Technology & IT

Wouldn't it be cool if there was some magical way to keep people accountable for their action items, give feedback, get new team members up to speed and spread your ideas across the organization? Turns out, there is.

We all understand the need to keep in touch and share as much information in as many ways as possible. Yet we often resist or ignore the technology that allows us to do exactly that. What gives?

It has been 20 years since online presentations really began. Yet even now, a dispiritingly high proportion of them aren't very good, and many are just plain awful. But why?

The problem with getting people to use technology at work isn't always a lack of tools - it's having too many to choose from and not mastering any of them. How's your team doing on that score?

Virtual worlds haven't exactly set the business world on fire up to now. But could all that be about to change? If virtual worlds stop trying to be cool and show how they can help organizations save money and be more effective, they might just start to catch on.

Webcams are just like any other tool. When used for the right reasons, they're terrific. When used poorly, you might have wished you were just on the phone. So do you have standards and best practices when using webcams? Just asking.

Webinar technology has changed a lot over the last couple of years. It's much easier to use and much more dynamic, yet many presenters haven't made the adjustment to the way things work now.

Work is becomming more project-based. That means that people need to organize, share and make sense of all the information associated with that work - which makes some sort of project management software a must, not just a nice-to-have.

If it feels like all the social media and online communications managers use is somehow changing us, you're right. So here are 10 tips to make social media work for you instead of letting it have its way with you.

One of the biggest challenges to running an effective online meeting is the feeling that no one is listening on the end of the line. Here are some tips to make virtual meetings better.

Web conferencing and webmeeting tools are about to become a more common part of how you work. How do I know? Because suddenly there's a glut of new products and much more aggressive pricing.

Here are some of the most thought-provoking questions I get asked about running webinars and some answers that will make your online sessions far more effective.

Technology has brought us wonderful tools for exchanging information. But for most of us, the problem is that our technological tools now manage us. Worse, they are alo undermining the way our brains function.

Organizations often complain that they invest in technology that people don't use. But actually this is a problem as old as mankind – and one with an equally old solution. Just consider what happened when we discovered fire and you'll realize that nothing has really changed.

I was shown a new conferencing tool recently and I had some pretty strong reactions to the product and its use. These are the same reactions most people have when learning a new technology and it brought home to me why the majority of organizations struggle with rolling out software and equipment.

One of the most common complaints people make about work is that they have no time. There are always new deadlines to meet or crises needing attention. At the heart of this lack of time lies technology. We have been brainwashed to believe that technology reduces our workloads and improves the quality of our lives.

As somebody who speaks and presents on marketing and customer care to all sorts of businesses at all sorts of events, one thing I see that really separates successful marketeers from those who are less successful is attitudes towards social media and its impact on marketing.

Since Wayne Turmel makes his living through the use of web technology, you'd think he'd be gagging to get his hands on a new iPad. But you know what? Despite what Time, Newsweek, CNN and the whole drooling, simpering blogosphere have to say for themselves, he just doesn't care.

I read the other day that Cisco is helping build a city in Korea. But what are the implications of this? I mean, would you really want to live in a city built by your IT Department? What would it be like?

How can women survive and thrive in a male-dominated IT environment? As far as many men are concerned, women have no place in IT and their competence is automatically suspect. But with an understanding of the issues and the ways to get round them, women can beat this engrained sexism.

A lot of IT folks grumble that people are too afraid of technology. They're wrong. It has nothing to do with fear. People will use a new technology if it makes their lives easier or helps them do their job better. If not, they have better things to do.

Technology is a means to better performance but, laments IE Business School's Professor Oswaldo Lorenzo, it is often regarded as the ends rather than means. Instead, organisations need to look to the future rather than becoming fixated on the present.

It turns out that the first major challenge facing the Obama administration is not a foreign power or an economic crisis, it's an IT issue: should the President of the United States be allowed to keep his Blackberry?

Now that we can all see the disastrous effects of The Cult of Shareholder Value and The Cult of the Chief Executive, let's hope that a new movement - the Cult of Collaboration – can come to our rescue.

Graduates in Western economies may seem umbilically attached to their mobiles and social networks, but they risk being overtaken by even more technologically savvy students from emerging economies.

Since the very beginning of the IT Age, Wall Street boasted more technology and processing power than any other sector. So what happened to it? Why did it fail to stop the meltdown?

Managers who ban the use of personal mobiles, instant messaging and social networks in the office risk an exodus of younger staff for whom technology is now a way of life.

I'm no Luddite, but I'm not glad to see that mobile phones are outselling desk phones for the workplace.

