Recent Press Coverage
Fury as SAP raises support costs
UK SAP users are angry over what they say is an unnegotiated hike in support costs of 30 per cent in real terms, which has been described as “unacceptable.”
Price increases of this magnitude will be seen as being totally unjustified, said David Roberts, chief executive of blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum.
Cardiff pilot for Trading Standards pirate software clampdown
Posted: 10:08 25 Jul 2008
Software licence inspections at large businesses will be a waste of time and money as most manage software as an asset as part of standard good business practice, says Corporate IT Forum chief executive David Roberts.
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Outsourcing: Approaches to benchmarking
One of the greatest challenges facing companies embarking on outsourcing is ensuring that their contracts are, and remain, value for money.
Published: July 08 2008, Stephen Pritchard FT.com
Outsourcing contracts often incorporate an initial cost “reduction”, set against the expense of running services in house, of between 10 and 15 per cent; in some cases, clients are able to make greater savings. But the competitive nature of the IT industry and the dynamics of Moore’s Law means that the true cost of IT can fall by far more over the lifetime of a long-term contract.
Conventional benchmarking, however, has two disadvantages. One is cost: a consultancy-led benchmarking exercise can cost between $100,000 and $200,000 (£50,000 to £100,000). It can also be seen as an adversarial tactic by suppliers, especially where benchmarking is either not specified in the contract, or a benchmarking clause is not automatic but has to be “invoked”.
As a result, an independent IT group, the Corporate IT Forum, formulated its own benchmarking programme last year.
Based on the organisation’s existing system for benchmarking internal IT, the Continuous Improvement Process for Outsourced Services is based on service outcomes and uses information held by the client’s IT department, says John Parker, the organisation’s director of improvement services.
10% of IT graduates unemployed
Ten per cent of computer science graduates are unemployed several months after graduating, figures released yesterday reveal.
Published: July 04 2008, ComputerWeekly.com
Statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency appear to support employers' complaints that computer science graduates lack business skills.
The unemployment rate for computer science graduates is 10%. This is higher than the 8% unemployment for graduates of creative arts and communications, traditionally seen as less employable than science graduates. The average level of unemployment amoung graduates of the academic year 2006-07 was 6%.
Ollie Ross, head of research at the Corporate IT Forum, said: "We live in a market-based economy and people compete in a global pool of IT skills. For this country, it is challenging for us to compete on cost.
"The differentiator for the UK will be on the development of combined business/IT skill sets.
User group to recognise the best in IT
The Corporate IT Forum has opened its awards for entries
Published: July 01 2008, Anjelica Mari, Computing
Blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum (Tif) has opened its annual awards for entries.
This will be the second edition of the Real IT Awards, devised to recognise and reward the best business IT projects of the year.
"I know that having your work judged by your industry peers is a daunting and yet very rewarding career challenge," said Tif vice-chairman and head of development support at The John Lewis Partnership Frank Cordrey.
"But being presented with a Real IT award is a very visible symbol that your team and your project is truly best of breed and that you have competed against some of the best IT talent in the world."
Full details of the entry deadlines, awards categories and registration requirements can be found at: www.tif.co.uk/awards.
Corporate IT Forum launches awards for IT users
The Corporate IT Forum has launched an awards competition for big IT users.
Published: June 30 2008, ComputerWeekly.com
Devised and funded solely by and for large-scale users of IT, The Real IT Awards 2008 represents the corporate IT user community.
The awards are an IT user only event and entries will be judged solely by a panel of experienced IT executives, all currently working within IT departments at major businesses and organisations.
The awards programme is open to blue-chip user organisations with enterprise-level IT estates, and will be presented at a ceremony on 27 November at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch, London.
Winning entries will also be showcased through a number of in-depth project presentations after the awards event.
IT managers struggle with green IT metrics
Businesses are taking green IT seriously, but IT departments are doing little to measure the effectiveness of their environmental strategies.
Published: June 25 2008, Cliff Saran, ComputerWeekly.com
In the Green IT UK Corporate Census 2008 study of 171 senior IT managers, 55% of IT managers rated going green as important or vital to their company.
However, the joint study from the Bathwick Group and the Corporate IT Forum (TIF) found that only a quarter (26%) of IT managers were actually measuring the effectiveness of their green IT initiatives.
David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, said, "All organisations are aware of the need to contribute to green IT. Most organisations have initiatives under way but there is a huge amount of work to do".
Off the peg or tailor made?
How will you buy business apps…
Published: June 16 2008, Ollie Ross, silicon.com
Fundamental changes are afoot in enterprise apps. These shifts will change the way organisations choose and pay for systems, says Corporate IT Forum research head Ollie Ross.
Earlier this month Microsoft announced it was simplifying procurement processes and would pressure other suppliers to follow suit. The week before, SAP announced it had dropped a lower-priced support service, instead contracting new users to an enhanced and more expensive 24/7 arrangement.
What's also certain is that members of The Corporate IT Forum are taking a hard look at cloud computing models hosted outside the company walls.
If we entering a recession, it's as well to be ready
Published: June 13 2008, Peter Kirwan, CIO
Nevertheless, on both sides of the Atlantic, there are voices saying that big IT departments are in decent shape for a fight.
The theme is rehearsed by David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, who describes IT as a "lifeboat" rather than an "aggressive weapon". The analogy is meant to be flattering. "I can't think of a FTSE company that hasn't shrunk its IT and enhanced its ability to do strategic IT at a high level during the past five years," says Roberts. "IT's capacity to deliver is probably better than the level at which it currently operates. So IT is in a very good position. You can load more and more on to it, and IT will eat it up," he adds.
Perhaps, as Roberts says, such self-confidence is the natural result of five years of "cost-cutting and depleting". In the wake of the dot-com bust, he suggests, IT departments have sorted out their relationships with vendors and manoeuvred themselves into alignment with the business.
