Developers around the world believe IBM Watson’s sophisticated analytics capabilities will transform industries that are managing massive amounts of data, according to the 2011 IBM Tech Trends Report released today. Survey respondents selected education and healthcare as the areas that could benefit the most, with financial services, life sciences and government also ranking near the top.

The 2011 Tech Trends Report surveyed more than 4,000 Information Technology (IT) professionals from 93 countries and 25 industries who provided their views on future IT trends. The results also show a growing need for technical skills in the areas of business analytics, social business, mobile computing, open source technologies and cloud computing. Read the report at: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/techtrendsreport, share your opinions at #TechTrends and see what IBM experts are saying about the findings at: www.youtube.com/IBMEcosystem

According to the report, business analytics software is the most widely used technology of those surveyed. In fact, business analytics software is being incorporated in almost every business process within organizations. Forty-two percent of respondents believe that business analytics will continue to be in demand for software development. The report also outlines the growing importance of open source platforms such as Apache Hadoop and Linux for business analytics software developers.

The report provides IT and business professionals a roadmap of the technologies and skills that will be in greatest demand in the coming years. Key findings in the 2011 IBM Tech Trends Report include:

• Eighty-seven percent of respondents believe open source and open standard technologies will play a key role in the future of application development.
• During the next two years more than 75 percent of organizations will engage in cloud computing.
• Fifty-one percent of respondents cited the adoption of cloud technologies as part of their mobile strategy.
• Regional cultural differences impact social business adoption. India is strongly embracing social business with a 57 percent adoption rate, followed by the US with a 45 percent adoption rate and China with a 44 percent adoption rate. Russia shows the strongest resistance with a 19 percent adoption rate.

“The results are clear. Mobile computing, cloud computing, social business and business analytics have gone beyond niche status and are now part of any modern organization’s core IT focus,” said Jim Corgel, general manager ISV and Developer Relations, IBM. “IT professionals who can develop the skills needed to work across these technologies will be ready to meet growing business demand in the coming years.”

IBM developerWorks, the company’s online community for IT professionals is the industry’s largest and most visited global site for them to gain technology skills. More than eight million IT professionals have visited the community to gain no-cost access to software tools and code, IT standards and best practices across various industries. Visitors also tap skills training in open technologies, business analytics, cloud computing and mobile computing, among others. In addition, IBM Business Partners and entrepreneurs can access advanced training and resources at IBM’s network of 40 Innovation Centers around the world to further build their skills.

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Little is known for certain about the federal grand jury investigation of Infosys and its sponsorship of B-1 business visas.

In May, the Indian IT outsourcing company revealed that it had received a subpoena from a U.S. grand jury to provide records in connection with its use of B-1 business visas. A current* American employee of Infosys (INFY) alleged that the company was using the easier to obtain B-1 visa—intended to be used for travel to attend a specific event, receive short-term training, or conduct contract negotiations—in a fraudulent manner to import foreign workers to fill company roles stateside that actually required H-1B visas.

“It’s hard to say what the State Department and U.S. Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) are doing with respect to the investigation,” says Ron Hira, associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and co-author of Outsourcing America. “Neither agency has been forthcoming.”

Some industry watchers predict that the probe could hamper the IT outsourcing industry’s ability to use of a variety of guest worker and business travel visas, which in turn could lead these companies to hire more American IT workers.

“This could have some serious ramifications with the issuances of temporary work visas for employees of Indian-based service providers and non-Indian service providers seeking to bring Indian staff into the U.S.,” says Phil Fersht, founder of outsourcing analyst firm HfS Research. “While valid H-1Bs and L-1s should still go through, the USCIS has the ability to probe visa applications hard when under scrutiny, and slow down the whole process for all providers, not only for Infosys.”

Any media attention the Infosys case garners, particularly with the 2012 elections approaching and continued high unemployment rates, could drive further visa restrictions. “The publicity surrounding the investigation likely will generate continued Congressional interest and calls for further changes to the H-1B and L-1 programs to limit their perceived adverse effects on U.S. workers,” says Carl W. Hampe, a partner in the immigration law group at Baker & McKenzie. “Companies sponsoring H-1B employees and those seeking the temporary transfer of their key personnel to the U.S. could face more obstacles.”

Recent Visa (V) Reform Initiatives

IT service providers have been facing increased scrutiny of their use of visas to bring foreign workers to the U.S. in recent years. In 2004, Congress passed the L-1 Visa Reform Act, which increased limitations on the visas IT service providers use to bring specialized knowledge workers to client sites.

