The instant access that hackers have to the latest tools and techniques demands that companies become more aggressive in defending the security of their networks. Conducting a network vulnerability assessment, a self-induced hack attack, identifies the network components and faults in policies, and procedures that expose a company to the damage caused by malicious network intruders. Managing a Network Vulnerability Assessment provides a formal framework for finding and eliminating network security threats, ensuring that no vulnerabilities are overlooked. This thorough overview focuses on the steps necessary to successfully manage an assessment, including the development of a scope statement, the understanding and proper use of assessment methodology, the creation of an expert assessment team, and the production of a valuable response report. The book also details what commercial, freeware, and shareware tools are available, how they work, and how to use them. By following the procedures outlined in this guide, a company can pinpoint what individual parts of their network need to be hardened, and avoid expensive and unnecessary purchases.

Addressing the diminished understanding of the value of security on the executive side and a lack of good business processes on the security side, Security Strategy: From Requirements to Reality explains how to select, develop, and deploy the security strategy best suited to your organization. It clarifies the purpose and place of strategy in an information security program and arms security managers and practitioners with a set of security tactics to support the implementation of strategic planning initiatives, goals, and objectives. The book focuses on security strategy planning and execution to provide a clear and comprehensive look at the structures and tools needed to build a security program that enables and enhances business processes. Divided into two parts, the first part considers business strategy and the second part details specific tactics. The information in both sections will help security practitioners and mangers develop a viable synergy that will allow security to take its place as a valued partner and contributor to the success and profitability of the enterprise. Confusing strategies and tactics all too often keep organizations from properly implementing an effective information protection strategy. This versatile reference presents information in a way that makes it accessible and applicable to organizations of all sizes. Complete with checklists of the physical security requirements that organizations should consider when evaluating or designing facilities, it provides the tools and understanding to enable your company to achieve the operational efficiencies, cost reductions, and brand enhancements that are possible when an effective security strategy is put into action.

The International Conference on Communications, Management, and Information Technology (ICCMIT'16) provides a discussion forum for scientists, engineers, educators and students about the latest discoveries and realizations in the foundations, theory, models and applications of systems inspired on nature, using computational intelligence methodologies, as well as in emerging areas related to the three tracks of the conference: Communication Engineering, Knowledge, and Information Technology. The best 25 papers to be included in the book will be carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions, then revised and expanded to provide deeper insight into trends shaping future ICT.

This desk reference for IT professionals in the insurance industry provides information about the latest technologies to improve efficiency and prediction. Topics include: imaging modeling management systems customer systems Internet commerce Issues affecting all financial service sectors, such as the year 2000 problem The Insurance Technology Handbook is geared toward all levels of technology management and financial services management responsible for developing and implementing cutting-edge technology.

Preparing for and passing the PMP(R) exam is no small feat. Although the number of certified PMP(R)s continues at a phenomenal rate, the exam failure rate remains uncommonly high. PMP(R) Exam Challenge! is designed to help you pass the exam by giving you an easy-to-use, highly portable publication, containing key relevant topics you are certain to encounter on your exam. Featuring 660 practice questions, this sixth edition completely reflects the PMBOK(R) Guide, Fifth Edition and covers the guide's ten knowledge areas.

Recognizing the importance of portfolio management, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has launched a new certification entitled the Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP). PfMP Exam Practice Tests and Study Guide is the most comprehensive resource available to help you prepare for and pass the PfMP certification exam. It provides coverage that is current with The Standard for Portfolio Management, Third Edition and the PfMP Examination Content Outline (ECO), 2013.The book consists of five sections, each of which corresponds to one of the five domains described in the ECO. Each section includes study hints, a list of major topics that may be encountered on the exam, and 20 multiple-choice practice questions that illustrate the applicable task from the ECO. Each section also includes an answer sheet and answer key with the rationale for each correct answer and references to the Standard. Supporting references are also listed at the end of the book for each of the domains covered on the exam.Written by Dr. Ginger Levin, co-author of best-selling PMP and PgMP study guides, the book includes two complete practice tests, each consisting of 170 questions that follow the blueprint of the actual PfMP exam as described in the ECO. For example 25 percent of the questions relate to Strategic Alignment 20 percent relate to Governance 25 percent relate to Portfolio Performance 15 percent relate to Portfolio Risk Management 15 percent relate to Communications Management The two accompanying online tests feature a proprietary scoring algorithm to help you determine if you are Proficient, Moderately Proficient, or Below Proficient in each domain. Earning the PfMP certification is a prestigious accomplishment. By study