Microsoft may switch to modular versions of Windows, analysts predict
Vista could be the last major upgrade of the desktop Windows operating system. In the future, Windows will be smaller, more modular, and easier for the IT department to manage, according to analysts.
Published: June 12 2008, Cliff Saran, ComputerWeekly
Experts have predicted that future versions of Windows may be made up of a core operating system kernel and modular components, rather like Linux is constructed today.
To make Windows modularised, Microsoft will need to re-engineer and rewrite Windows from the ground up to split it into components. Microsoft will need to ensure that the constituent components of Windows can be plugged in and out of the operating system kernel without causing the PC to crash or become unstable. Software will need to be written to run in multiple configurations of Windows where different components have been installed.
IT departments will also have to manage PC configurations much more closely than today to ensure that they only install software updates to the components on affected machines. David Roberts, chief executive office of TIF, the user group of corporate IT managers, said, "Modularisation makes it easier to migrate, but users will still need to test components." Potentially, the management of Windows licences could become more complicated if Microsoft licenses add-on modules for the base operating system.
City IT staff feel credit crunch
In-house IT costs too much, but senior staff are in higher demand
Published: June 12 2008, Angelica Mari, Computing
The combined effects of outsourcing, offshoring and the credit crunch may translate to scarce opportunities for entry-level financial IT workers, while prompting demand for senior staff managing compliance as firms look to cut costs.
Though in-house outsourcing management functions are not new, there will be an increased attention to governance, which includes areas such as procurement, contract and service management, said David Roberts, chief executive of blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum.
"People need to understand what is being outsourced and be
very good at relationship management it is a complicated and complex
job," said Roberts.
"Given the reliance of the UK on financial services, there will be an
immense demand for professionals within those areas, so it is possible
that the industry will be creating new jobs or even re-training
internal staff to meet that demand."
Suppliers move away from licensing crackdowns
Softly, softly from now on, says Fast CEO
Published: June 09 2008, Nick Heath, silicon.com
The head of the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast) says that vendors want to move away from the heavy-handed approach of forcing software audits on companies, towards working more closely with customers.
But a spokesman for blue chip IT user group the Corporate IT Forum, said a recent poll of its members found most companies were now well versed on SAM (software asset management) and did not need the help of organisations such as Fast.
He said: "Corporate understanding of SAM is highly advanced and appears now to often surpass what Fast can offer. At the moment, Fast doesn't seem to tell IT professionals much that they don't already know."
Skills shortage looms as student numbers drop
Published: June 06 2008, ComputerWeekly.com
The number of computing students in universities and colleges has dropped almost 50% since 2001 to below 1996 levels, prompting fears that IT departments are on the verge of a new skills shortage.
Ollie Ross, head of research at The Corporate IT Forum (Tif), said, "The differentiator for the UK will be on the development of combined business and IT skill sets. "UK educators must focus on providing businesses with high-calibre graduates who understand the commercial application of IT."
IT directors burdened by complex procurement processes, study finds
Published: June 05 2008, ComputerWeekly.com
A survey of 200 IT directors, which was commissioned by Microsoft, reveals that 65% of IT said that complex procurement processes delayed software implementations.
Microsoft said it planned to improve its procurement process by delivering better terms, which will allow customers to negotiate software contracts more quickly and cheaply. Microsoft also plans to reduce the number of standard contracts it offers to customers through its customer and partner experience programmes.
David Roberts, chief executive of The Corportate IT Forum, said, "We are delighted that Microsoft plans to try to solve an issue it was in the main responsible for causing."
He said coroporate users of IT would take a close interest in the software supplier's bold announcement and would be watching carefully to see what actions are taken as a result.
"However, it is vitally important that this needs to be a customer-led initiative rather than a supplier-driven one. Corporate IT users must be involved as a driving force from the beginning, otherwise the result will be as costly and complicated as before," said Roberts.
Industry backs e-crime unit
Home Office to fund specific department dedicated to cyber crime
Published: May 20 2008, Computing
Industry experts have welcomed the Home Office plan to fund a dedicated e-crime unit.
The unit will not sit inside the London Metropolitan Police Service, as first proposed, but will instead be the law enforcement arm of the National Fraud Reporting Centre (NFRC).
Under-secretary of state Vernon Coaker said that the Home Office recognised there was a gap to be plugged.
David Roberts, chairman of blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum, stressed the urgency of pushing forward with the initiative as soon as possible.
"Any such central policing unit must be well staffed by people trained to understand the sophisticated nature of global electronic crime," he said.
Utility computing: The IT department will change from operator to 'intelligent customer'
Malcolm Carrie, head of IT
strategy and architecture for BAE Systems and board member of The
Corporate IT Forum, a global association of large business users of IT
Published: May 19 2008, Financial Times
Utility computing, software as a service, web-delivered services and "on-demand" computing all provide a means of delivering IT through buying or subscribing to IT services rather than owning IT products – but they are different.
Some of these headings apply to infrastructure, some to applications and some to both. They are best thought of as a spectrum – at one end a single server, bought, on-premise, through virtualisation and services orientation in the middle, to pure utility and mash-ups at the other. Some are more mature and better understood than others.
The quest: find and keep your IT talent
To get staffing right, outsource what you can't provide - and hang on to the good people
The Sunday Times: May 18, 2008
Making the decision to outsource some or all of your IT functions can involve a tricky balancing act when it comes to managing talent. Company bosses need to decide whether it is best to build up expertise in-house - with all of the training and investment that entails - or to go down the outsourcing route, which may provide access to a larger talent pool but risks losing skills from inside the organisation that may be hard to replace in the future.
"Outsourcing does allow you to tap into a quantity of new skills, developing up skills you already have or accessing skills that exist in the marketplace," says Ollie Ross, head of research at the Corporate IT Forum, a web-based knowledge centre. "If it is something everyone else is doing, what's the point of keeping it in-house, especially if you can have access to new technology? But if it is business-critical you may want to keep it in-house and give yourself the option of steering the project to how you want it to go."
