Use of databases is an environmental gesture

When you enter, edit, query and analyze data and information in a database system you will reduce the printing of lists, reports and maps.
The consumption of paper, consumables such as ink or toner, and even the number of printers in your company will diminish considerably. This decision, in addition to reducing the environmental footprint of your company, will contribute also to the reduction of costs.

The use of databases requires a secure storage and backup system, preferably a dedicated server.
One can argue that the decrease in paper and consumables consumption, due to the use of information systems, loses, in environmental terms, if compared with the increase of energy consumption required to maintain one or more servers in each company.

To overcome that, you can choose a cloud solution: external storage and backup of your databases. A cloud hosting solution is a safe and environmental way to store multiple databases in a single dedicated server, maintained by an outside company.
Not only your company environmental footprint decreases as well as the time devoted to the maintenance of your databases.

Do you want to reduce your company’s environmental footprint and improve your environmental image among your partners? Choose the systematic use of databases stored on a cloud.

Susana Romão

Is a crisis the right time to implement a new information management system?

Is your company data just a wall of numbers?The global economic crisis is forcing many established companies to restructure or reject previously successful business models. Hopefully this leads to stable, lean, and competitive businesses using effective and efficient processes. Positive changes will enable companies to compete in the global market.

CEOs and owners face the challenge of saving endangered businesses or salvaging bankrupt projects. Often the difference between a Lazarus like resurrection or creating a zombie company comes down to improving or replacing the things that made the company fail, while keeping the things that make it worth saving.

If knowledge is power, am I getting the most power possible from my IT system?

Restructuring is more likely to be successful when managers first understand the fundamental business/strategic problem or opportunity that their company faces. This will require a deep analysis and regular measurements of the companies information and data, however thousands of data points can soon become incompressible walls of numbers. You need help to turn your data into meaningful information and knowledge.

Ask yourself: “Do I embrace the power of a company wide IT system to help me see and understand what is really happening in my company, or do I see computers as merely digital typewriters?”

If you are part of a restructuring effort you need to know what options exist to support your project. How can it be said that a company is fully restructured and modernized if they are managing their data and information the same way they did in the 80’s?

In the comments section below please tell us what challenges you face to improving the way you manage data and information.

Noah J Revoy

In defense of CEOs: Is information technology conservatism preventing CEOs from knowing what is really happening?

Poor tools to prevent and navigate through storms.The recent case at Barclays Bank and the resignation of its CEO Bob Diamond follows a long standing and disturbing pattern. Public sentiment, fueled by mass media hysteria, is that "heads must roll" and the bigger the better. The verdict of the crowd: "the big boss is guilty and must resign". No one is talking about what will happen next, or about the serious contributing factors that lead to repeated hidden fraud in major corporations and governments around the world!

There is another way to view this difficult problem. A CEO is ultimately responsible of everything that happens in a multinational corporation, the thousands of employees and the millions of daily transactions, yet today's successful businesses are largely computer automated, so we must ask; "where are the digital mechanisms to prevent, monitor and track deviations and abuse before they become major frauds?"

If a business ecosystem is relying on spreadsheets living in parallel and entangled with obsolete systems, where the data is being freely manipulated and adjusted without tracking, who is to blame for this IT failure? If information is power then what role does the Information Technology play in giving CEOs the power to prevent internal problems?

Why doesn't the media ever ask for the resignation of the Chief Information Officer (CIO)?

If a fraud is planed or ignored by a CEO, let him be punished, resign and pay for his acts as should any individual, however if he is also the victim of a deficient IT system then let the CIOs respond. After all, their job is to provide the CEOS and external auditors with accurate, valid, live and traceable information systems. The ultimate responsibility of any CIO in today's modern digital world is to be bold and dynamic not static and conservative.

Cristina Calçada

The Black Box

In Portugal,  project management is generally well thought out and planned, yet it is still a major concern due to it's poor practical execution. Is the core of the problem perhaps the lack of suitable and effective work tools? Would it be the lack of certified maintenance staff that wrongly stick by redundant and dated work methods? Or are financial difficulties with public and private institutions at the core of this issue?

What kind of tools were used (or not) at these institutions? And if they weren't used to their full potential, why were they purchased in the first place? Or is it out of habit that no qualified staff was there to make an informed decision so it wasn't given much thought? Why is rudimentary spreadsheet software still being used as a primary management solution to organize large quantities of sensitive data whilst providing easy access to modify them, leaving no trace behind?..

Efficient information systems have the responsibility of adapting to any circumstance, whether it be providing work flexibility in certain areas or restricting data in others. They are then able to maintain and constantly monitor entire projects at a time. As this takes place, if any issue arises, these systems would also be smart enough to notify administrators and provide all sorts of important data pertaining as to how the problem occurred, where and possible solutions to fix it.

Just like the automatic pilot in an airplane is able to maintain a precise heading and altitude, a similar system cannot let a project be modified outside its operational scope without special administrative permissions. If such is given, every action taken by the user will be registered and monitored in it's own "Black Box".

This would make the process of ascertaining the responsibilities of millions of euros much more efficient...

Luis Calçada