CIO’s 50 Most Popular Articles

How Wal-Mart Lost Its Technology Edge

Two decades ago, the world’s number-one retailer used IT to reinvent global supply chains. The world caught up and now Web 2.0 technologies are forcing retailers to pay more attention to customers. No longer a leader, Wal-Mart’s IT is at a crossroads.

What If Yoda Ran IBM

The big vendors beat down the doors of large companies to get business, but a small-company CIO gets the brush-off. He wonders how to harness the powers of the Force, and get some big-company expertise to help the little guy.

Technologies We’re Glad Are Dead

It’s easy to cry over the products we loved and lost. But let’s take time to appreciate the many ways in which technology really has improved, and the many geeky things we no longer need to worry about.

Management Techniques for Bringing Out the Best in Generation Y

Members of Generation Y will need mentors to show them the ropes—and lots of oversight from managers—to flourish.

How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People

Shy guys and gals can master the skill of networking if they apply these 12 common-sense tips in social situations.

CIO Compensation: Top Information Technology Executives Make Millions of Dollars

Take a peek at CIO salaries, bonuses and incentive pay of IT leaders at Fortune 1000 companies.

Eight Financial Reasons Why You Should Use Mac OS

Mac OS is the hands-down operating system winner, from the perspective of cost effectiveness.

Seven Wonders of the IT World

From the computer closest to the North Pole to the world’s most intriguing data center, take a look inside seven computing marvels.

Five IT Projects That Need Your Attention Right Now

You have only so much funding and time, so don’t waste either of them. These projects can make you a hero or at least can save you from one of those terrible “learning experiences.”

How to Deal With Bully Bosses

Do you have a bad manager? Someone who makes your life miserable all week by criticizing your every move? Experts offer their tips on handling bully and toxic bosses.

Eight Steps to More Effective Meetings

Meandering or unnecessary meetings cost money, waste time, deflate morale and contribute to turnover.

Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You

Google is great, but it can’t always tell you what makes a website or source of research material authoritative. Professional librarians and researchers explain where to look online to find the professional, technical and industry expertise you need.

Paranormal Investigations and Technology: Where Ghosts and Gadgets Meet

Meet one type of specialist whom you may never have hired or outsourced—ghost hunters.

Who’s Stealing Your Passwords? Global Hackers Create a New Online Crime Economy

For the past year, the next phase of Internet crime has been unfolding through a series of innovations showing up on the Internet underground: sophisticated and frightening, with far-reaching implications and, so far, met with near-universal disregard. In this exclusive series, CSO follows security researchers behind the curtain to examine the sophisticated global service economy behind identity theft and e-crime.

Eight Reasons Why Outsourcing to India Could Hurt Your Business

Though India may be the leader for offshore IT outsourcing, there are many reasons why U.S. companies should consider other options.

Why You Need a Project Management Office (PMO)

Companies seeking more efficiency and tighter monitoring of IT projects are opening project management offices in growing numbers. But don’t expect a quick fix, easy metrics or an immediate payback.

Ten Technology Letdowns of 2007

We had much to hail this year, including rising IT salaries and better virtualization tools, but we also sighed over IT products and ideas that fell short.

Windows vs. Linux vs. OS X

A celebrity CIO reviews the desktop operating system contenders in search of the next-generation office computer.

Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You

Google is great, but it can’t always tell you what makes a website or source of research material authoritative. Professional librarians and researchers explain where to look online to find the professional, technical and industry expertise you need.

A Tech Chief Reviews the Apple iPhone: My First 90 Days

Hugh Scott, a VP of IS for Direct Energy, shares the dish on why he loves his iPhone, what he’d change, and why his company won’t be supporting it anytime soon.

Eight Signs of Evil in High-Tech Companies

Microsoft has been branded as immoral for years, and Google famously pledged that it would never be evil. But as many have learned, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Here are eight signposts on the path to wickedness. How many of them does your own company exhibit?

Let’s Play Consultant!

Did you ever want to have greater control over your consultants? Create your own on these pages!

Nike Rebounds: How (and Why) Nike Recovered from Its Supply Chain Disaster

Too many Air Garnetts. Too few Air Jordans. Nike lost money, time and a measure of pride when its demand-planning software led it astray. How did it recover? Patience, perseverance and, most important, an understanding of what it was trying to accomplish in the first place.

IT Value Metrics: How to Communicate ROI to the Business

CIOs are always faced with pressure to justify their IT expenditures. Now, new research can help correlate those IT dollars spent with business value accrued.