Points system raises skill level
IT skills pool will be enhanced by new immigration system
Janie Davies, Computing Published: May 15, 2008
The new points based immigration system has been welcomed as bringing a higher level of skills into the UK technology market raising standards in the sector
"If you get highly skilled people entering a market, by default it will increase competition and boost skills," said Ollie Ross, head of research at the Corporate IT Forum. "It could re-energise the skills pool we have, although people will have to get with it or get out," she said.
Boundaries are blurring
The idea that a boundary exists between "locked down" IT systems inside the corporate network and everything else operating outside it does not make as much sense as it once did.
Ollie Ross (Head of Research, The Corporate IT Forum), Computer Weekly: May 07, 2008
For the large companies that belong to The Corporate IT Forum and take part in our specialist security service, the boundary is becoming virtual and blurred. The last few years have seen corporates opening up and de-perimeterising their networks. Why? Because the business demands it and the way people work and access information is radically changing.
People now access networks, systems and information in entirely different ways through multiple mediums, often depending on how they work, where they work and when they work.
Companies are adopting collaborative working strategies that aim to facilitate internal/external information sharing through multiple channels and across team, unit and geographical boundaries. Such new ways of working lead to the blurring of work life and personal life boundaries and fuel the drive towards unified communications networks.
IT directors will delay Vista deployment, study finds
Few IT directors have plans to deploy Windows Vista this year and some are seriously considering skipping it until Microsoft's next desktop operating system is released.
Cliff Saran, Computer Weekly: May 02, 2008
A survey of 78 IT managers responsible for desktop operating systems in FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 firms by TIF, a user group for IT managers, found that businesses were reluctant to upgrade to Vista.
TIF found that IT managers were concerned their existing applications would be incompatible with Vista.
How can a CIO make the most of Web 2.0?
How can Web 2.0 work for business - and which social software tools will help CIOs collaborate? Computing Business posed the question to a collection of IT leaders in this month's 'Ask the experts' section.
Mark Samuels, Computing Published: Apr 22, 2008
However, the benefit of deploying any Web 2.0 technologies
depends on having a corporate culture that is flexible enough to
embrace the tools. The open, collaborative, uncontrolled and unmediated
nature of Web 2.0 working fits with some firms better than others. Any
CIO hoping to choose the most valuable Web 2.0 technology must first
understand where and how it would fit with their company’s culture.
Ollie Ross, director of research, The Corporate IT Forum.
Tories issue cyber-crime warning
The government has seriously underestimated the threat to the UK posed by cyber-crime, the Tories say.
Published: April 2 2008, BBC News
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the risk of cyber-attack by criminals, foreign governments and terrorists was "serious, strategic and long-term".
But he accused ministers of treating it as a "second order" risk in their security strategy released last month.
Members of the Corporate IT Forum have called on the Home Office to keep its promise to establish a police unit to deal with high-tech criminal gangs.
Corporate IT Forum chairman Ian Campbell plots a new course
Published: March 27 2008, CIO
As someone who enjoys yacht racing, Ian Campbell seems very well placed to be at the helm of The Corporate IT Forum (tif.), helping to map its future strategy, and giving its members what they want.
And for the former group IT director of British Energy, the waters over the last three years have been particularly choppy. Not only did he spearhead a complete change programme there, but he also took on a new role at the Royal Mail, as well as becoming an integral part of one of the IT profession’s most effective member groups.
The Corporate IT Forum is a rare beast in the IT industry – a member organisation totally devoid of vendors or consultants, and it is highly protective of that independence. It relies solely on its corporate members to pay for and dictate its agenda, and does little in the way of marketing.
Green IT climbs corporate agenda
Published: March 17 2008, CIO
Green IT has become a bigger priority for businesses, according to the Corporate IT Forum, but it still lags well behind issues such as security, legacy software, data quality and server consolidation.
The Corporate IT Forum, a user organisation comprising representatives of 150 large organisations, said more than 80 percent of organisations have moved green IT further up their list of priorities, according to a survey it conducted to assess the interest in green computing issues within UK enterprises.
Cost of green IT puts companies off
Published: March 14 2008, CIO
More than 80 percent of organisations have moved green IT further up their list of priorities, although it still lags well behind issues such as security, legacy software, data quality and server consolidation.
That's according to research from the Corporate iT Forum, a user organisation comprising representatives of 150 large organisations, which recently surveyed its membership to assess the interest in green computing issues within UK enterprises.
UK Plc calls for national police e-crime force
Businesses back silicon.com e-Crime Crackdown campaign
Nick Heath, Silicon.com Published: Mar 14, 2008
The UK's major industry and business groups have backed silicon.com's e-Crime Crackdown campaign, which is calling for the creation of a new national police e-crime unit to combat the growing threat of cyber crime.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), blue chip user group the Corporate IT Forum (Tif) and tech industry trade body Intellect are all backing the campaign for a dedicated police unit to co-ordinate the investigation and recording of cyber crime nationwide.
David Roberts, CEO of Tif, said he was disappointed that the 2008 budget contained no new funding to fight e-crime.
He said: "The government must invest more money in education in order to help the public protect themselves against high tech criminals and crucially, bring back a well resourced, highly skilled centralised unit for the investigation of all forms of electronic crime."
Expense Delays Tech's Effort to Go Green
Sustainability and other energy matters are priorities in many firms, but the cost is stalling progress, a survey says.
Maxwell Cooter, Techworld Published: Mar 14, 2008
More than 80 percent of organizations have moved green IT further up their list of priorities, although it still lags well behind issues such as security, legacy software, data quality and server consolidation.
That's according to research from the Corporate IT Forum, a British user organization comprising representatives of 150 large organizations, which recently surveyed its membership to assess the interest in green computing issues within U.K. enterprises.