In recent years, USCIS has been more stringent in its assessment of H-1B visa petitions, reportedly beefing up its anti-fraud auditing efforts. Guidance issued by USCIS associate director Don Neufeld in 2010 required evidence of an actual employee-employer relationship between the visa petitioner and the H-1B employee. The so-called Neufeld memo “represented a significant change in policy and imposed substantial limitations on third party placement of H-1B visa holders. [It] was an example of efforts by USCIS to eliminate so-called [body shops],” says Paul W. Virtue, a partner in the immigration law group at Baker & McKenzie. Now, Virtue says, the U.S. government is turning its attention to B-1 business visitor visa abuse.

Implications of Infosys Visa Probe on American IT Workers

“The companies and stock market analysts have said that the effect will be that the firms will hire more American workers in lieu of bringing in foreign guest-workers,” says Hira.

Donna Conroy, executive director of Bright Future Jobs, a grassroots lobbying group for IT professionals, thinks the Infosys investigation will be a tipping point in favor of American IT workers. “We are entering a period where foreign workers will be training their replacements. It’s happening in one of our member’s offices right now,” she says. “It’s curtains for the corporate culture that has avoided hiring experienced, highly-skilled Americans and new science and technology grads whom we’ve paid dearly to educate.”

Others say the consequences of the Infosys investigation may be more limited. “I think that the opponents of skilled immigration are getting unduly excited again,” says Vivek Wadhwa, visiting scholar at the University of California-Berkeley School of Information and senior research associate in Harvard Law School’s labor and worklife program. “Infosys may have abused these visas and will likely get slapped on the wrist if it did. [But] we’re talking about a very small proportion of its workforce being on these visas.”

Dr. Lindsay Lowell, director of policy studies at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration, says any fallout will depend on how widespread the alleged visa abuse is. “Will other companies be investigated? The blogosphere suggests the complaints may be there. But the investigation arm tends not to seek out problems,” Lowell says. “Policymakers and companies that play by the rules need to decide if they’ll police the system so that it serves U.S. employers as intended, or let regulations and enforcement slip, which is not in the best long-term interest of the United States.”

Norm Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California-Davis, says the Infosys investigation is a distraction from the real problem with America’s skilled worker visa program. “The major problem is the legal underpayment of the foreign workers, due to loopholes,” Matloff says. “Investigations of possible violations of the rules distract attention from that loopholes issue.”

Increased scrutiny of visa petitions will be a headache for IT service providers reliant on foreign employees working at U.S. sites, but “it’s not a game changer,” says Fersht of HfS Research. “The leading service providers are quite adept these days at deploying onshore staff—local Americans or Indians already living in the US with valid visas—to facilitate offshore work transition over to locations like India. [They] can work around issues created by prolonged visa applications and tougher guidelines.”

Virtue of Baker & McKenzie is counseling clients to ensure that any employees visiting the U.S. on B-1 visas do not engage in any activities that could be construed as employment and that the employee-employer relationship for any sponsored H-1B and L-1 visa holder is clearly documented. Virtue is also advising outsourcing customers to make sure their contracts are for specific deliverables and not for the assignment of specific personnel, in order to avoid liability in any visa audit or investigation.

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Percento Technologies

Gartner on Thursday upgraded its forecast for worldwide IT spending, saying it will grow 7.1 percent this year to US$3.7 trillion as companies migrate to the cloud and spend more on software and IT services.

The research firm previously forecast a growth of 5.6 percent in worldwide IT spending compared to last year, in which spending totaled $3.4 trillion and increased 5.9 percent from 2009. Growth in IT spending will continue through 2012, said Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner, in a statement.

The revised projections reflect the minimal impact on tech spending of the Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which affected supply chains and caused extensive damage to buildings and factories along the country’s eastern coast. The earthquake may have caused problems in supply of components, but it hasn’t affected overall IT spending, Gordon said.

The hardware segment is poised for the fastest growth, but the greatest amount of spending will take place on telecom, according to Gartner’s forecast. Spending on telecommunications will increase to $2.1 trillion, growing year-over-year by 6.9 percent, but slower than the 7.3 percent growth last year. Hardware spending is expected to grow faster that other sectors, at a rate of 11.7 percent to $419 billion, albeit slower than last year’s growth rate of 12.1 percent.

Spending will grow in the software and IT services segments, partly driven by the growing adoption of public cloud services and software-as-a-service. On a percentage basis, spending on IT services will more than double, growing by 6.6 percent to reach $846 billion. Last year, spending on IT services totaled $793 billion, growing only by 3.1 percent. Software spending is expected to grow by 9.5 percent year-over-year to $268 billion, Gartner said.

