Technology: Page 26

  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    Certainties: Death, Taxes, and the Cloud

    Cloud computing is fast gaining traction as an effective way to scale computing capacity according to shifting needs and to lower the operating cost of IT services. Indeed, most business functions are worthy candidates for outsourcing to the cloud, to the point where companies may soon begin to q...

    By • June 4, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    Slate Expectations

    This year’s biggest buzz-generating gadget, Apple’s iPad, has beaten even the rosiest sales forecasts. Domestic demand for the snazzy tablet computer topped one million units in the month following its April 3 debut. While critics complained that the iPad is both less than a phone and less than a...

    By • June 1, 2010
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    Trendline

    The CFO Strategy for Artificial Intelligence

    Artificial intelligence’s impact on the office of the CFO continues to evolve, and finance chiefs must be aware of the opportunities it will create for growth. 

    By CFO.com staff
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Web Access Limits: Not Suitable for Work?

    When news broke in April that 28 Securities and Exchange Commission staffers had been caught porn-surfing, it was a reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In fact, ever since Internet access became common at work, companies have struggled over whether and how to limit ...

    By • June 1, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    IT Changes Quickly, Perceptions of It Don’t

    Information technology is getting faster, richer, and more powerful at ever-accelerating speed, but views on its value by people making technology purchase decisions at corporations are evolving at a more deliberate pace.CDW, a tech-consulting firm, has been conducting a survey of such decision m...

    By • May 25, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Digital Divide

    What could bring Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich into harmony? Not much, at least politically. But the former president and ex-House speaker are among a host of luminaries who are offering high praise for a new book that describes how the concept of “pull” presents companies with unprecedented opp...

    By • May 20, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Tech CFOs Eye Role in Policy Debates

    A key hallmark of the Great Recession was a deep dip in corporate spending on information technology. By the same token, an uptick in tech spending is heralding the economic recovery, with companies like Intel, Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices, and IBM recently reporting surging revenues and pro...

    By • May 10, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Push-Button Patent Review

    For players in innovative fields like technology and pharmaceuticals, winning patents is a big part of the battle — and so is getting rid of them. Large companies may hold thousands or even tens of thousands of patents, some of which they no longer need or want.Battling “patent creep” can be an i...

    By • May 4, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    An Action Plan for IT

    When a CFO assumes oversight of IT, it may be cause for congratulations — and condolences. Information technology is often an underleveraged asset, and a leader who can tap its full potential will make a major contribution to the business. On the other hand, such an advance is sure to entail head...

    By • May 1, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    The New Star of IT Cost Allocation

    A holy grail for many companies is to reduce the 70% or so of their information-technology spend that is devoted to operating existing systems, thereby freeing up more resources for adding new capabilities. But the way costs are allocated across business lines and corporate functions can keep the...

    By • April 28, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    IT’s Need for Speed

    When it comes to making fundamental changes to a business, speed trumps everything, says consultant Jack Bergstrand. Indeed, the firm of which he is CEO is called Brand Velocity, for its focus on helping companies in reinvention mode accelerate their time frames.Bergstrand is no stranger to perso...

    By • April 14, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    If You Build It…

    No matter how much rigor a company may bring to it, building a data warehouse remains an act of faith. It can also entail a lot of pain.So what prompts a company to do it? Pain.That was the case at Impax Laboratories, which embarked on a data-warehousing project in 2006 after determining that pri...

    By • April 1, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    The Democratic Way to Great IT

    Frustration over information technology may be one of the most common attitudes among business leaders. From failed projects and systems degradation to costly downtime and data-security lapses, when it comes to IT it often seems that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, sooner or later.At th...

    By • March 2, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    A Sense of Agreement

    Don Doherty spends a fair amount of time these days doing something most CFOs don’t: cheering up his IT staff. The technology team at MI Windows and Doors is eager to implement new systems, but the budget is tight at this $200 million manufacturer, which was hit hard by the recession. “When they’...