However, cost is seen as a crucial sticking point; there's evidence that organizations will be reluctant to implement green measures if it means that costs will rise. "As one manager said to us, "if it saves us money, we'll do it: if it doesn't we'll think twice,' -- that's a typical attitude," said Ian Campbell, speaking at the European Green IT Summit in London.
IT professionals disappointed with Darling budget
IT industry groups and professional bodies have dismissed chancellor Alistair Darling's first budget as a missed opportunity.
Cliff Saran, ComputerWeekly.com Published: Mar 13, 2008
Apart from his plans to use biometrics at Heathrow Airport and proposals for wider congestion charging schemes, Darling's 50-minute speech made few explicit references to technology.
The budget focused on green issues, with the chancellor announcing plans to make non-domestic buildings produce zero emissions by 2019, a move that could have ramifications for datacentres.
Others were also disappointed by the chancellor's failure to address IT security concerns, particularly given the highly publicised loss of CDs from HMRC and the increase in identity fraud.
David Roberts, chief executive of The Corporate IT Forum, said, "We are disappointed that the chancellor did not announce any further Home Office funding for fighting electronic forms of crime."
Cybercrime in the UK
new techonology? new opportunities? new threats
Green Paper published March 2008 by The Conservative Party
The Corporate IT Forum has criticised the Government for failing to take business e-crime seriously. The professional body for industry computer experts has criticised the way in which on-line crimes have to be reported to local police stations. David Roberts, Chief Executive of the Corporate IT Forum commented that:
"You can imagine the response an IT officer would get reporting a complex attack at their local police station - how is your local PC going to cope? It's a damning indictment of how little the Home Office understands 21st Century high-tech crime."
Spend on green computing to create long-term savings
Ollie Ross explores the uptake of environmentally-friendly IT in the UK and how the trend can be enhanced.
Ollie Ross, vnunet.com Published: Feb 21, 2008
Green, it would seem, has never been so important to UK plc. If you listen to both IT supplier and government rhetoric, business has undergone something close to a Damascene conversion when it comes to green IT.
Over 2007, The Corporate IT Forum held numerous workshops and discussions around the challenge of green computing. From such meetings, where senior IT users met to share good practice, it became clear that green IT is right at the top of many chief information officers’ (CIOs’) technology agendas.
Many of our corporate members have told us that they want to go green. They recognise that the IT department consumes high amounts of energy and are keen to help their firms reduce consumption and control emissions through the innovative use of technologies.
IT directors in no rush to move to Windows Server 2008
IT directors have given Microsoft's new Windows server operating system, due to be launched this month, a cool reception.
Cliff Saran, ComputerWeekly.com Published: Feb 01, 2008
Windows 2008 Server will allow businesses to upgrade from 32-bit systems to faster 64-bit technology, and offers a range of useful features, including clustering improvements, the Server Core function and password and security enhancements.
But many businesses can see no compelling reason to upgrade, said David Roberts, chairman of The Corporate IT Forum, which represents senior UK IT managers. "Windows Server 2008 is not on anyone's radar," he said.
Power politics and the IT project
Who calls the shots when it comes to starting new IT projects in your organisation?
Ron Condon, ComputerWeekly.com Published: Jan 14, 2008
Does the IT department come up with all the good ideas and then get the company management to rubber-stamp them? Does the IT department just wait to hear what the company wants, and then meekly try to deliver it? Or is the IT department tightly integrated in the corporate decision-making process, consulted on difficult matters, and generally seen as a vital partner to the rest of the company?
However, despite all the talk we hear about aligning IT with company strategy, it seems that in many companies IT still ends up as the dog's-body of the organisation. It is asked to perform miracles against impossible timescales, and then becomes a convenient scapegoat when things go wrong.
All projects should be considered in the first place as business projects with an appropriate assessment of costs and benefits - indirect and direct. Where judgments need to be made about the unquantifiable benefits, this should be done openly and transparently and judged on a business, not a technology basis. ROI more often than not needs to be harvested corporately not in individual service teams, requiring a considered approach to business change across the organisation.
And once a project is approved, a competent project manager needs to be found, which is not always easy, according to Ian Campbell, chairman of the Corporate IT Forum and head of IT at British Energy.
"People with those skills are few and far between," he says. "Project management can be complex and wide-ranging with lots of parallel work-streams going on. You need to know how to ask the right questions, make the right forecasts and get the plans right, in order to make the overall programme come together properly. That is why you see a lot of this going out to the consultancies because they are used to doing a lot of project-based work."
Campbell says the other big challenge for IT is managing the demands of the business, especially where a go-live deadline is set from the start.
"There is a disproportionate emphasis placed on launch dates. People set a date for a project, and that can take precedence over everything else, meaning that other things can be compromised. If you allow it to go live on the date but not when it is ready, then the project is tarnished," he says.
Vendors must quit 'bully' tactics
Hostile software licence audits show they don't trust users
silicon.com Published: Jan 12, 2008
The prickly subject of software licence audits once again got the backs of corporate IT departments up this week, as users accused cynical vendors of using them as a tool to squeeze more money out of buyers.
Despite the fact that most medium and large organisations rarely set out to deliberately use unlicensed copies of software - something the suppliers readily admit - IT professionals claim the vendors are getting increasingly heavy-handed, with unreasonable and costly licence audit demands.
Just under half of silicon.com's CIO Jury agreed with that picture, saying audits are becoming more frequent and are more about increasing revenue than tackling piracy. One IT director even declined to publicly join the debate for fear of being targeted by unscrupulous suppliers.
Members of IT user group the Corporate IT Forum have also hit out at what they see as underhand sales tactics of some suppliers with regards to licence audits at a time when many IT departments have been forced to invest in software asset management tools.
Gartner warns IT directors to prepare 'recession budgets'
Cliff Saran, ComputerWeekly.com Published: Jan 11, 2008
IT directors were urged this week to prepare for cuts in their IT budgets as concerns grow that the UK will experience an economic slowdown this year.