Though a marginal part of overall IT spending, cloud computing services are emerging as a driver for IT spending in some markets, growing by more than four times than overall IT spending, Gordon said. The effect of migration to public cloud services spending likely will spill over to the software sector as companies spend more on software-as-a-service.

“At about $10 billion, software as a service … already accounts for 10 percent of enterprise applications software spending, and by 2015 this share is expected to increase to close to 15 percent and to exceed $20 billion in annual spending,” Gordon said.

But the overall spending on the cloud is still nominal, Gartner said. Spending on public cloud services will be roughly $89 billion this year, compared to $74 billion last year. The market will continue to grow and reach $177 billion by 2015, but at the time be only 5 percent of the total IT spending.

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Managed IT Support Services – Percento Technologies

Many federal Web sites will go dark if the government shuts down tomorrow night, the White House indicated this afternoon.

A 16-page memo (PDF) to federal agencies says their Web sites may stay online only in a small number of situations, including tax collection and handling “exempted” activities such as payments and other functions that are paid for by previous annual budgets.

“The mere benefit of continued access by the public to information about the agency’s activities would not warrant the retention of personnel or the obligation of funds to maintain, or update, the agency’s Web site” during a shutdown, says the memo, prepared by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

It adds: “If an agency’s Web site is shut down, users should be directed to a standard notice that the Web site is unavailable during the period of government shutdown.” The IRS’s Web site would likely stay online, the memo says, because tax collection is an exempted activity, “but the entire Treasury Department Web site would not.”

The current temporary appropriations bill funds the federal government only through 12:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. After that, the procedures outlined in federal regulations and a federal law called the Anti-Deficiency Act kick in.

Making the matter more complicated is that many federal agencies say they have enough money in reserves or other funds to stay open at least through next week. That list, according to The Washington Post, includes the Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Highway Administration, the Veterans Health Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Energy Department, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Federal police and Defense Department military personnel are generally exempted too.

This is something of an unprecedented situation for federal Web sites, which were in an embryonic stage during the last government shutdown in the mid-1990s.

Another option is that the Web sites will stay online, but they won’t be updated.

Also affected: federal employees’ BlackBerrys, cell phones, and laptops. The White House says that non-exempted “employees will be prohibited, after midnight on Friday night, from working remotely, such as from home–including by accessing agency information technology.”

The Anti-Deficiency Act exempts workers dealing with “emergency situations” affecting “the safety of human life or the protection of property.” That’s been interpreted to mean that ongoing, regular functions of government not affecting public safety don’t qualify as emergency situations.

Here’s a longer list of what government services will continue, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. And here’s more from the Office of Personnel Management.

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UNCG will begin offering a graduate certificate in health information technology that will allow students to master the competencies needed for jobs in one of the nation’s fastest growing professions.

“Depending on who you ask, there is a shortage of between 50,000 and 100,000 trained health care information technology professionals in the United States that needs to be filled over the next five years,” said Dr. Eric W. Ford, the Forsyth Medical Center Distinguished Professor at UNCG. “In addition, it’s one of the fastest growing professions, not just in the U.S. but around the world.”

The online certificate program in the Bryan School of Business and Economics is designed to meet the needs of two groups: people with clinical experience seeking to move into other aspects of health care delivery, and individuals without clinical training who want to make the transition into the health care industry. For example, there is great need for nurses knowledgeable about health care information technology in order to implement the electronic health records requirements mandated by the federal government. Having health care information technology competencies and experience will be an essential skill set for effective managers in both hospital and clinical settings.

“It’s an opportunity to work in a sector of the economy where you make other people’s lives better,” Ford said, noting it’s also a sector that is recession resistant. “The hospital never closes, so there are always jobs available.”

“Health care organizations often provide tuition support for educational programs such as the certificate to fill the need for HIT expertise,” added Dr. Lakshmi Iyer, director of graduate programs for the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management. “In addition, certificate holders can apply some of the credits earned to a master’s degree in business, information technology or nursing offered by UNCG. It is a great way to advance one’s education and create future opportunities.”

The 12-credit hour certificate, which will launch in the fall of 2011, is a flexible, online program that could be completed in one calendar year. Applicants are not required to have taken the GMAT or the GRE for acceptance into the program. Students interested in pursuing a master’s degree in information technology management can apply the certificate credits.

For more information, visit http://www.uncg.edu/bae/online/certificates.html or contact Dr. Eric Ford at ewford@uncg.edu.

