Give Me My Money Back

Don’t Let Me Down,Or Pay UpMarket research firm Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Group, says mission-critical service vendors may want to double-check their systems’ reliability. Business users now want to be reimbursed for their financial losses resulting from unplanned, vendor-caused downtime. If t...

By Joseph Radigan • Feb. 1, 2001

Accounting Software: It’s a Buyer’s Market

Survivor. That was the watchword for most of the high-end accounting software vendors during the year 2000. No, they weren’t glued to their television sets all summer long watching people shamelessly pursue a million-dollar payday. They were coping with the post-Y2K industry slowdown, repositioni...

By Theresa W. Carey • Feb. 1, 2001

Explore the 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

Surf Report: Monitoring Office Web Use

If you believe the hysteria, every employee’s mouse click should be suspect these days. In a recent Vault.com survey, more than 50 percent of employees admitted to receiving personal E-mails and surfing non-work-related sites at work on a daily basis. Online trading, shopping, and porn sites repo...

By Alix Stuart • Feb. 1, 2001

Getting the 411 on Telecom Costs

CFOs, telecom managers, and others forced to confront the nightmare of corporate phone bills can be forgiven for believing that the number of cell phones is rivaled only by the number of rate plans. Even before cell phones came along, telecom costs were a big-ticket item: so big, in fact, that do...

By Scott Leibs • Feb. 1, 2001

Outsourcing: Talent on Tap

On March 27 last year, hundreds of IT experts and administrators logged on to their computers as employees of Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Industries, or SMI, one of the world’s top producers of steel products. By the time they logged off at the end of the week, they were no longer working for SMI.They...

By Adam Lincoln • Feb. 1, 2001

Getting the 411 on Telecom Costs, Plus…

Getting the 411 on Telecom CostsCFOs, telecom managers, and others forced to confront the nightmare of corporate phone bills can be forgiven for believing that the number of cell phones is rivaled only by the number of rate plans. Even before cell phones came along, telecom costs were a big-ticke...

By Alix Stuart and Scott Leibs • Feb. 1, 2001

The E-files

It was a siren song that few ambitious men or women could long resist. Come, join us, beckoned the growing legions of dot- companies, promising challenge, adventure, new responsibilities, and the chance to get really, truly rich. And many left their stable bricks-and-mortar companies to answer th...

By Kris Frieswick • Feb. 1, 2001

How You Slice It

Who was Tenzig Norkay? If you said “One of the 20th century’s most famous outsource providers,” you’re correct, although badly in need of a vacation. Norkay helped Sir Edmund Hillary get to the top of Mount Everest, yet the anonymity of this Sherpa guide towers over his achievement. So too the gr...

By Scott Leibs • Feb. 1, 2001

Xenakis on Technology: Why You Need an Optical Mouse

Leah Stevens gets shooting pains in her hands and wrists if she types for several hours at a time on her computer. As it happens, she’s also working on her Ph.D. thesis on ergonomics and technology for the engineering and psychology departments at the University of Central Florida, so she’s in a ...

By John Xenakis • Jan. 31, 2001

Baan Goes Web Wild

Baan’s Web ProductsBaan introduced a line of Web collaboration systems — the first major product line from the company since it was acquired by Invensys PLC. iBaan is designed for integrating supply- chain management systems and allows business users to personalize information. The products inclu...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 31, 2001

New Drugstore.com CFO Stanches the Bleeding

Bob Barton has a daunting task ahead of him. Recently named drugstore.com CFO, he is expected to have the company at cash flow breakeven within three-years time, and he must get there with no additional funding. Can he do it? His chances are looking pretty good so far. Recent cuts in staff and re...

By Craig Schneider • Jan. 31, 2001

Is Microsoft Too Strong for Java?

Last week, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft reached an out-of-court settlement over Microsoft’s alleged misuse of Sun’s trademark for the Java programming language. But now that the two rivals are no longer engaged in active hostilities, corporate IT users probably want to know where they fit into ...