Facial Expressions Test

How good are you at interpreting facial expressions? Take our test and find out.

Even More Tales of Technology Terror: Personal Stories of Tech Disaster

From earthquakes to worldwide e-mail disruption to business processes that won’t stay dead, we round up personal tales of IT terror.

Seven Wonders of the IT World

From the computer closest to the North Pole to the world’s most intriguing data center, take a look inside seven computing marvels.

Portfolio Management Done Right

Portfolio management is a tool with clear benefits, among them a holistic view of IT projects across the enterprise and the alignment of IT with corporate strategy. But it isn’t easy. We’ve found some portfolio managers willing to share their secrets.

Nestle’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Odyssey

Nestle USA’s costly and protracted struggle with its SAP project is a cautionary tale for any company intent on an enterprise-wide implementation.

Strategies for Dealing With IT Complexity

Every innovation, every business process improvement, comes with an IT complexity tax that must be paid by CIOs in time, money and sweat. Here are strategies to mitigate the increasing complexity of IT as it enables new business.

Eight Tips for IT Professionals Interested in Careers as Independent IT Consultants

An IT executive shares lessons she learned when she moved into consulting.

Dearly Departed: Companies and Products That Didn’t Deserve to Die

Some products just didn’t deserve to die. But they did, because the companies made bad business decisions. We revisit several of our favorites—from minicomputers to software utilities—and mourn the best and brightest that died an untimely death.

Scorecard Demonstrates IT Value

You can’t tell when you’re winning if you don’t keep score. The Balanced Scorecard helps track your hits and misses.

The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing

Moving jobs overseas can be a much more expensive proposition than you may think.

The CIO Hall of Fame: 20 IT Leaders of Accomplishment

Meet the 20 CIOs whose influence and accomplishments have earned them a plaque in CIO’s Hall of Fame.

10 Outsourcing Predictions for 2008 (and One to Grow On)

The new year should keep IT service providers and customers on their toes.

10 Virtualization Vendors to Watch in 2008

Now that you’re knee-deep in virtualization, what products will help you manage and secure it? These 10 virtualization vendors should be on your radar screen.

Python Upgrades Readied for 2008

Developers of the Python programming language are working concurrently on two upgrades to the core platform, both to arrive in 2008.

10 Reasons IT Should Not Support the Apple iPhone

Forrester Research says IT departments should refuse to support Apple iPhones, even if CEOs are the ones asking to use the devices for access to corporate networks and systems.

Selling Yourself Without Selling Out

Your good work doesn’t speak for itself. You have to speak up for it.

How to Create and Execute an Employer-Centric Job Search Strategy

Job seekers at all levels are going about their searches all wrong. Here’s how to do it right.

Five Key Business Intelligence Trends You Need to Know

Business intelligence is one of the top technology priorities for companies today. Here are five trends smart IT leaders are examining to get insight from their organization’s avalanches of data.

In Defense of Gen Y Workers

Spoiled? Entitled? Forget it. Generation Y employees simply know what they want, know what works, and won’t settle for anything less from the companies and managers for whom they work.

The Convergence of Desktop, Web and Mobile Clients

Web development experts have consensus on one thing: Future applications will merge the idea of Web or mobile software. But the implications aren’t quite as obvious.

Inside Outsourcing In India

Don’t bother trading horror stories about outsourcing to India with John Doucette. He’ll trump you every time.

Three Tips for Creating a Business-Savvy Information Technology Staff

Your information technology staff is a great resource for competitive advantage, but only if you help your employees understand how the company makes money.

Six Enterprise Application Trends to Watch in 2008

Enormous vendor consolidation has changed the enterprise application landscape forever. But there’s more change and uncertainty on the horizon for CIOs. Here’s what you can expect and what you should do.

You’re Fired! What a High-Profile Termination Means to a Career and Tips for Rebounding from Controversy

Executive recruiters say a public firing such as Microsoft’s ex-CIO Stuart Scott endured can seriously injure a career but doesn’t have to end one.

Top Ten Reasons Why Ubuntu Is Best for Enterprise Use

Besides ease of use for end users, Ubuntu is cost-effective and even eliminates per-seat license costs entirely.

Microsoft Fires CIO Stuart Scott

Microsoft says dismissal of its CIO comes after internal investigation, but declines to disclose further details. Two interim replacements named until company appoints a successor.