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IT Management

As the latest technologies are incorporated into the business process, organizations will naturally become more comfortable when working with third-party technology vendors. This means the ability to identify, select, and manage the right technology vendor can make the difference between the success and failure of a new business initiative. But, while many sourcing and vendor management (SVM) professionals are starting to play an increasingly important role in this emerging technology evaluation process, many of Forrester’s sourcing clients explain that their involvement is not always clearly defined, resulting in a more reactive and makeshift role than they would like.

Why? In part, it’s due to the historical nature of the challenges SVM professionals face. For example, emerging technologies are not traditionally considered the responsibility of sourcing professionals, making them a less likely player for key insight. Additionally, the high standards sourcing applies to larger contracts often raises red flags, which does not translate very easily to new technologies. The unintended consequence? SVM professionals often slow the adoption process and are viewed as barriers to innovation, rather than supporters and enablers.

Despite these challenges, at Forrester, we’re still hearing that sourcing’s role is becoming more relevant and more valued in the evaluation process. In order to better understand the changing role sourcing plays when evaluating emerging technology, we asked 113 SVM professionals about their current focus and outlook on emerging technologies—including which technologies would impact their business over the next five years, and whether they were actively involved in sourcing these technologies in 2010 to 2011. The result? Key differences exist between the expectations for various technologies, and the actual role of sourcing. For example:

• SaaS and business analytics are expected to have significant business impact. This result is in line with the rapid growth of these technologies: SaaS is infiltrating most enterprises with a dramatic affect on software and services contracts, while the evolution of business analytics still holds the promise of significant business impact. But, when it comes to actively sourcing these technologies—we saw a great difference. While 58% of respondents are involved in sourcing SaaS today, only 47% are currently sourcing business analytics.

• SVM professionals can play a more active role in mobility and UC. We weren’t too surprised to learn that the more cutting-edge technologies are also the ones currently lacking SVM’s involvement. These technologies include videoconferecing tools, tablet PCs, and social technologies, which will all have a big impact on the business, but are not currently influenced by the sourcing team. But this gap between the expected value and current role of sourcing may highlight a long-term opportunity: as IT and the business select which new buzz technologies to adopt, they will need help clarifying contractual terms and distinguishing vendor offerings. That’s where SVM professionals should chime in, to improve the relevance in the emerging technology process.

What about SVM professionals who have a clearly established role in the new technology adoption process? Even in these instances, the level of contribution often varies significantly. We found that:

• When involved, SVM focuses on contractual terms, and vendor viability. By negotiating prices, establishing exit clauses, ensuring compliance standards, and investigating vendors’ financial stability, SVM professionals are helping mitigate the risks inherent in new technology evaluations.

• Security, scalability, and integration requirements are likely IT specialist domain. Although SVM professionals will work with IT to define contractual terms, the vast majority are willing to defer to the expertise of IT specialists in these areas.

In the end, it’s important for SVM professionals to clearly define and take ownership of their responsibilities in the evaluation process. Otherwise, establishing sourcing’s value within the business will become an increasingly difficult task. This means sourcing professionals need to proactively show IT and the business examples of how sourcing has helped in the past—and use those examples to clarify future roles. And amongst other things, SVM must be prepared to enable innovation, by providing new levels of flexibility. Rather than slowing the adoption process, consider raising concerns and allowing business users to decide if the risks are acceptable and reasonable.

Chris Andrews is Senior Analyst at Forrester Research (FORR), serving sourcing and vendor management professionals. His research focuses on how organizations can identify, integrate, and manage innovation and emerging technologies.

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Global IT Support Vendor

DUBAI, UAE — Senior business and technology leaders will convene at InterContinental Dubai Festival City from 21-22 February 2011 for CACS in Dubai, an internationally respected event that features governance, security, assurance and risk management experts from around the world.

Hosted by ISACA, a global information technology (IT) association of 95,000 IT professionals, CACS (Computer Audit, Control and Security) will include a keynote presentation by Neeraj Kumar, Senior Vice President of Internal Audit and Chief Audit Executive of Emirates Group. Neeraj Kumar will explain how to use technology to improve proactive risk-focused auditing and continuous monitoring.