By Michelle Gabrielle • Jan. 30, 2001

Intel’s New Chip for Notebooks

On Tuesday, Intel will unveil two energy- saving versions of its Pentium III and Celeron microprocessors for notebook computers, according to wire service reports. Dow Jones News reported that the chips are targeted for lightweight notebooks weighing less than three pounds, often referred to as s...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 30, 2001

Notebook Market Is on a Roll

Notebook Growth Remains SolidThe overall notebook market shows surprising resiliency compared with desktop PCs. Worldwide, notebook shipments grew 21 percent year over year during the fourth quarter compared with desktop PC growth of 1.6 percent, according to a report in Cnet News. In the United ...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 29, 2001

Microsoft Renews Hostilities

You have to hand it to the boys from Redmond, otherwise known as Microsoft. Two days after the company settled a lawsuit with rival Sun Microsystems over alleged misuse of Sun’s Java computer language, Microsoft did an about face and unveiled a plan aimed at getting Java developers to support to ...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 26, 2001

E*Trade’s CFO Keeps Lid on Costs

Maybe you can’t have your cake and eat it, too, but you can’t blame E*Trade CFO Leonard Purkis for trying. On Friday, Purkis is headed for Tampa, Fla., the site of this year’s Super Bowl, where E*Trade is joining a host of other advertisers who are shelling out an average of $2.4 million for each...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 26, 2001

PC Prices Aren’t Dropping

Normally, when demand for a once hot commodity runs into a dry spell, that translates into lower prices for customers, as manufacturers try to jump-start sales. But that isn’t happening in the corporate personal computer market, even as the global PC business suffers through one of its worst slum...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 25, 2001

Local Telcos Must Open Up

FCC Gets ToughThe Federal Communications Commission isn’t backing down from its demand that local telephone companies like BellSouth share their local directory assistance databases with competing providers of directory assistance, including Internet services, at reasonable rates. The local phone...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 25, 2001

Xenakis on Technology: Electronic Billing and Payments Save Money

At Texas A&M University, 45,000 students use the “Aggie Card,” a prepaid debit card with which they purchase goods and services both on and off campus. Each month, students receive, by secure E-mail, a detailed statement of all charges on the card. The concept sounds simple enough — send out ...

By John Xenakis • Jan. 24, 2001

Microsoft and Sun Sign a Peace Treaty

Cease Fire!The computer industry’s answer to the Hatfields and the McCoys, otherwise known as Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, ended their long-running legal battle over Microsoft’s license for Sun’s Java technology. Microsoft said the settlement permits it to continue shipping all current product...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 24, 2001

DoubleClick Gets a Clean Bill of Health

In a move that could be a green light for many Internet advertising and marketing companies, The Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation into the data-collection practices of online advertising network DoubleClick. The agency said on Monday that the company had not violated its privacy ...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 23, 2001

Dot-Coms, Databases, and Dollars

Customer databases are becoming hot commodities as the number of dot-coms headed for bankruptcy pile up, but the events surrounding the recent bankruptcy of Toysmart.com offers an important lesson for any company looking to buy or sell customer files. Some businesses are offering cold, hard cash ...

By Jennifer Caplan • Jan. 23, 2001

Big Plans for New Technology

Who knows what’s going to happen to corporate IT spending in the next year? Plenty of people are worried, for good reasons, about an economic downturn. Still, there are companies that are clearly placing their bets on the next generation of new technology and positioning themselves for a rebound....

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 22, 2001

IBM Laughs Last

(Editor’s note: “Today in Technology,” will cover the corporate technology market on a daily basis. Comments are welcome. Send E- Mails to [email protected].)IBM may still be the largest computer company in the world, but for years, it hasn’t gotten any real respect.Every so often, an industry a...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 19, 2001

Will The Groundhog See its Shadow?

(Editor’s note: “Today in Technology,” will cover the corporate technology market on a daily basis. Comments are welcome. Send E- Mails to [email protected].)In two weeks, on February 2nd, the eyes of the world will focus on Punxsutawney, Penn., and the trials and tribulations of Punxsutawney Ph...

By Joseph Radigan • Jan. 18, 2001