SAP's Sapphire conference features some great presentations, (with slides and online video), particularly from successful implementations of large scale SAP Enterprise Systems.

Whether you are a large scale company or a medium sized or small organisation, whether you use SAP or not, there are lessons to be learnt from implementations made by other organisations. The same issues must be worked through:

• Change Management
• Strategic Planning
• Alignment of the Business and IT
• Moving from Silos of data to a single source of truth
• How to embrace web services and much more...

It is a great way to learn how other organisations address these issues.
This year you can attend Sapphire online by registering at http://www.sapphirenow.com/

Gartner's 2010 and beyond predictions have been released with some interesting insights available at:

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1278413

The key predictions are as follows:

1. By 2012, 20 percent of businesses will own no IT assets.
2. By 2012, India-centric IT services companies will represent 20 percent of the leading cloud aggregators in the market (through cloud service offerings
3. By 2012, Facebook will become the hub for social network integration and Web socialization
4. By 2014, most IT business cases will include carbon remediation costs.
5. In 2012, 60 percent of a new PC's total life greenhouse gas emissions will have occurred before the user first turns the machine on
6. Internet marketing will be regulated by 2015, controlling more than $250 billion in Internet marketing spending worldwide.
7. By 2014, over 3 billion of the world's adult population will be able to transact electronically via mobile or Internet technology.
8. By 2015, context will be as influential to mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the Web.
9. By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide.

Central Desktop ran an interesting webinar in conjunction with IDC recently about the use of Software as a Service called:

"The Benefits of an Integrated Approach to Collaboration and Social Technology in Today's Tough Business Environment"

This webinar is a good first step in learning how to implement SaaS based collaboration and social technology for a better ROI accross your entire organization. Lower IT expenses and save workers time by taking a SaaS-based integrated approach to collaboration. Leverage web workspaces, meetings and social tools to manage your business better and more easily.

Visit http://www.centraldesktop.com/saas_webinar to watch. (You'll need speakers)

A very useful section of the CIO website for those needing a refresher course on crucial IT topics:

http://www.cio.com.au/section/quick_introductions_to_technology_topics

Quick Introductions to Technology Topics Sometimes we all can use a refresher course -- or we need to make sure our team and our colleagues are all on the same page.

The latest addition to CIO magazine's Web site, CIO's Quick Introductions to Technology Topics, gives you and your counterparts a jumpstart on the fundamentals behind a variety of hot IT topics.

Presented in a easy-to-digest FAQ format designed to save time for busy IT executives, the articles in CIO's Technology 101 series provide you with the insight you need to get the facts behind the latest industry trends and buzzwords.

Discover hints and tips across a variety of topics including the benefits of Virtualisation, how Web 2.0 can fit into your enterprise and much, much more!

 

The Information Agenda: Unlocking Data

View the video at http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=168856

IBM's Ambuj Goyal talks about how companies are data rich and information poor, and the approaches, processes and tools necessary to leverage that data and unlock business value. Goyal also talks about some companies that have done this successfully.

This video talks about treating and managing information as a strategic asset, just as you would people. This approach, together with service oriented architecture is enabling business to leverage the value of their data and provide information on demand.