CACS in Dubai will also offer educational sessions on key IT security and governance issues facing enterprises today, including:

• Implementing COBIT: A Public-sector Case Study, presented by Naveed Ahmed, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, Dubai Customs, UAE
• IT Governance to Support Corporate Governance: A Case Study, presented by Avinash Totade, CISA, CGEIT, Dubai Aluminium Company, UAE
• E-government Security: Threats and Challenges, presented by Abbas S Kudrati, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, eGovernment Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain
• Metrics and Indicators for a Changing Security Landscape, presented by Ramsés Gallego, CISM, CGEIT, Entel IT Consulting, Spain
• Social Media: Business Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives, presented by Urs Fischer, CISA, CRISC, IT GRC Consultancy, Switzerland
• Designing Next Generation Security and Audit for Cloud Computing Environments, presented by Eddie Schwartz, CISA, CISM, NetWitness Corp., USA
• The Future of Information: Real Challenges and Opportunities, presented by Norman Marks, SAP, USA
• Automating IT Risk and Compliance to Reduce Costs: A Series of Case Studies, presented by Anil Jogani, CISA, CGEIT, Milan Solutions Limited, UK

ISACA chose Dubai as the location for the conference because it is an important city in the global economy as well as the region’s crossroads, serving as a center of business and technology. ISACA’s United Arab Emirates Chapter was established in 1997 to bring together business and information technology leaders in the region. The ISACA UAE Chapter is a strong network of professionals from all the emirates of the UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.

“CACS in Dubai will help attendees add value to their enterprise by providing them with practical guidance on critical IT-related issues facing organizations worldwide,” said Vatsaraman Venkatakrishnan, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC, Vice President of IS audit at Emirates Airlines and Chair of ISACA’s Conference Development Task Force.

Attendees who register by 12 January 2011 will receive an early-bird discount. Registration forms for the conference and two pre-conference workshops–Using COBIT for Effective IT Assurance and the Risk Management Workshop: Featuring ISACA’s Risk IT Framework and Guidance–are available at www.isaca.org/cacsindubai.

About ISACA

With 95,000 constituents in 160 countries, ISACA^®  is a leading global provider of knowledge, certifications, community, advocacy and education on information systems assurance and security, enterprise governance and management of IT, and IT-related risk and compliance. Founded in 1969, the nonprofit ISACA develops international IS auditing and control standards, which help its constituents ensure trust in, and value from, information systems. It also advances and attests IT skills and knowledge through the Certified Information Systems Auditor^® (CISA^®), Certified Information Security Manager^® (CISM^®), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT^® (CGEIT^®) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control™ (CRISC™) designations.

ISACA continually updates COBIT^®, which helps IT professionals and enterprise leaders fulfill their IT governance responsibilities and deliver value to the business.

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Information Technology Professionals: Percento Technologies International

Microsoft last week pulled an update for Outlook 2007 issued just two days earlier, citing connection and performance problems for the unusual move.

The update was issued mid-day on December 14 as part of the monthly Patch Tuesday. Within hours, users reported trouble with retrieving e-mail and major delays when switching folders.

“This latest update results in Outlook 2007 being very slow in changing folders and the archiving functionality appears to have been removed,” said someone identified as “alspar” on a Microsoft support forum early Wednesday morning. “Is this an error or by design?”

Others said they couldn’t send or receive e-mail, including Gmail messages, through Outlook after installing the update.

Ironically, Microsoft had billed the update, which didn’t patch any security vulnerabilities, as one that contained “stability and performance improvements.”

By Thursday, support forum moderators were telling users to uninstall the update.

Microsoft made that official late Friday in a post on the Outlook team’s blog . “We have discovered several issues with the update and … as of December 16, this Outlook 2007 update has been removed from Microsoft Update,”

According to Microsoft, the Tuesday update contained three flaws related to Secure Password Authentication (SPA), a Microsoft protocol used to authenticate mail clients like Outlook to a mail server; sluggish folder switching when Outlook wasn’t configured to grab mail from an Exchange server; and a broken AutoArchive feature.

Microsoft urged users who had installed update during its three days of availability to remove it, and spelled out the necessary steps.

The company also issued a mea culpa.

“We apologize to our customers for not discovering these issues before releasing the update and for any inconvenience we have caused,” the Outlook team wrote on its blog. “We failed to meet our own and our customers’ expectation for quality with this update release. We are working to fix these issues and will post a release date for those fixes, and link to download them, as soon as that information is available.”

Microsoft has yanked updates before. In April, it pulled a patch for Windows 2000 — which at the time was still being supported — over what it called “quality issues.”

In early 2008, Microsoft retracted an update designed to prep Windows Vista for Service Pack 1 (SP1) after users flooded support forums with tales of endless reboots.

Microsoft has not set a timetable for releasing a re-patch for Outlook 2007.

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