staff in locations worldwide. The NAAFI selected Hornbill’s ‘bite-size’ ITIL software from several other competitive solutions to enable it to implement the core ITIL processes without the cost or complexity of a more comprehensive service management system. Since implementing Supportworks in just six weeks from first demonstration, the NAAFI says it has improved both its service to end users and its IT infrastructure management with the adoption of ITIL best practice.

According to Adiele Goodwill, IT operations manager at NAAFI, “Our business driver for selecting new helpdesk software was the efficiency gain of centralising our two service functions in-house with an ITIL-compatible solution. The software needed to support the three core ITIL processes for Incident, Problem and Change management. Consolidating the helpdesk functionality was key to ensure that we could streamline our IT systems and benefit from business efficiencies while providing a ‘one-stop shop’ to end users.

 “We looked at other solutions but found they were too complex for our current needs. Hornbill’s ‘bite-size’ solution fitted our requirements – it offered the core ITIL functionality yet still looked so easy to use. When we have mastered the core ITIL processes, we have the option of upgrading to Supportworks ITSM Enterprise to introduce additional processes.  Choosing Supportworks ITSM Foundations and the fast track implementation meant that we were able to go live within just six weeks of our first demonstration.”

NAAFI is now considering the implementation of Assetworks asset discovery software to provide greater visibility of its assets at its many different locations.

Frank McIlroy, CEO of Hornbill Service Management said, “Today, it’s all about doing more for less: the challenge is the same the world over in both public and commercial spheres. Times have changed for IT service departments too, they are no longer simply focused on technology, they must prove its business value as well. Bite-Size ITIL can help IT to quickly achieve better service with the same resource and, more importantly, demonstrate ROI in business terms.”

http://www.hornbill.com/

Stratogen Hosting Advanced Resource Pool (SHARP) enables customers to pay upfront for a specified amount of processing power, memory and storage space. Unlike metered, or per-VM, models SHARP customers deploy as many virtual machines as are necessary, giving them greater control over their hosting expenditure and the flexibility to configure their own servers.

Customers can save up to 40 percent on their monthly hosting bills and the service guarantees no overspend while offering users improved hosting performance and optimised hosting resource.

Karl Robinson, managing director at StratoGen, said: “Many customers don’t like the surprise bills that come with metered hosting, and realise that they are not using all the resource that they are paying for on per-VM billing models. They want a fixed price plan that enables them to pay upfront for their usage.

“Just like people know how many minutes and texts they have on their mobile phone contract, now SHARP customers know how much processor power, memory and storage space their private cloud has available. Their operational cost is fixed. We sell clients a fixed amount of resource on our platform, just as if they were managing their own datacentre. They can then build their own VMs within the resource that we allocate, but will never be hit with any unexpected costs.”

http://bit.ly/drlCzy

“The real theme of our time seems to be ‘doing more with less’ and clearly IT is the key to this process. The VitAL Focus Groups aim to equip its delegates with the tools to cut costs while improving their service levels,” comments VitAL editor Matt Bailey. “While June 2011 is nearly a year away, I suspect we can safely assume that the economic situation, while unpredictably fluid and dynamic in many respects, will still be forcing companies to drive out cost.”

Key expert industry suppliers are supporting the event including Pink Elephant, Infravision, Kepner Tragoe, Cherwell Software and Wardown Consulting.

The VitAL Focus Groups will consist of fifteen syndicate rooms, each a forum to discuss a specialist subject for IT managers. With some of the industry’s leading minds on hand to help facilitate and steer each session, we predict that they will quickly become a ‘must-attend’ event for anyone serious about IT in the modern environment.

In addition there will be networking opportunities available as well as a small exhibition area where delegates can interact with their peers and source the latest products and services.

The VitAL Focus Groups are open to all professionals within the IT industry although complimentary places are limited to 120 and are offered to managers, directors, and board executives on a first come first served basis.

www.vitalfocusgroups.com

With spending cuts still firmly on the agenda, application modernisation was the preferred method of reducing outgoings, with almost two thirds (63 percent) of the UK’s respondents saying that it offered the best way of reducing IT costs. More than 80 percent also said that modernisation is important to their current IT strategy, with 86 percent either currently working on a modernisation project or having completed one in the last two years.

Among those that had completed modernisation projects, 70 percent claimed it had enabled them to reduce their overall IT operating costs, 63 percent had been able to support future business growth through modernisation, 60 percent said it has increased the speed of their operations or reaction time, and 55 percent claimed it has improved the agility of their business, ensuring their IT can react to business opportunities more quickly.

The study shows that, despite widespread optimism that the UK’s economy may finally be regaining momentum, budgetary constraints remain a fact of life for most businesses. With half of the companies surveyed still experiencing budget cuts, ‘doing more with less’ and investing in technology projects with a fast, tangible ROI remains the focus for the post-credit crunch CIO.

“Application modernisation has clearly been the unsung trend of the IT industry over the last 12 months, and is set to remain so for the immediate future,” comments Stuart McGill, CTO of the surveys sponsor, Micro Focus. “And with large projects realising tangible savings of millions of pounds in just a few years it is easy to see why. CIOs and IT professionals are being asked to do two things at once: cut even more costs and innovate to meet customer demands. They should remember that the savings they make by migrating their mainframe applications to more modern architectures can actually be reinvested into new projects, so they can in fact achieve both aims at the same time.”

Richard Holway, chairman of analyst firm TechMarketView LLP said, “One of the abiding themes of our research for the last decade has been ‘more for less’ – first in private sector IT and now very much the key topic in the public sector too. Saving money on IT doesn’t have to mean throwing everything away and starting again. Doing things in a more intelligent manner is often a smarter move.”

The chip, a refined version of the ID chips used to track animals, has been programmed to open security doors for him and to unlock his mobile phone automatically. Dr Gasson told BBC News: “With the benefits of this type of technology come risks. We may improve ourselves in some way but much like the improvements with other technologies, mobile phones for example, they become vulnerable to risks, such as security problems and computer viruses.”

As the UK starts to see signs of recovery, 64 percent of businesses and organisations admitted they will be investing in IT to help drive business forward. Just six percent said they would take a ‘wait and see’ approach to the recovery. The research also revealed that due to the demand for more flexible solutions to solve the skills shortage resulting from the recession, IT managed services are becoming a growth area.

“Our survey showed that businesses are understandably being cautious with regards to investing in recruitment, despite the fact that we’re coming out of recession,” comments Alastair Kitching, chief operating officer at Esteem Systems. “However, 95 percent of the businesses we questioned believe it’s vitally important to continue to invest in IT solutions, with 61 percent identifying managed services as a preferred approach. Businesses are clearly putting IT at the heart of their plan for recovery, and managed systems are increasingly being seen as the best vehicle to deliver that recovery in IT. This is because the current climate may still be too unstable to commit to recruiting more staff, and there is also a real need to relieve the pressure on overstretched IT departments.”

GAC UK, part of the GAC Group, a global shipping, logistics and marine services provider, participated in the survey and said managed services was the right solution because it provided the skills they needed at the time. A spokesman says, “One of the bonuses of using managed services is that certain skill sets are more readily available to me at the time I need them, rather than employing a number of IT staff direct.”

Kitching concludes, “Skills that have been lost due to the cuts made over the past 12 to 18 months are more easily replaced by buying-in that expertise. It may be that businesses still fear a double dip recession could be around the corner and feel that a managed service is a more flexible solution at this time.”