IT Best Practices Archives

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IT Management Best Practices 2022
The best-run IT organizations not only focus their process improvement efforts on those of other departments, they also seek to optimize their own IT management processes internally. In this study, we examine the growth and maturity of 33 IT management practices, which we have grouped into five major categories: IT governance practices, IT financial management practices, IT operational management practices, IT security and risk management practices, and application development practices. (196 pp., 178 figs.)
March, 2022
Website Accessibility Adoption and Best Practices 2021
Website accessibility is a best practice requiring the use of inclusive website design to facilitate use by people with disabilities, including visual, hearing, motor skills, or cognitive impairment. When this practice is followed formally and consistently, the experience is improved for people with disabilities who can better understand, navigate, and interact with an organization’s websites. In this report, we study the adoption and practice levels for website accessibility and examine those by organization size and sector. We conclude with practical recommendations for getting started with website accessibility.
August, 2021
Data Classification and Retention Adoption and Best Practices 2021
Creating a formal classification scheme is an important element in managing data for security, disaster recovery, and retention purposes. Yet, many organizations—even those that profess a commitment to protecting corporate and customer information—fail to implement data classification. This report begins by defining data classification and retention. We next study the adoption and practice levels and examine those by organization size and sector. We conclude with best-practice recommendations.
July, 2021
Security Training Adoption and Best Practices 2021
Security training is a business best practice that involves the training of all IT and user personnel in a company’s security policies, procedures, and best practices to increase awareness and ensure compliance. It is a highly advisable practice for every organization. Many companies report the existence of security training, yet there is ample room for improvement. This report begins by defining security training and summarizing the main types of training available. We next study the adoption and practice levels and examine those by organization size and sector. We conclude with best-practice recommendations.
April, 2021
Encryption Adoption and Best Practices 2021
Encryption is a best practice for protecting sensitive or confidential information, both in storage and in transit. Data encryption software and algorithms translate data into another form, or code, so that only someone with access to a secret key—a decryption key—can read it. It has a high maturity rating, but there is ample room for improvement. This report begins with a definition of encryption. We next study the adoption and practice levels and examine those by organization size and sector. We conclude with best-practice recommendations.
February, 2021
How to Evaluate IT Procurement Contracts
This report serves as a primer on IT procurement contracts. Our focus is primarily on contracts for IT services, though the principles apply to any type of IT procurement. We explain the typical elements of an IT procurement contract and the major types of contracts, including various types of fixed-price and cost-reimbursable agreements.
November, 2008
Two-Factor Authentication Adoption and Best Practices 2020
Two-factor authentication is an IT security best practice that provides an extra layer of protection for system access. It is a highly advisable security measure, but our annual survey of IT management best practices shows that not enough companies use it formally and consistently. This report begins with a brief explanation of two-factor authentication.
February, 2020
Organizational Change Management Adoption and Best Practices 2019
New system projects often fail, not because of problems with the technology but because the new systems are not fully embraced by the workforce. Fortunately, there are formal methodologies that business and IT leaders can apply to establish and carry out an organizational change management program. In this report, we look at adoption trends and maturity of organizational change management by organization size and sector.
March, 2019
Best Practices for Benchmarking IT Budget Ratios
Benchmarking is a popular way for IT organizations to justify their IT budgets and better focus their efforts toward continuous improvement. But without following certain principles, business leaders will likely question the validity of the outcome. This report, based on many years of benchmarking exercises at Computer Economics, outlines three complementary approaches to benchmarking.
February, 2013
User-Satisfaction Surveys and IT Performance Metrics Adoption and Best Practices 2019
Periodic surveys of user satisfaction are one way to measure how well an IT organization is delivering services, resolving issues, and managing perceptions. If user satisfaction is falling, it may mean that the service desk is understaffed or change requests are not being accommodated. At the same time, collecting data on service levels can be useful for tracking and monitoring performance in a service organization. But taking the next step and publishing the performance metrics for the community can be even more useful. In this report, we look at the maturity of surveying user satisfaction and publishing IT performance metrics.
July, 2019
IT Asset Management Adoption and Best Practices 2019
IT organizations often find it difficult to track all of the information about IT assets, such as hardware and software licenses, along with critical data such as location, configuration, and renewal dates. In response, companies have worked to set up IT asset management and configuration management systems, and processes to bring IT assets into a common management framework. In this report, we describe why IT asset management is an important process and the challenges it faces.
August, 2019
Elevating the Role of the CIO
CIOs are being asked to expand their role to support business change and innovation while they are struggling with maintaining aging infrastructure and declining resources. This report provides guidance for CIOs on how to elevate their role within the organization to one that has a meaningful influence on meeting strategic business objectives.
December, 2011
Information Technology Infrastructure Library Adoption and Best Practices 2019
Although large IT organizations are continuing to embrace the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the number of organizations committed to full ITIL implementation remains relatively small. This report begins with a brief explanation of ITIL’s history and current framework for IT service management, including its relationship with new approaches to change management, such as DevOps.
April, 2019
Penetration Testing Adoption and Best Practices 2020
Penetration testing is an important element of IT security best practices. However, by itself, penetration testing is insufficient. It needs to be part of a robust and iterative process, in combination with the other security best practices to make it a formidable defensive weapon. In this report, we look at the maturity of penetration testing as an IT discipline. We assess current adoption trends by organization size and sector.
February, 2020
Agile Development Adoption and Best Practices 2020
After more than two decades of maturation, agile development methodologies promise to deliver new systems more quickly, improve software quality, and increase user satisfaction. While adoption remains only moderate in corporate IT groups, agile development continues to gain adherents as organizations seek to respond to a continuously changing environment. In this study, we report how widely and deeply agile development is being embraced by IT groups today, by organization size and sector.
March, 2020