According to an Everything Channel study of CIOs, seven in 10 midsize CIOs are using social media technology for their businesses.
Although the survey found that midsize CIOs still use social media tools more for personal reasons (73.5 percent) than for business (69.9 percent), respondents also said that social media can help improve business networks and gather product ideas — that is, once they figure out how to use it.
Productivity and effieciency seemed to be the major concern…however, I would argue that SECURITY needs to be on that list of deciding factors when establishing and implementing a usage policy for these various social media tools.
Here is a good example of the increased ‘pressure’ from constituents with respect to using social media tools:
“… we’re investigating on how to manage and monitor connections while maintaining security,” Gary Allen, CTO at the Amarillo Independent School District in Amarillo, Texas.
Mr. Allen is investigating his organization’s future with social media, as …
the number of requests to incorporate it (social media) have increased.
To any of you in the same boat as Mr. Allen and his colleagues, here is a great whitepaper that should help provide some insight into implementing a security posture for these Web 2.0 sites.
Recently got back from the XChange’09 Conference hosted by Everything Channel. This year it was held in National Harbor , MD …what a beautiful venue for the conference.
I landed at Reagan Airport and took what turned out to be a great ‘tour guide cab’. We drove by the church that Geroge Washington attended… among other things, and was, as I usually am, taken a back by the history.
The area around the hotel was very quaint, and included shops, restaurants and a marina /harbour – unfortunately(or fortunately), I spent the majority of my time indoors soaking up all of the latest and greatest in the various sessions, and mingling with resellers and fellow technology manufacturers – including the Canadian contingency that was present there. I stayed at the Gaylord National, and if you’ve ever stayed at a Gaylord property, this was no different in scale or level of service.
Three take aways from this conference:
It is still a great venue to connect with resellers and solution providers, if for nothing else, to get a pulse of what is going on in the trrenches
The industry is a very tight knit group and connections made here will remain, and it was good to see old colleagues and friends alike
The key to good boardroom presentations is knowing your audience and delivering the message with high energy and passion
Whether you are a solution provider or a manufacturer, I would suggest attending this event next year. It is one of my annual favourites.
