VOLUME 18: Table of Contents
COVER STORY
Insights from BPM Stalwarts
Business Process Management (BPM)—which has evolved over a decade from Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Business Process Integration (BPI) and other precursors—now embodies global best practices in business and technology, making implementation easier and capable of yielding tangible business benefi ts than earlier. This article shares some of the insights from BPM stalwarts and the lessons they have learned through years of helping clients with BPM.
CIO WATCH
How Secure Are Your Branch Offices?
As a business grows, its operations become increasingly dependent on branch offices. This has led to robust network security being more crucial than ever, as companies deploy remote access solutions for their corporate networks. According to market research firm Nemertes, around 90 percent of enterprise employees work at branches instead of head offi ces, and thus one of the major challenges for organizations today is expanding with branch locations through an effective, secure, and yet economical, remote access mechanism.
INTERVIEW
Feeling at Home in Asia’s Network Security Market: Q&A with Steve Fallin, Director of Rapid Response Team for WatchGuard Technologies
Web application security is becoming more important as more interactive and service oriented web sites opens up more vulnerabilities, and there is a danger of attacks to access valuable and confi dential company data. This is an area which is very new and rather misunderstood, even by most security and network experts, as most are under the impression that traditional fi rewalls, antivirus tools can block such vulnerabilities, while in fact, it does not. SDA Asia spoke to Steve Fallin, Director of Rapid Response Team for WatchGuard Technologies, to glean more information on the subject.
EVENT PREVIEW
Vietnam International Summit & Expo 2007
Vietnam’s most noteworthy Information and Communications Technology (ICT) event of the year, The Vietnam International Communications Summit & Expo (Vietnam Comm ’07) will be held from 19-22 September 2007. Strategically staged at the ICT hub of Vietnam, Hanoi, the event promises to provide an effective business platform for international and domestic ICT professionals, major decision makers and industry buyers to share experiences, explore infi nite business opportunities and exchange latest market information.
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
Business Process Management Enabled by SOA
SOA can expose an organization to numerous new security risks, which can be serious enough to compromise a successful Sarbanes-Oxley, or SOX, compliance process if there is not an effective IT layer risk management process in place. We examine some of the most pressing compliance and security risks raised by SOA at the network layer, and explore cost effective approaches to risk mitigation.
ENTERPRISE SECURITY
New Rewards, New Risks: Mitigating SOA-based Compliance Risks at the Network Layer
Many corporations are transitioning enterprise applications toward Service-Oriented Architecture, or SOA, a new, Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based approach to software that provides business advantages, such as data flexibility and reduced IT overhead costs. However, SOA can expose an organization to numerous new security risks. These risks can be serious enough to compromise a successful Sarbanes-Oxley, or SOX, compliance process if there is not an effective IT layer risk management process in place. This article will examine some of the most pressing compliance and security risks raised by SOA at the network layer, and explore cost-effective approaches to risk mitigation.
WIRELESS & MOBILITY
Moving Beyond the Traditional VPN
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are a sure shot bet to secure remote clients. But IT is constantly being asked to do more to up the security while lowering the costs to do so. Now there are newer technologies, beyond the traditional VPNs, which promise cost-effective, effi cient protection for even fringe users.
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: IT MANUFACTURING
Enterprise, Know Thyself: Cost-Efficient RFID Asset Management
RFID technology has been in the spotlight for its use in tracking items as they flow from manufacturing sites, through distribution centers, onto trucks, and onto the retail floor. But what about assets that don’t go out the door? Whether it’s a drill bit, an engine hoist or a piece of medical testing equipment, an enterprise needs to know here it is, who’s using it and when its service life expires. Any item used in a work process is eligible for intelligent asset management with RFID. And the ROI can be substantial.
Manufacturing Imperative: Enterprise SOA
To meet the growing demand for sharing data among plants within a distributed manufacturing network, IT developers cobbled together direct links between the different layers of applications. The complexity of linking large and disperse landscapes thus literally crippled the health and flexibility of most manufacturing IT architectures and hence business performance. Over time, more innovative industries, such as electronics, have solved the same problem plaguing IT by implementing enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture.
Pursuing Operational Excellence: Increasing Revenue with Lean Quality Management for Improved Productivity and Quality
Today’s manufacturing community needs more effi cient quality management to face the ever-increasing regulatory compliance, complexity and mandatory quality system standard bid qualifi ers. Beyond compliance they also require technology which ensures collaboration and information transparency across extended supply chains—a necessity for businesses seeking to improve the flow of goods, eliminate waste, and improve productivity. Even if some of these improvements are in place, companies are in constant pursuit of operational excellence. Therefore, companies need to identify goals which will help them eliminate their quality challenges and promote company-wide business improvements with the next generation of information flow.
The Asset Lifecycle
Firms in resource-intensive industries such as utilities, manufacturing, and transportation, need to be able to optimize assets while minimizing capital expenditures. Savvy companies are utilizing asset lifecycle management (ALM) applications, such as Oracle E-Business Suite, to maintain all data related to acquiring, operating, and retiring enterprise assets. Such applications help fi rms to monitor the performance and health of assets in an effi cient and proactive way.
Fashion Production Planning
The software used in production planning makes a big difference. An integrated planning solution supports decision making in the production planning process and reduces the challenges many apparel, footwear, home textiles and accessories manufacturing companies face on a daily basis.
NEWS & TRENDS
Does The iPhone Suit The Business User?
Microsoft’s Ballmer Rechristens Saas As Software PLUS Services
Is the Rise Of the Indian Rupee Hurting the Growth Of India Inc.
Asia Becomes New Battleground for ODF And MS Office
IBM, HP Fight for No.1 Slot in Server Market
Top 10 eCommerce Developments of the Past Decade
Jade Software Shines With Methodware Acquisition
AspenTech Buys Australian Channel Partner
Microsoft Gets Active With Stratature Buy
Quest Scripts New Deal By Buying ScriptLogic
Honeywell Takes off With Dimensions Buy
Thoma Finishes Embarcadero Purchase
SingTel Dials in 30% Stake in Pakistan’s Warid Telecom
Google Swoops Down On Grand Central, DoubleClick, Zenter
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