The downturn in the US could affect the UK, causing companies to rethink spending on IT projects and threatening 2008 IT budgets, businesses fear.
Graham Royle, IS manager at steel producer Corus International, said, "One of IT's key tasks is to ensure that we have the flexibility to support redeployments of resource, while ensuring that management control and a common customer experience are maintained."
A slowdown will put pressure on firms to consider outsourcing IT services, said David Roberts, chairman of the Corporate IT Forum. "Pricing pressure will force IT directors to look for cheaper offshore IT services," he said.
How to win funds for systems development
Ron Condon, Computer Weekly Published: Jan 10, 2008
According to Ian Campbell, CIO at British Energy and chairman of the Corporate IT Forum, IT budgets can easily get swallowed up in unexpected ways, such as by sloppy software purchasing.
"A lot of companies regret not looking more carefully at software licensing," Campbell says, adding that annual licence fees can be anything from 10% to 30% of the purchase price.
Frank Cordrey, head of development support and network infrastructure for John Lewis, says the key is to prove business benefit and alignment with business strategy, but admits this is not always easy. "Infrastructure changes, including sunsetting of old products, can be the most difficult to achieve agreement for and commitment to because they don't always bring obvious benefit and won't always fit with business plans or priorities," he says.
Companies urge creation of centralised e-crime unit
Maija Palmer, FT Published: Dec 17, 2007
Businesses are becoming increasingly frustrated at having no centralised organisation to which they can report instances of computer crime, and are calling on the government to form a central police e-crime unit.
David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, which represents computer users in about half of the FTSE 100 companies, said his members were left with the feeling that the government did not take cybercrime seriously.
"There is no source to go to to report e-crime, other than the local police station - and they have very little understanding of it. It is a significant problem," Mr Roberts said.
IT chiefs demand centralised e-crime unit
John Leydon, The Register Published: Dec 17, 2007
The HMRC child benefit data loss debacle has reinvigorated calls to establish a central police unit to tackle cybercrime. Business leaders are expressing concern that not enough is being done to help victims of computer crime, who are unsure of who to turn to in the event of being subjected to computer-related fraud or attack.
David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, said IT directors are starting to believe that the government is failing to prioritise the fight against cybercrime.
The National High Tech Crime Unit maintained a close relationship with industry, however, since the specialist unit merged other agencies to form the larger Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in April 2006 there has been less contact.
Outsourcing value for money
John Parker reviews The Corporate IT Forum’s plan to bring better evaluation techniques to outsourcing
John Parker, Computing Published: Nov 08, 2007
Companies spend significant proportions of their IT budgets on outsourced and offshored service providers.
It might therefore surprise many firms that technology directors participating in user group The Corporate IT Forum still struggle to find out if they are receiving true value from their contracts compared with other large businesses.
Stay on top of IT industry news
Ron Condon, ComputerWeekly.com Published: Oct 18, 2007
In the UK, we had Compec and the Which Computer? shows, which also attracted large crowds in their heydays. But the world changed, and by 2004, the mighty Comdex gave up the ghost and cancelled through lack of interest. No one wanted to go to big shows any more.
So how do today's CIOs stay on top of developments, and where do they go for information and even inspiration, now that the shows have lost their sparkle?
Ian Campbell, head of IT at British Energy and chairman of the Corporate IT Forum (Tif), a subscriber organisation representing the corporate IT user community, says he gets most value these days from talking to others in similar roles to himself.
Data centres hike CO2 levels
Rising carbon emissions will double again in five years, warns analyst
Tom Young, Computing Published: Oct 18, 2007
Data centres account for almost a quarter (23 per cent) of the 580 million tonnes of CO2 released annually by the production and use of computer systems, according to the latest research from analyst Gartner.
The issue is starting to appear on firms’ radar, but a lack of coherence in government policy is slowing progress, said Ollie Ross, head of research at blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum.
The formula for success
In the third of a four-part weekly guide to information management, Joe Devo identifies the key skills required by ambitious professionals
Joe Devo, Computing Published: Oct 18, 2007
What is the industry crying out for in an age of information proliferation database acumen, business intelligence brilliance, security aptitude or knowledge management nous? Just what is the must-have information management skill for the modern IT professional’s armoury?
If this prescription for putting together the perfect CV seems a tad severe, especially for technology professionals keen not to be prised from their IT bunkers, Ollie Ross, head of research at user group The Corporate IT Forum (Tif), offers some persuasive context.
Online software is in demand
Office software provided over the internet will change licensing models
Tom Young, Computing Published: Oct 11, 2007
With software on demand offering the potential to challenge Microsoft’s desktop dominance, some of the IT industry’s biggest names are scrabbling for a piece of the action.
Many large users are interested, according to Ollie Ross, head of research at the Corporate IT Forum (Tif) user group.
"There is not wide-scale adoption yet, but increased numbers of IT chiefs are investigating the advantages that these newer subscription models might bring to their businesses," said Ross.
Tif to benchmark IT services
Information Age, Published: Oct 09, 2007
The benchmarking service has been designed in response to user demands for an independent means by which to measure the value of outsourced IT contracts.
User association the Corporate IT Forum (Tif) is launching a benchmarking service that will allow enterprises to measure the value of their outsourced supply contracts, in a move that underlines the growing complexity of IT service partnerships and their accompanying pricing models.
IT benchmarking for business
Costs and service levels can be compared using a service from user group the Corporate IT Forum
Tom Young, Computing, Published: Oct 09, 2007
Businesses will be able to rate outsourced IT contractsThe Corporate IT Forum is to launch a new benchmarking service to help businesses evaluate outsourced IT contracts.
The Continuous Performance Improvement for Outsourced IT Services (CPI OS) allows companies to compare the cost and service levels of their contracts.
"IT users told us that they were finding it impractical and too costly to discover how their outsourced contracts compared with the services given to other companies – and they didn’t want to depend on suppliers offering to benchmark themselves," he said.
