Doing more with less. Enhanced business agility. Reduced costs. The demands on IT have never been greater, particularly in light of lower revenue and uncertain demand for the goods and services offered by many companies. There are many ways that IT can help organizations adjust to this new economic environment. Learn about five key technology trends that can immediately impact your organization's bottom line, and how to build a strategy to implement these technologies within your current budget. more
I've read your columns and Advice Line for years, and I've always thought of you as championing the cause of treating employees fairly and well.
But in your recent columns I seem to be seeing a very different Bob Lewis -- one who sees employees as expendable, to be exchanged for better ones as soon as it's convenient.
What gives? Do your principles change the moment the economy goes bad?
- Concerned
Dear Concerned ...
No, my principles haven't changed. And I never considered treating employees well to be a matter of principle. Or, rather, I've always considered treating employees well to be a personal principle rather than a business principle.
And I don't try to impose my personal principles on anyone else, on the theory that everyone has their own and has no interest in mine beyond a mild academic curiosity.
My business principles are based on a somewhat old-fashioned view of things -- that those running them should be trying to build a sustainable and profitable enterprise (note that this isn't necessarily the same goal as "maximizing shareholder value"; as I say, I'm old fashioned about such matters).
For those who want to build a sustainable and profitable enterprise, treating employees well, which is to say treating employees as adults who come to work to be successful, is a more profitable way to operate than the alternatives.
That isn't always the case, but it is more often than it isn't.
The advice I give depends on the question asked, of course. When the question is personal, I give advice to help the person succeed. When the question is organizational I give advice about how to help the organization succeed.
We're in extraordinary times right now, and that means the solutions that make the most sense in ordinary circumstances aren't always going to fit. Sometimes that includes a need to be more calloused about dealing with individual employees, if that's what the situation calls for in order to prevent the organization from failing.
My principles haven't changed, because Advice Line and Keep the Joint Running aren't, for the most part, expressions of my personal principles.
Addressing Linux Threats Leveraging Fewer Resources
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
178 Recommendations
