CIOIN

Cover Story

Taming the Terror: Eight Trends That Impact Indian CIOs in 2012

2012, by any measure, is going to be a hard year. But despite all the discouraging economic indicators, it doesn’t have to be a flashback of 2008—not if you’re forearmed. In that spirit, here are eight trends that will impact the Indian CIO this year.

Economic Uncertainty: Static Quo

Growing depression in Europe and the US, coupled with a spiraling rupee crises, inflationary winds, and poor governance, predict a gloomy economic climate for the country. 

Bring Your Own Device: Going to Work

With more staffers and senior executives demanding the right to access work on their own machines, BYOD is going to be the next big thing. Here are three approaches to making it work.

Strategic Outsourcing: Hand in Hand

Strategic outsourcing is taking the center stage in 2012. Here’s why your peers think so and what they suggest you watch out for.

Enterprise Social Media: Vox Populi

A growing number of Indian CIOs are creating enterprise social media platforms—and for good reason. It helps build internal efficiency, boosts collaboration, and increases customer satisfaction.

Enhancing User Experience: What They Want

This year, end-users are going to want more from you—speedier service, smarter apps, more intuitive interfaces, and increased control.

Cloud Computing: Coming of Age

Efficient, flexible, reliable. Cloud computing has been pitched as the next big thing, but is yet to get its due. 2012 is going to be the year of the cloud. 

Big Data and Analytics: Big and Bold

Big data is the newest star in the technology firmament. Here’s how you can tame the big data beast and tap its potential.

Advanced Persistent Threat: Taking It Down

APT has arrived. And in 2012, new technologies like social media, mobile, and the cloud will ensure it’s here to stay. CSOs from some of India’s prestigious organizations share ways to defend your organization from APT infiltrators. 

Case Files

Applied Materials Journey To Host CAD Designs On Cloud

DHFL's Centralized Architecture Helped Keep Its Business Afloat

When a fire breaks out in DHFL’s headquarters, head-IT, Satish Kotian’s disaster recovery strategy keeps the business afloat.

Vodafone Gains 99.99 Percent Uptime with Alternate CRM

Every minute of CRM downtime cost Vodafone India over 6,500 customers.  In a fiercely competitive industry, that’s a number its CIO knew the company couldn’t afford.

From the editor-in-chief

From the editor-in-chief: Pedal to the Metal

The IT departments that will see the slowdown off will do so by tempering their caution with a fair bit of aggression.

View from the Top

Tackling 2012

Sam Ghosh, Group CEO, Reliance Capital, says that IT helped the company see 2008 through and he’s banking on IT again to help in 2012.

Feature

2012 Resolution: Five Tech Projects to Boost Your Career

Take the reins of any of these five forward-looking initiatives and become an IT hero in the eyes of upper management.

Hacker, Stupid Hacker

Taunting tweets, provocative pics, iPad-spam chats—the stupid slip-ups that lead to high-profile hacker arrests. For the new year, we present you some of the most idiotic hacker blunders.

Column

A Rogue’s Gallery of CSOs

Who are the role models for  up-and-coming CSOs to follow? Other Chief Whatever Officers seem to understand their own profiles. What’s wrong with us?

The Cloud Cost Illusion

An eye-opening look into the cost ramifications—both those  you have thought of and those you have not—of moving to a private cloud.

The 5 Stages of IT Grief: BYOD, Mobility, Consumerization

IT groups go through a "grief process" when they are pushed by users to adopt a consumer product. And IT has to recognize that there's really no choice—and that the end result is almost always the same.

CIO Debate

Will Business End IT’s Hold Over Mobiles in 2012?

Mentor

Slowdown is the Time to Innovate

The slowdown is an opportune time to pitch those out-of-the-box ideas you’ve been holding back for long.

Trendlines

How to Cut Better Deals with SAP

Here are nine tips to help SAP users secure the best possible deals for both the short term and the long term. 

Quick take: The Rupee’s Rollercoaster Ride and IT Budgets

Voices: New Year Resolutions

As the new year dawned, team CIO wanted to find out what some of India’s most forward-looking IT leaders were planning in 2012. So we went to the CIO Governing Board and asked them what was the one thing they wanted to change at work—or in life—or one thing they wanted to see in 2012. Here’s what they said.

Electrifying Google Currents

Google has released a free mobile app that pulls content from different websites into one place and lets people build what looks a bit like their own personalized online magazine.

Open Source Tool Helps Prevent African Deforestation

The Rainforest Foundation UK has unveiled a new open source tool to help prevent the destruction of African rainforests.

Smallest Electronic Circuit To Creat More Powerful Mobile Devices

Devices Researchers have developed one of the smallest electronic circuits, which could pave the way for smaller and more powerful mobile devices.

LinkedIn: Break the Glass Ceiling with a Mentor

According to professional social network LinkedIn, mentors play a key role in helping women “shatter the glass ceiling.” In a new study, however, LinkedIn found that nearly 20 percent of respondents never had a mentor.

Indian Enterprise Security Still Sucks

Significant number of Indian enterprises aren’t taking their security seriously enough, leading to huge losses.

Are You an IT Security Leader, Really?

A surprisingly high—unreasonably high, in fact—number of organizations think their security program is part of the ‘vanguard’ of risk management.

Alert

Are You an IT Security Leader, Really?

A surprisingly high—unreasonably high, in fact—number of organizations think their security program is part of the ‘vanguard’ of risk management.

SMBs Not Aware, Neither Concerned About Security Threats: Symantec

50 percent of the SMB managers indicated in the survey that they need not be concern about security threats and that such things donot happen to them.

Essential Technology

Your Route to the Perfect Private Cloud

The Private Cloud Power

Why is the concept of the private cloud attractive in the first place? And in the most practical sense, what real-life components do we need to put together to fully deliver on its promise? 

Book Review