The service – which will be launched on November 1st - has been developed and funded by Corporate IT Forum members.
The Knowledge, Published: Oct 08, 2007
The Corporate IT Forum set to launch benchmarking service for outsourcing Gaining value from outsourcing contracts is one of the most intractable challenges for users. Organisations regularly farm out problematic areas of the technology department, with little awareness of where value is being delivered.
Which is why The Corporate IT Forum is launching a new benchmarking service to give technology leaders a more accurate understanding of supplier contracts. Designed, developed and financed by the corporate organisations that make up The Forum, Continuous Performance Improvement for Outsourced IT Services (CPI OS) allows users to contrast the cost and service levels of contracts against other large businesses.
The full service will be officially launched to corporate IT executives on 1st November at an event featuring presentations by IT leaders from BAA, British Energy, Friends Provident and Hampshire County Council.
Setback for UK e-crime strategy
Resignation of Met commander represents major blow to UK e-crime effort.
Information Age Published: Oct 05, 2007
The NHCTU was officially rolled into the Serious and Organised Crime Agency in April 2006 after what was widely regarded as a highly successful six-year stint at the forefront of e-crime investigation. Many organisations including the Corporate IT Forum (Tif) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) have since publicly criticised the move, claiming SOCA has been both unhelpful and uncommunicative toward industry.
FT REPORT - DIGITAL BUSINESS: 'A CIO's biggest challenge? Cost control'
By Alan Cane, Financial Times Published: Sep 19, 2007
For Mr Campbell, newly elected chairman of the Corporate IT Forum, an organisation for CIOs from blue chip companies, efficiency is a key objective. Asked to list the principal challenges the typical CIO faces today, he puts cost control at the top. "There is a constant expectation that we can contain costs and provide value for money," he says
Group Therapy
Retail Week 14th September 2007
He [David Roberts] is clear that tif's work helps its memebers in their day to day roles. "They are doing things that are part of their day job. It is not a dating agency, they come together because they have objectives to meet."
Not Available online. For full text please contact info@tif.co.uk
Leader: Time to rethink cyber crime priorities And time to make your voice heard
Friday 24 August 2007
Just this month a House of Lords committee urged the government to do more to tackle e-crime - or risk losing public confidence in the security of the internet. And last month, user group The Corporate IT Forum talked of the need for a single reporting body for e-crime, warning that without such a dedicated unit the situation will only deteriorate.
IT Management: The Future of the IT Organisation Globalisation: IT management strategies
Author: Lindsay Clark. Posted: 08:30 14 Aug 2007
Offshore IT development and support has become the most salient feature of IT's response to globalisation, says Ollie Ross, head of research at Tif. "It has really become important over the past 18 months. Before, you might have seen some outsourcing of non-critical IT functions - almost exclusively to India, where skills were well tested - but there was not much elsewhere. Now there are highly skilled areas all over the world."
Gartner: MS subscription licence may become ‘mandatory’
Author: Cliff Saran. Posted: 00:00 20 Jul 2007
Microsoft is likely to make changes to the way its products are licensed that could, in effect, make its Software Assurance subscription licensing programme mandatory by 2009, analyst firm Gartner has predicted.
However, Ollie Ross, director of research at IT directors group The Corporate IT Forum, said, “Unfortunately, many businesses have not benefited here and they are understandably questioning what they have received for the large sums of money involved.”
Lack of concern over growing cybercrime angers UK businesses
Peter Warren - Thursday July 19, 2007
"A lot of trust was built up between large businesses and the NHTCU, and that took a lot of time to develop," says Ollie Ross, head of research at the Corporate IT Forum. "Just when that structure seemed to have reached fruition, it was taken away and nothing has filled its place. There is no reporting mechanism now."
UK needs cyber-crime reporting body Who you gonna call?
By Gemma Simpson - Thursday 19 July 2007
David Roberts, chief executive of Tif, the Corporate IT Forum, told silicon.com there is a need for an organisation that businesses can talk to: "At the moment, there isn't anywhere a large or small corporate can go to find somebody who can understand the [e-crime] issue and has the authority to do something about it."
Charge businesses to prove value of IT services, say CIOs
by Lindsay Clark - Monday 16 July 2007
Andrew Mellors, head of IT business management at defence and aerospace company BAE Systems, also contributed to the Corporate IT Forum seminar. He said that giving business units information about IT costs, such as the support costs for each business PC, can help them value their IT resources.
"It is human nature to treat something with a high value differently to something with a low one. Your pricing mechanism has to reflect this when you are communicating to users the value of their IT services."
Microsoft Software Assurance deals questioned by IT chiefs
by Cliff Saran - Monday 16 July 2007
One in four companies that bought into Microsoft’s Software Assurance licensing programme in 2004 are being deterred from renewing the three-year deal because they perceive it to be poor value, a study by Forrester Research has revealed.
The main benefit of Software Assurance was always the upgrade guarantee, said Ollie Ross, director of research at IT directors group The Corporate IT Forum.
“Unfortunately, many users have not benefited here, and they are understandably questioning what they have received for the large sums of money involved,” she said.
British Energy gets flexible with mobile rollout
Posted by Miya Knights at 9:07AM, Friday 6th July 2007
Major mobile deployment leads to technology and cultural change at the energy producer.
The utility wholesaler, British Energy has embarked on a major programme to mobilise its workforce and streamline its IT infrastructure.
The nuclear and coal-generated electricity provider has just completed a roll out of mobile devices to some of its workforce, to speed up processes like safety checks and reporting, as well as foster maximum productivity on the move.
Ian Campbell, chief information officer for British Energy and chairman of end user association, the Corporate IT Forum told IT PRO the company recognised that our people increasingly no longer made the distinction between work and home when it came to IT resources.
"We are in an era of the 'Martini' culture - anytime, anyplace, anywhere," said Campbell. "With the internet, and particularly those people just leaving university, they expect to have access to same things at work as they do on their PCs at home. There are some that say 'trust nobody' and put controls in. But we want our people to feel we trust them - it's about enablement, with a sensible approach to control."