Recent healthcare reform and its provisions have pushed health information technology (HIT) into the forefront. Higher life expectancies, fewer medical errors, lower costs, and improved transparency are all possible through HIT.Taking an integrated approach, Impact of Healthcare Informatics on Quality of Patient Care and Health Services examines the various types of organizations, including nonprofit hospitals, for-profit hospitals, community health centers, and government hospitals. By doing so, it provides you with a comparative perspective of how different organizations adapt and use the technology.The first part of the book covers the basics of HIT. It explains the significant changes that the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) will bring about for stakeholders. This section includes coverage of key organizational cultural factors, management changes that will result from HIT, hospital financing changes that may take effect, a cost-benefit analysis of electronic medical records (EMRs), and the numerous organizational behavior changes stimulated by HIT.The second part of the book focuses on the broader community: the patient, the physician, government, and how HIT will impact each. These chapters cover quality of care and cost impacts on the patient from HIT, changes for patients of varying socioeconomic statuses, physician perceptions of HIT, medical malpractice lawsuits involving the use of HIT, bioterrorism, and use of EMRs. The book also includes a discussion about mobile health, and how a rapidly growing mobile health generation is changing the face of healthcare as we know it.

Selling and delivering a project to a satisfied client, and making a profit, is a complex task. Project manager and author Robin Hornby believes this has been neglected by current standards and is poorly understood by professionals in the field. Commercial Project Management aims to rectify this deficiency. As a unique 'how-to' guide for project and business managers, it offers practical guidance, and a wealth of explanatory illustrations, useful techniques, proven checklists, real life examples, and case stories. It will give project managers a needed confidence boost and a head start in their demanding role as they go 'on contract'. At the heart of Robin's approach is a vendor sales and delivery lifecycle that provides a framework for business control of projects. Unique elements include the integration of buyer and vendor project lifecycles, the recasting of project management as a cyclic set of functions to lead the work of the project, and the elevation of risk assessment from a project toolkit to a fundamental control process. Beyond project management, the book proposes a comprehensive template for the firm whose business is delivering projects. This is a how-to book for project and business managers working in a commercial environment looking for practical guidance on conducting their projects and organizing their firm.

Grounded in practicality, this book explains the procedures for running a successful project and highlights the finer points of managing and controlling the project. Written specifically for those responsible for the hands-on managing of projects, the book is also useful to overall program managers and senior executives. Project managers will gain the confidence that comes from following a good recipe for success. Program managers will gain a perspective on the myriad of activities their project managers must perform to achieve a well-disciplined project. Senior managers will gain a perspective of the approach necessary at the beginning of a project to reduce the number of ill-advised projects and the effort required to achieve successful projects.

Project Management covers the full range of issues of vital concern to IT managers working in today's hurry-up, budget-conscious business environment. The handbook provides valuable advice and guidance on how to get projects finished on-time, within budget, and to the complete satisfaction of users, whether a high-tech, low-tech, financial, manufacturing, or service organization. Project Management Handbook brings together contributions from an all-star team of more than 40 of experts working at leading enterprise organizations and consulting firms across America, and around the world. With the help of dozens of fascinating and instructive case studies and vignettes, reporting experiences in a wide range of business sectors, those experts share their insights and experience and extrapolate practicable guidelines and actions steps that project managers can put to work on their current projects.

