Karen Schwartz

According to a recent report from the Computing Technology Industry Association, companies with between 100 and 1,000 employees generally have completed their basic infrastructure-hardware, software and networking-and are ready to focus on the next level in the hierarchy. For most companies, getting to that level means they need to focus on hiring IT staff with […]

So, a company has decided to invest in a new customer relationship management or enterprise resource planning system. Should it go the traditional route and license the system? Should it outsource the entire process and application management? Should it experiment with renting the application on the SAAS model? The decision isn’t always clear-cut. The outsourcing […]

When it comes to voice over IP, progress is a double-edged sword. The technology offers a host of benefits, from lower calling costs and greater mobility to advanced functions like unified messaging and collaborative whiteboarding. But as VOIP matures, and as hackers become more familiar with its intricacies, the threats may someday equal the benefits-unless […]

Traditionally, companies have backed up their own data, on-site, with software and hardware purchased on their own. Although that’s still a good approach, it’s often best suited to large organizations with the IT staff to handle the headaches that can arise. Companies with several hundred or fewer employees, however, are perfect candidates for considering online […]

One small business is about to find out just how far $100,000 will go toward improving its business. The three finalists in Microsoft’s Total Technology Makeover contest are vying for that $100,000, which must be used to buy Dell hardware and Microsoft software and services to overhaul their businesses. Allen Schulman, who has been in […]

Companies are increasingly using consumer technologies like wikis and blogs and social networking sites like LinkedIn and MySpace for promoting their business and for researching what the competition is up to. They should do so with caution, though, experts say-while these sites are free and easy to use, slipshod execution can backfire on a business. […]

SAP is greasing the wheels on its midmarket machine, announcing a program dubbed Fast-Start aimed at helping smaller companies get up to speed fast with its Business All-in-One business management software. The new program, announced on Feb. 27, is a rapid implementation methodology to help midsized companies in the manufacturing, services and trade industries more […]

Microsoft, watch your back. With virtually all major server vendors expected to announce that their midmarket servers will ship with VMware’s ESX 3i hypervisor software installed, VMware is poised to become the 800-pound gorilla of the virtualization world. On Feb. 26, Fujitsu-Siemens announced that it will ship its servers with embedded VMware ESX 3i hypervisor […]

When considering which software applications to buy, more and more midsize companies are considering open source-low-cost or free software whose source code can be modified by users or developers. Open-source software holds great appeal for these companies; not only is it generally much less expensive, but it is often more flexible, reliable, robust and customizable. […]

IBM’s new and upgraded storage offerings focus on lower cost, ease of use, flexibility, improved compliance and application integration-just the thing to spark the interest of smaller companies. The company on Feb. 12 announced what it calls the next generation of storage offerings, the major theme for which is simplification, according to Charlie Andrews, director […]