CIOs are winning the business value battle
by Lindsay Clark - Friday 6 July 2007
Top IT professionals are winning the battle to prove the value of IT to their businesses, the latest research by Computer Weekly reveals.
Computer Weekly's CIO Index, a survey of more than 100 chief information officers and IT directors, shows that 77% believe it is getting easier to show how IT helps their companies - a rise of 66% since February last year.
Tracking the benefits of IT and business change projects is becoming more commonplace and rigorous, said Jos Creese, advisory group member of IT directors group The Corporate IT Forum and CIO of Hampshire County Council.
"However, I still think we have got a long way to go," he said. "If you ask most organisations to quantify the value of their annual IT investment in terms of business outcomes, rather than traditional IT terms, some will still struggle."
Strategy Clinic: can an MBA help you get a management role?
Tuesday 3 July 2007
Grasp the opportunity to learn new perspectives
Solution by Ollie Ross, director of research at the Corporate IT Forum
Large corporates - such as those that use the Corporate IT Forum's services - need people with strategic/practical IT understanding and strategic/practical business understanding to maximise the benefits from their existing investment in IT.
How to buy IT
1 July 2007
'In hardware, price is nearly everything, but with outsourcing it's more about the quality of the service,' says David Roberts, managing director of the Corporate IT Forum, a membership body representing about 150 large UK companies with a combined annual IT expenditure of £35bn.
He emphasises the need for the two parties in an outsourcing agreement to get to know each other before committing fully. 'You have to get past the sales and marketing people and get to the support people, and distinguish between pre- and post-sales support. That requires quite a lot of time to take into account how the relationship will work as part of the business. You have to get under the skin of the individuals.'
David Roberts
More than just a price tag
IT departments are starting to recognise the value of charging back costs to users, writes David Roberts
Computing Business, 21 Jun 2007
Service directors are not trying to make a fast buck from their colleagues, they are trying to curb wasteful IT consumption by providing the information that people need to make crucial business decisions.
IT director diploma aims to improve leadership skills
New qualification from Institute of Directors and BCS reflects need for greater business awareness in IT
Rachael Dell, Computing 15 Jun 2007
It will be complementary to the skills IT professionals already bring to the table, but will help to bring IT into its proper context in today’s society.’
The role of IT professionals has changed dramatically and the diploma recognises modern businesses now require certain skills, says David Roberts, chief executive of user group The Corporate IT Forum.
Ian Campbell - British Energy
British Energy’s CIO, Ian Campbell, tells Information Age how he oversaw a step-change in the organisation’s IT structure – and culture.
Information Age - 10 June 2007
Campbell has held a number of both senior business and IT roles in large organisations. Before joining British Energy, he was CIO at telecoms service company Energis (now part of Cable and Wireless). Campbell has also recently been appointed as chairman of the enterprise IT user association The Corporate IT Forum (tif).
Retailers lead rise in IT spending growth
Retailers and business services firms are leading the growth in IT spending in the UK, as organisations step up their investment in online commerce and knowledge management systems.
Lindsay Clark - Monday 4 June 2007
“Not only are they improving the customers’ online shopping experiences, retailers are internet-enabling their back office and supply chains to ensure that the customer receives the best possible service – something that people are responding to by digging deeper into their pockets,” said David Roberts, chief executive of IT directors group The Corporate IT Forum.
Government backs smart meter plan
But industry urges faster action to ensure investment
Smart metering will increase the pressure for green IT, says David Roberts, chief executive of blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum.
Sarah Arnott, Computing, 31 May 2007
‘As usage levels are highlighted firms will, in turn, look for suppliers with kit that has lower consumption ratings,’ he said.
‘It might also help businesses to change their habits, encouraging people to turn PCs off at night, for example, because it will show exactly how much power is used.
FT REPORT - DIGITAL BUSINESS: External audits: fair play on both sides?
By Alan Cane, May 30, 2007
The external audit has become one of the most contentious issues in software management and one that is unavoidable for medium-sized and large companies.
Firms to embrace Web 2.0 tools
Social computing has a place within the enterprise
Lara Williams, Computing, 24 May 2007
Ollie Ross, head of research at blue chip user group The Corporate IT Forum, believes further adoption of collaborative technologies by businesses is likely.
‘Corporates looking to make use of diversely located skills and experience have used proprietary collaborative technologies as internal communication and knowledge transfer tools for the past three years,’ said Ross.
‘What is interesting now, is the upsurge of interest in using informal solutions such as wikis and blogs to support enterprise community development and enhance team productivity.’
Dell to boost support with reseller strategy
by Cliff Saran and Paul Kunert
Thursday 24 May 2007
The move addresses concerns voiced by some members of The Corporate IT Forum over the quality of Dell's service, delivery and support.
Ollie Ross, director of research at the user group, said, "Dell's decision to make more use of resellers could be good news for large corporates. It may signal that the company has realised that it needs the support and expertise of specialist third parties if it is to grow its share of the corporate hardware market."
How to get the best systems deal
by Miya Knights
Thursday 17 May 2007
Ollie Ross, head of research at Tif, said different methods of software delivery were proving to be disruptive to licensing models. "Suppliers cannot ignore what is happening with the infinite variety of software systems that are doing an infinite number of things with commodity computing technologies. The old-fashioned 'per-processor' models just do not fit any more," she said.
Boost business benefits by billing
by Lindsay Clark Tuesday 15 May 2007
Charging back IT spending to business units has long been an approach to minimising costs. So it came as a surprise to The Corporate IT Forum (tif), when it found that one of its subscriber companies had trebled IT spending since it started this approach to IT financing.
TECHNOLOGY LITE: The shrinking IT department
By Dan Ilett
Published: May 9 2007 11:36 | Last updated: May 9 2007 11:36
The Corporate IT Forum (CIF), a CIO-end-user organisation for big companies, said its members are now employing more business-minded people to negotiate outsourcing contracts.