In a recent British online magazine, I came across this poll revealing that if personal web surfing to be banned in their workplace, 39% of 18-24 year old workers would consider leaving their job.

Employers are increasingly turning to eye, palm and fingerprint scans as the future of workplace security, but managers need to recognise such technology brings with it huge data protection issues.

No longer just the domain of geeks and teenage boys, the growing popularity of virtual, computer-generated worlds is something businesses should be looking at tapping into.

The good news is that virtually all British firms now back up their critical IT systems and data. The bad news is that a significant minority then fail to ensure there is a version of it off-site in case disaster strikes.

A growing number of U.S workers are now working from home or telecommuting, but employers are still way too laid back about the possible security risks this entails.

With staff wandering off site with memory sticks in their pockets, posting confidential information on the web and setting their password as "password", IT security policies count for very little.

Here's something to discuss around the water cooler. Is there an appropriate place for the iPod in the workplace – or should it be outlawed altogether?

Bulgaria has the lowest number of computers in the workplace out of all EU countries. And it's a safe assumption that the number of PCs in homes isn't much more impressive.

Is your computer making you more efficient and productive or is it creating so much stress in your life that your brain no longer performs at its best?

More and more employers are disciplining social networking time-wasters, as it becomes clear the perils of sites such as Facebook go far leaving posting cyber dirt that might return to haunt you.

If you fancy sneaking in a little web surfing at work, the place to head to is Finland, where occasional surfing really isn't seen as a problem in the Finnish workplace.

The "white noise" of e-mail is one of the main reasons organisations are finding it increasingly difficult to get important information through to their staff. So what's gone wrong? And how can organisations and individuals see their way through the electronic fog that is choking our ability to communicate.

Is your inbox overwhelming you? Is it full of other peoples' problems? Are you drowning in urgent messages, all demanding to be answered yesterday? Do you sometimes wish that the whole email revolution had never happened? If the answer is "yes", you need to listen to this week's Working Week podcast.

Paging through the Times of India, I wasn't surprised to read a headline claiming that Indian IT professionals are among the worst paid in the world.

You might have thought the growing reliance of many businesses on cutting edge technology would have given CIOs an pivotal position within the boardroom. Far from it.

Financial services companies are becoming increasingly alarmed about their IT systems as research shows that employees are responsible for almost a third of IT security breaches.

European employers take note: when drafting up your monitoring policies in the workplace, you'd do well to be explicit in your instructions. Failure to do so may well see you fighting lawsuits before the European Court of Human Rights.

Technology risks figure higher on the agenda of UK company boards than ever before. But new research questions whether board members really have sufficient understanding of IT to address them adequately.

In an example of research that hardly needed to be funded to know what the outcome will be, a study from the UK has revealed that checking e-mail regularly at the office increases stress levels and diminishes stress levels. Wow - I never would have guessed that!

Putting together a business prospectus for a technology or internet company can be tough these days. How do you know what business gibberish to use to make your company sound "in-the-know"? What you need is the Corporate Gibberish Generator.

Virgil Griffith, 24, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology and self-styled "Mad Scientist. Disruptive Technologist", has create a giant headache for the [mis]communications departments of some of the world's best-known companies courtesy of a device that tracks the source of changes made to Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia.

For the business person, personal broadcast media such as blogging and podcasting are very attractive: They are both inexpensive and can be targeted to specific audiences. In fact, there are few reasons NOT to embrace them.

Meet Wakamaru. He or she - or should that be "it" - is the new face of the Japanese receptionist. And receptionists won't be laughing when they find out that Wakamaru is a robot.

Kids may be better at programming the DVD than their parents, but six out of 10 owners of family businesses also admit they they have experienced cross-generational conflict over how to invest in technology.

A recent study by Check Point Software Technologies has revealed that a surprising level of petty theft and straight up larceny seems to be the norm in European organisations.

Almost half of us would have no qualms about downloading sensitive company information to take to a new job - and most employers would do little or nothing to try and stop it.

Staff who ping those "humorous" emails around the office with funny attachments are not just irritating, they are also a significant drain on a company's productivity.

Almost a third of IT staff abuse their trusted positions to snoop on the confidential information held on their company's computer systems, a new survey has found.

If you thought that online social networking was strictly a generation-Y phenomenon, think again. Because according to a new survey, many business professionals are getting in on the act, too.

More than a third of bloggers risk falling foul of their employer because they have posted sensitive or damaging information about their employer, workplace or colleagues.

A University of Arkansas law professor could have struck a mighty blow against information overload by suggesting that forwarding e-mail without permission of the sender may be against the law.

Feeling lucky? Odds are squarely in your favor that you are (for now) if you're a European quiz show producer!