3 Ways Small Businesses Can Kill It Using Social Media

Some small businesses I know have shied away from social media, and I think there are a few reasons. One is that they don't have the technological savvy to pull it off themselves. Another is that they simply don't have the

So you can speak geek. Big deal, can you speak business?

If you ask your VP of marketing what you need to look for in your next firewall purchase, what will he say? It needs to work? It needs to keep us safe? It needs to not interfere with our sending and receiving legitimate attachments? That hardly amounts

Tomorrow's PC is... a PC. Wait, what?

I know all the technology Illuminati claim that the PC is basically dead. Sure, they acknowlege that it might be barely holding on to life, but it's bound to croak soon, right? I mean, we've already ordered the flowers and notified the caterer.


But here's the thing

The future role of IT

If you are at all interested in the shifting role of IT as "supporters and drivers of business value" rather than "the people who keep the wheels from falling off", then there is a post by Jim Stikeleather is worth a read (link at bottom).

His point is what I've been advocating for a while now. IT should be delivering business value. Does your IT department deliver value to the business, or do they just keep the computers from breaking?

When was the last time your IT department came up with an idea that transformed your business?

Find the article here: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/corporate_it_and_the_conversat.html

Why I've never been a fan of IT degrees

I've made this point a lot of times before, but I suppose it's time to commit it to writing. I don't think there is a ton of value in an IT degree. Why not, you may ask. I'm glad you asked. The real reason is that I've worked with people who have them. I haven't seen a lot of benefit. Seriously, who cares

Will (and should) Healthcare IT Save Money?

There is some interesting debate in the Healthcare community about whether Healthcare IT (HIT) really does decrease costs. Below is a link to an article about a recent paper that shows that EMRs (meaning: electronic medical records software) does not, in fact, reduce

Non-linear careers

I just read this article about non-linear careers - http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130425182632-5973711-the-strongest-careers-are-non-linear

I have had a non-typical, non-linear career, so I found the article to be particularly interesting. What are your thoughts?

IT in the board room? What!?

<To the tune of the Burt Bacharach/Austin Powers song>

What the world needs now, is IT people who understand business

</Bad attempt at a song parody>

So maybe the song doesn't fit the tune, but