"[Our members] were all experiencing the same thing," says David Roberts, CEO of the CIF. "We found there'll be fewer people in the IT department but they'll spend higher amounts of money and will be much more commercially aware."
Scheme to aid entry into IT management
E-skills UK aims to provide IT graduates with mid-tier
skills now moving offshore
James Murray, IT Week, 08 May
2007
Industry must clean up its act
But there is potential for a fast turnaround of green IT credentials
Sarah Arnott and Tom Young, Computing, 03 May 2007
Most large firms have green policies, but IT vendors need to do more, says David Roberts, chief executive of user group The Corporate IT Forum.
‘There are some quick wins that would immediately allow users to reduce carbon emissions – provided suppliers do not stand in the way,’ he said.
Roberts says some vendors are taking advantage of technology that can do three times the work by charging three times the licence costs. ‘That is bad for users, bad for innovation and bad for the environment,’ he said.
New Vista licences target large firms
by Arif Mohamed Tuesday 10 April 2007
Frank Cordrey, vice-chairman of blue chip user group The Corporate IT Forum, said, "For larger organisations, the different licensing models are unlikely to be the be-all and end-all of early deployment.
"A lot will depend on how these models fit together with the general use of Windows software and the planned timing of upgrades."
Cordrey said he did not expect large corporate enterprises to buy into Vista unless they saw the benefit and the time was right.
"The difficulty, as always, will be the link between upgrade paths, timing and pricing. I suspect there will also be some confusion over what is and what can be included."
Companies keep silent on data breaches
On the anniversary of the scrapping of the UK confidentiality charter businesses are reluctant to discuss data breaches
David Neal, IT Week, 10 Apr 2007
Ollie Ross, head of research at user group The Corporate IT Forum, said the reluctance of corporate victims to report IT crime means much of it goes unresolved. “But as the TK Maxx incident has demonstrated, the stakes are very high,” she added.
Banks to handle e-fraud reports
Fraud legislation changes should make it easier for firms to report incidents
Phil Muncaster, IT Week, 10 Apr 2007
David Roberts, chief executive of blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum, said his organisation “welcomes any initiative that genuinely makes it harder for cyber criminals to attack businesses and makes it easier for consumers and corporates to report cyber crime”.
Ethical hackers come in for tighter regulation
Crest hope standard will become industry kitemark
Tom Young, Computing, 22 Mar 2007
Ollie Ross, head of research at The Corporate IT Forum, warns Crest should learn from the mistakes of other standards.
‘An initiative to provide an approved level of quality assurance should be encouraged,’ she said.
‘But the difficulty many users experienced with the recent launch of the Payments Cards Industry (PCI) data security standard demonstrates the need for increased user consultation.’
Communication Chords
Janine Milne CIO February 2007
David Roberts, Chief Executive of the Corportae IT Forum (tif.) says: "Most organisations that subscribe to tif. may not have internal marketing people but they do have people who try to assist the conversation about IT, how it helps the business and how it could help in the future. It is a communication exercise about the art of the possible - trying to avoid pitfalls and make the business understand the dependencies."
Whatever the size of the organisation, IT must get close to the business. We have regular communications to make the role of IT visible and through that education process how we can make it faster and cheaper."
UK security found wanting
UK business lags behind US on approach to data protection, says survey
Tom Young, Computing, 22 Feb 2007
But UK corporate governance models have the advantage of age, says David Roberts, chief executive of blue-chip user group The Corporate IT Forum. ‘The UK is at least as security conscious. And the processes are more rigorous, having been in place for 25 years,’ he said.
IT mergers reach new peak
European deals exceed £200bn as firms seek to boost competitiveness
Lara Williams, Computing, 08 Feb 2007
But Ollie Ross, head of research at user group The Corporate IT Forum, says consolidation can restrict choice for IT buyers. ‘To a certain extent you can lose control of which supplier you are dealing with, and that can be unsettling,’ she said.
‘On the other hand a solidification of large framework agreements can enable clearer and larger relationships.’
IT mergers reach new peak
European deals exceed £200bn as firms seek to boost competitiveness
Lara Williams, Computing, 08 Feb 2007
But Ollie Ross, head of research at user group The Corporate IT Forum, says consolidation can restrict choice for IT buyers. ‘To a certain extent you can lose control of which supplier you are dealing with, and that can be unsettling,’ she said. ‘On the other hand a solidification of large framework agreements can enable clearer and larger relationships.’
The children of the revolution
Using modern information technology is second nature for the younger generation – firms must tap into such changes or lose out, writes Janine Milne
Janine Milne, Computing Business, 18 Jan 2007
Just as some firms still do not like people to receive personal emails or make personal calls, the growth of iPods and memory sticks, for example, can pose a threat. But rather than take a blanket approach, firms need to think pragmatically, says Chris Smith a researcher at user group the Corporate IT Forum. ‘Companies tend to lock down systems, so why not look at those areas of acceptable risk?’ he says.
There will be parts of the business and information that needs restricted access, but that does not apply to everything. It is also important to explain the reasons why security procedures are important.
Police fail to record e-crime
Fewer than one in four forces can generate computer crime reports
Tom Young, Computing, 02 Nov 2006
Ollie Ross, The Corporate IT Forum’s head of research, says more needs to be known about Soca. ‘While the NHTCU has disappeared, the cyber criminals certainly have not,’ she said.
‘There is concern that so little is known about Soca’s remit.’
We launch Green Computing campaign
Initiative intended to raise environmental awareness and cut costs in IT departments Computing staff,
Computing, 24 Aug 2006
Other organisations including Network Rail, EDF Energy, E.ON, John Lewis Partnership, Scottish Water, the Institute of Directors, the Corporate IT Forum, Intellect, the Liberal Democrats, the DTI and government CIO John Suffolk are backing the campaign.