    By • March 1, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Best Buys in Offshore Manufacturing

    Until a few years ago, choosing an offshore manufacturing location was fairly straightforward, with finance chiefs and their fellow executives typically focused on a handful of cities in China. But with the volatility in the dollar, fluctuating transportation and commodity costs, and shifting glo...

    By Kate O'Sullivan • Feb. 18, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Do You Have Too Much Software?

    Companies have put all kinds of costs under the microscope during the past couple of years, but one expense that is frequently missed involves software usage — or, more exactly, nonusage.According to Kathleen Brush, a turnaround professional, even software companies overlook opportunities to cut ...

    By • Feb. 17, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Tech CFOs See Times of Plenty

    Technology-company CFOs have turned decidedly optimistic about near-term financial results. Among 100 of them polled in January by BDO Seidman, 69% said they anticipate higher sales revenue in 2010. When a similar survey was done a year ago, only 30% of finance chiefs said the same for 2009.Indee...

    By • Feb. 4, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    A Tough Cell

    Tiny details can have large impacts. Just as the proverbial kingdom was lost for want of a nail, so a finance chief could find his job in jeopardy as a result of a mistake in a spreadsheet cell. The escalating consequences of such an error, once introduced into the financial-reporting system, may...

    By • Jan. 29, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    The IFRS-IT Connection

    With international financial reporting standards set to become the new accounting regime in Canada on January 1, 2011, most public companies there are well along in the conversion process. Their experience may prove useful to U.S. companies if and when the latter are required to switch to IFRS. O...

    By • Jan. 27, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    A World of Interest

    With a so-so U.S. economy expected in 2010, many companies are looking abroad for high-growth markets and low-cost outsourcing locations. China and India are still favorite destinations, but experts say interest in Brazil and Africa is growing.The outsourcing industry roared back to life in the f...

    By Kate O'Sullivan • Jan. 22, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Today KPIs, Tomorrow Benchmarks?

    Benchmarking a company’s finance processes has long been a source of frustration for CFOs. Although firms like APQC and Hackett Group can supply benchmarks for a corporate peer group, a company still has to come up with a picture of its own performance — an exercise that can take weeks or months ...

    By • Jan. 20, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Harmony in the C-Suite

    CFOs and chief information officers don’t always see eye to eye, even on vital matters like risk management and cost control. But there may be more common ground between them than is typically thought.That is important, because identifying areas of agreement can create a platform for more-open di...

    By • Jan. 8, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Best of 2009: Technology

    Like so much else in the CFO’s world last year, the use of information technology in 2009 was shaped and constrained by tight budgets. That meant, for example, that renting software-as-a-service applications became a favored strategy, largely because of their lower costs compared with traditional...

    By CFO Editorial Staff • Jan. 5, 2010
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Bridging the Finance-IT Gap

    No one doubts that managing the funding and expense of technology operations at a Fortune 500 company is a big responsibility. In fact, it’s a puzzle why more companies don’t have a team devoted solely to overseeing the finances of the IT department.Nationwide Insurance has such a team, led by Mi...

    By • Dec. 17, 2009
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    Tech Turnaround Ahead

    Companies are continuing to clamp down on information-technology spending as the year comes to a close. But 2010 will see them make a small step toward more-robust budgets after a year of budget cuts, layoffs, and delayed projects.That’s according to consulting firm Computer Economics, which surv...

    By • Dec. 16, 2009
  • Robotic process automation as an innovation improving productivity, reliability and repeatability in systems
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    NicoElNino. Retrieved from Shutterstock.
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    How to Save 11% of Your IT Spend

    During the economic downturn, companies have trimmed their information-technology spending by holding off on purchases and retooling existing systems to squeeze out extra efficiency. But an additional chunk of savings could be realized merely by revamping the IT-budgeting process.How much could b...

    By • Dec. 14, 2009