Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Webcast: In the Google Apps Cloud: How to Achieve Your Business Objectives
Dec 3rd, '09, 1 - 2 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council member Brent Hoag, Director, Global IT, at JohnsonDiversey, as he discusses the adoption of Google Apps which has helped meet four corporate goals; sustainability, simplification, increased employee productivity and global collaboration.
Webcast: Collaboration Initiatives: Benchmarks & Best Practices
Dec 15th, '09, 4 - 5 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council members Ruth Thorpe, VP & CIO at the U.S. Pharmaceutical Operations of Sanofi-Aventis, and Gary Kuyper, CIO at Bethany Christian Services, as they speak about their collaboration initiatives and experiences in how and why they chose the social networking and collaboration tools they are using and their business goals for collaboration, and facing culture change challenges.
Data Overview: Collaboration Initiatives Field Guide: Benchmarks & Best Practices
This appendix to the Council Field Guide provides an analysis which discusses benchmarks for collaboration IT implementation costs, adoption rates and payoffs. The overview identifies top IT and business goals and satisfaction rates for collaboration initiatives as well as best practices and lessons learned for implementing collaboration IT.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »December 11, 2008 — PC World India —
Whether your business has just two people or two hundred, the following tips can help you cut costs, save money, and focus on
what’s really important in a down economy: your bottom line.
1. Use open-source and
free software: When you’re trying to keep your business afloat, plunking down lots of cash for
off-the-shelf software can really hurt. Thankfully, freeware and low-cost software can be a pleasant surprise in terms of
robustness and functionality. While not as polished as Microsoft’s Office suite (but not as much of a memory or
resource hog), OpenOffice.org is a free, open-source
alternative with a full suite of applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases that are
compatible with Microsoft Office formats. Google Docs (docs.google. com) is another viable and free alternative to Office.
It’s Webbased, meaning you have no software to download or install.
Though it isn’t nearly as full-featured as either Office or OpenOffice, the basic functionality and streamlined
interface of Google Docs may be all you’ll ever need. Creating PDF files may be crucial for business, but spending $450
on Adobe’s Acrobat Professional is not. CutePDF is a
free program that simply exports files to PDF. Just download and install it; from the target file, choose File•Print,
and select CutePDF from the printer menu. (If you’re using OpenOffice or Google Docs, you won’t even need to
install CutePDF— both let you export to PDF directly.)
2.
Telecommute: Working at home lets you save on gas costs, yet you can remain just as productive when
telecommuting thanks to tools that permit you to connect and collaborate almost as if you were in the office. Wikis make it
simple to post text or documents so that a group can make comments or changes. Some wikis are free and public while others
are more enterprise-focused, with more-robust security features. PBwiki
offers three flavors: Business, Academic, and Personal.
It includes WYSIWYG editing tools, storage space, SSL encryption, automatic notifications via e-mail or RSS, and controls on
access. If you cringe at the thought of setting up a VPN (virtual private network), services such as LogMeIn Hamachi may just be your ticket to headache-free remote VPN access.
LogMeIn Hamachi promises easy setup using peer-to-peer technology to let off-site employees access files. The service works
within your firewall and costs just $5 (approx Rs. 450) a month for one user license. For more tips and case studies, check
out PC World’s Telecommuting Resource Guide .
3. Hold online meetings:
Why fly out to see a client when you can save time and money by holding the meeting in cyberspace? Using free
videoconferencing software such as Skype you need only a
Webcam, a PC, and an Internet connection— saving money not only on travel costs, but on long-distance as well If you
would like to upgrade to a more comprehensive Web conferencing service, Cisco’s WebEx supports up to four Webcams and lets you share documents and run presentations
from your desktop. GoToMeeting is another service that
offers VoIP, supports meetings with up to 15 attendees, and lets you give presentations, collaborate, or provide training
from your desktop, saving money on travel costs and meeting space.
4. Make Strategic
Purchases: If your employees are complaining about slow computers,
buying entirely new machines may not be the best way to fix their problems. Very often, an old (Pentium-3/4 class) computer
is more than capable of typical office tasks—if it had enough RAM. Most office PCs sold in the last few years had
either 256 or 512 MB of RAM. This just doesn’t cut it any more, but the good news is that upgrading RAM is cheap and
easy. Instead of buying a new computer, just bump up RAM to 2 GB (approx Rs. 1,600 for DDR2, Rs.2,600 for DDR1) and
you’ll see immediate speed improvements.
Another way to speed up old machines is to format their hard drives and install a fresh copy of Windows. Over a period of time, Windows tends to accumulate a lot of crud, and becomes slower and slower. Geeks tend to do a fresh install every couple of months, but that’s not necessary for a business. A half-yearly process is more than enough, and it is quite easy to set up image-based installation methods that can get a machine up and running in less than ten minutes. If you do have to buy new hardware, look to buy computers that have slightly slower processors, but lots of RAM. Buying used hardware is another way to keep costs down. You can get some surprising bargains on eBay . Most components have long warranties, so you can even exchange them if something goes wrong. Buy smart, and you can save a lot of money.