In business, driving value is a key strategy and typically starts at the top of an organization. In today's digital age, driving software value is also an important, and often overlooked, key strategy. Executives, and the corporate board, need to expect the highest level of business value from the software the organization is developing, buying, and selling. In today's digital transformation marketplace, it is imperative that organizations start driving business value from software development initiatives. For many years, the cost of software development challenged organizations with questions such as: How do we allocate software development costs? Should these costs be considered an overhead expense? Are we getting the most value possible for our investment? A fundamental problem has been built into these questions - the focus on cost. In almost every other part of the organization, maximizing profit or, in the case of a not-for-profit, maximizing the funds available, provides a clear focus with metrics to determine success or failure. In theory, simply aligning software spending with the maximizing profit goals should be sufficient to avoid any questions about value for money. Unfortunately, this alignment hasn't turned out to be so simple, and the questions persist, particularly at the strategic or application portfolio level. In this book, Michael D.S. Harris describes how a software business value culture-one where all stakeholders, including technology and business-have a clear understanding of the goals and expected business value from software development. The book shows readers how they can transform software development from a cost or profit center to a business value center. Only a culture of software as a value center enables an organization to constantly maximize business value flow through software development. If your organization is starting to ask how it can change software from a cost-center to a value-center, this book is for you.

"Vivek Kale's Creating Smart Enterprises goes smack-dab at the heart of harnessing technology for competing in today's chaotic digital era. Actually, for him, it's SMACT-dab: SMACT (Social media, Mobile, Analytics and big data, Cloud computing, and internet of Things) technologies. This book is required reading for those that want to stay relevant and win, and optional for those that don't." -Peter Fingar, Author of Cognitive Computing and business technology consultant Creating Smart Enterprises unravels the mystery of social media, mobile, analytics and big data, cloud, and Internet of Things (SMACT) computing and explains how it can transform the operating context of business enterprises. It provides a clear understanding of what SMACT really means, what it can do for smart enterprises, and application areas where it is practical to use them. All IT professionals who are involved with any aspect of a SMACT computing project will profit by using this book as a roadmap to make a more meaningful contribution to the success of their computing initiatives. This pragmatic book: Introduces the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) business ecosystem confronted by the businesses today. Describes the challenges of defining business and IT strategies and of aligning them as well as their impact on enterprise governance. Provides a very wide treatment of the various components of SMACT computing, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and its constituting technologies like RFID, wireless networks, sensors, and wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This book addresses the key differentiator of SMACT computing environments and solutions that combine the power of an elastic infrastructure with analytics. The SMACT environment is cloud-based and inherently mobile. Information management processes can analyze and discern recurring patterns in colossal pools of operational and transactional data. Analytics, big data, and IoT computing leverage and transform these data patterns to help create successful, smart enterprises.

Making IT Lean: Applying Lean Practices to the Work of IT presents Lean concepts and techniques for improving processes and eliminating waste in IT operations and IT Service Management, in a manner that is easy to understand. The authors provide a context for discussing several areas of application within this domain, allowing you to quickly gain insight into IT processes and Lean principles.The text reviews IT Service Management, with reference to the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a framework for best practices explaining how to use it to accommodate Lean processes and operations. Filled with straightforward examples, it provides enough modeling tools so you can start your Lean journey right away. Examining the work of IT from an IT practitioner perspective, the book includes coverage of: The OM Perspective considers the work of IT from an Operations Management (OM) perspective, showing how many of the concepts that have been successfully applied within manufacturing can be applied to IT The Lean Improvement Model explains Lean concepts and practices and details the authors Lean improvement model Lean Problem-Solving (Identifying and Understanding Problems) considers operational work in IT and explains how to apply Lean practices related to problem identification and root cause analysis Lean Problem-Solving (Identifying and Managing Solutions) describes how to use good problem identification as the basis for identifying the right solutions Lean IT Service Management examines IT work from an IT Service Management perspective, using the ITIL framework as a guide Implementing and Sustaining Lean IT Improvements explains how to implement and sustain Lean IT improvements Throughout the book, the authors use a simple model for Lean Improvement as the framework

