... is looming. But CIOs can take actions to protect their end users. Victor Kouznetsov worries that as standards for handling mobile data become widely adopted by handset makers and cellular network operators, the security landscape for cell phone callers will become as dangerous as it is for PC users. Kouznetsov, a senior vice president at the McAfee Mobile division of security software vendor McAfee Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif., says that at least one security scam has already surfaced in which malware writers combined Java and Short Messaging Service code to trick end users into sending messages to a for-pay SMS operation. In the near future, Kouznetsov expects to see the rapid spread of mobile malware that is "conceptually similar" to what we currently dread getting on our PCs -- viruses, worms, spyware and the like. To keep corporate data safe on end-user handsets, he advises that CIOs take four steps: Create a "walled garden," permitting only preapproved software to run on devices; install a malware detection tool on your phones; encrypt data that's being transmitted and, if possible, stored info; and ensure that you can lock or erase the data on devices if they're lost or stolen. However, Kouznetsov notes wryly that you probably won't be able to protect end users from the top reasons why people lose data stored on mobile devices, per a Swedish survey: They throw them in a rage or flush them down a toilet.
SaaS shrinks the software market ...
... with each deal. Market research analysts may see a slowdown in overall software revenue growth as a result of IT's increasing adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. That's the contention of Jim Howard, CEO of Los Angeles-based CrownPeak Technology Inc., which uses the SaaS model. Howard argues that with each SaaS sale, "the annual revenue that could be recognized by the industry goes down." That's because such deals require far less cash upfront from users than if they pay in full for a perpetual software license. Also, comparing the strength of SaaS vendors and traditional suppliers on the basis of their annual revenue "is not an apples-to-apples comparison" because fees from costly customization and installation of software are missing from the SaaS side's balance sheets, Howard says. The number of customers or end users might be a better metric for comparisons, he adds.
CIOs and CEOs finally find themselves ...
... on the same strategy page. Bruce Barlag, CEO of Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Inc., a division of Palladium Group Inc. in Lincoln, Mass., draws that conclusion from a survey of 354 high- level executives that his firm commissioned earlier this year. CIOs and CEOs both ranked "business strategy execution" and "IT capabilities" high on a list of 13 "top of mind" issues. Barlag says he interprets the data as meaning that "the CIO is in line with what the CEO is thinking." He adds that much of the blame for keeping IT and business objectives off the same track in the past resides with executives other than CIOs. "It was less a failure of the CIO than the CEO, who did not articulate the strategy of the business," he says, adding that the problems were "compounded by other executives who did not prioritize their IT initiatives." But things are looking rosier, Barlag says, "because IT is now aligned with the business." Let's hope.
Don't clog your corporate e-mail ...
... system with large files. "The problem of sending big files is bigger than you think," says Jurgen Edholm, CEO of Accellion Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif. Indeed, many Internet service providers refuse to handle files that are over 10MB. But Edholm says end users can transmit huge files via Accellion's Courier Secure File Transfer Appliance, which is being upgraded this week with a Version 5.0 software release. Users can store files and even entire folders on a Courier appliance and then send messages with built-in links so recipients can download the information. With the software update, Courier can handle folders that are up to 20GB in size. Pricing for the appliance starts at US$3,500.
Take a good look at your ...
... business data. With so much data for analysts to sort through, they need "a living, breathing picture on top of a database," says Kevin Brown, vice president of marketing at Tableau Software Inc. in Seattle. Tableau's eponymous visual analytics tool connects to a variety of data sources and lets users drag and drop data elements to a worksheet, where they are instantly rendered into charts, graphs and other visual representations. Version 2.0 ships next week. Pricing starts at $999.