This book's author, Byron Love, admits proudly to being an IT geek. However, he had found that being an IT geek was limiting his career path and his effectiveness. During a career of more than 31 years, he has made the transition from geek to geek leader. He hopes this book helps other geeks do the same. This book addresses leadership issues in the IT industry to help IT practitioners lead from the lowest level. Unlike other leadership books that provide a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership, this book focuses on the unique challenges that IT practitioners face. IT project managers may manage processes and technologies, but people must be led. The IT industry attracts people who think in logical ways analytical types who have a propensity to place more emphasis on tasks and technology than on people. This has led to leadership challenges such as poor communication, poor relationship management, and poor stakeholder engagement. Critical IT projects and programs have failed because IT leaders neglect the people component of "people, process, and technology." Communications skills are key to leadership. This book features an in-depth discussion of the communications cycle and emotional intelligence, providing geek leaders with tools to improve their understanding of others and to help others understand them. To transform a geek into a geek leader, this book also discusses: Self-leadership skills so geek leaders know how to lead others by leading themselves first Followership and how to cultivate it among team members How a geek leader's ability to navigate disparate social styles leads to greater credibility and influence Integrating leadership into project management processes The book concludes with a case study to show how to put leadership principles and practices into action and how a

As hacker organizations surpass drug cartels in terms of revenue generation, it is clear that the good guys are doing something wrong in information security. Providing a simple foundational remedy for our security ills, Security De-Engineering: Solving the Problems in Information Risk Management is a definitive guide to the current problems impacting corporate information risk management. It explains what the problems are, how and why they have manifested, and outlines powerful solutions.Ian Tibble delves into more than a decade of experience working with close to 100 different Fortune 500s and multinationals to explain how a gradual erosion of skills has placed corporate information assets on a disastrous collision course with automated malware attacks and manual intrusions. Presenting a complete journal of hacking feats and how corporate networks can be compromised, the book covers the most critical aspects of corporate risk information risk management. Outlines six detrimental security changes that have occurred in the past decade Examines automated vulnerability scanners and rationalizes the differences between their perceived and actual value Considers security products including intrusion detection, security incident event management, and identity management The book provides a rare glimpse at the untold stories of what goes on behind the closed doors of private corporations. It details the tools and products that are used, typical behavioral traits, and the two types of security experts that have existed since the mid-nineties the hackers and the consultants that came later. Answering some of the most pressing questions about network penetration testing and cloud computing security, this book provides you with the understanding and tools needed to tackle today's risk management issues as well as those on the horizon.

The success of information backup systems does not rest on IT administrators alone. Rather, a well-designed backup system comes about only when several key factors coalesce business involvement, IT acceptance, best practice designs, enterprise software, and reliable hardware. Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery: A Corporate Insurance Policy provides organizations with a comprehensive understanding of the principles and features involved in effective enterprise backups. Instead of focusing on any individual backup product, this book recommends corporate procedures and policies that need to be established for comprehensive data protection. It provides relevant information to any organization, regardless of which operating systems or applications are deployed, what backup system is in place, or what planning has been done for business continuity. It explains how backup must be included in every phase of system planning, development, operation, and maintenance. It also provides techniques for analyzing and improving current backup system performance. After reviewing the concepts in this book, organizations will be able to answer these questions with respect to their enterprise: What features and functionality should be expected in a backup environment? What terminology and concepts are unique to backup software, and what can be related to other areas? How can a backup system be monitored successfully? How can the performance of a backup system be improved? What features are just "window dressing" and should be ignored, as opposed to those features that are relevant? Backup and recovery systems touch on just about every system in an organization. Properly implemented, they can provide an enterprise with greater assurance that its information is safe. By utilizing the

If you want to be a successful project manager, you need to become a person of influence. Without influence, there can be no success as a project manager. And, although all key success criteria point to the importance of developing soft skills as a project manager, few books exist about how to develop the power of influence for achieving better project and business results. Filling this need, The Influential Project Manager: Winning Over Team Members and Stakeholders supplies detailed guidance on how to improve your influence skills to achieve better business results. It explains how to set and meet ambitious goals for you, your team, and your stakeholders. The book describes how to listen actively to influence others and details how you can build partnerships that can pay dividends for a lifetime. Each chapter highlights real-world scenarios about a particular subject linked to the influencing skill being covered. Each chapter also includes practical forms, templates, helpful tips, and best practices to help you develop and refine your skills of influence. Details the ten keys to influencing others to support you and your ideas Outlines techniques for improving your listening skills Includes a trust assessment for determining your level of influence and if others see you as trustworthy Demonstrates how to build a network of informal alliances to achieve success Supplying you with the vision of influence from an experienced project manager's perspective, this book will help you procure the informal power required to become a successful influencer. After reading the text and performing the trust assessment, you will gain the understanding required to lead project members down the path to project success.

If IT companies seek to differentiate themselves from the competition, they must turn to consultative selling. Consultative selling is analyzing the needs and challenges of your customers and selling unique services that enable your customers to reduce costs, increase profits, and improve overall business performance. The Art of Consultative Selling in IT provides a practical framework for becoming a successful consultative seller and shows how to use the blue ocean strategy to identify opportunities in areas where there is no competition. The first section discusses the advantages of consultative selling and explores the concepts of blue oceans. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. Competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be established. The author explains how you can use consultative selling techniques to create your own blue oceans of unknown market space, where opportunities for growth are both rapid and profitable. In the second section, the author defines the consultative selling framework (CSF). This framework is based on proven processes, best practices, and real-time case studies to make consultative selling a reality. It provides clear guidelines for understanding your customer's current landscape and challenges, owning its priorities, and helping it to achieve its short-term and long-term goals. The author explains how to use CSF to generate innovative ideas and present them to your customer through profit improvement or efficiency improvement proposals. The book concludes with examples of several innovative business improvement ideas that you can present to your customers, including Agile project management, master data management (MDM), application portfolio rationalization, and business process management (BPM). The author discusses the benefits of each methodology and lists the trigger points to think about when deciding whether the methodology can add value to a pa

Your customers want innovation and value, and they want it now. How can you apply Lean principles and practices throughout your enterprise to drive operational excellence, reduce costs while improving quality, enable efficient growth, and accelerate idea-to-value innovation? Shingo Prize-winning author Steve Bell and other thought leaders show you how guiding you to more effectively align people and purpose, promote enterprise agility, and leverage transformative IT capabilities to create market-differentiating value for your customers. Combining research and insight with practical examples and in-depth case studies that can be put to immediate use, Run Grow Transform: Integrating Business and Lean IT is a must read for leaders and senior managers from all disciplines, showing you how to: Drive enterprise outcomes and strategy through adaptive Business/IT learning Maximize collaboration, leverage the knowledge and skills of your teams Overcome enterprise-wise obstacles commonly encountered by Agile development teams Improve infrastructure reliability and cost, learn how to get the best results from operations frameworks including ITIL, COBIT and ISO 20000 Apply Lean principles to Enterprise Architecture and Business Process Management disciplines Make informed, value-based choices about outsourcing Tap into big data and social media to listen to and interact with the virtual voice of your customers Streamline management, collaboration, and communication systems Identify and measure the right things that lead to customer value What readers are saying: This book focuses on the most critical and challenging issue for any aspect of the development or use of IT: creating a collaborative learning culture.Jeffrey K. Liker, Shingo Prize-winning Author of The

This book provides techniques for offshore center managers and head office managers to motivate and manage globally distributed teams, which are spread across the offshore center and the head office, and thereby achieve higher productivity. Readers learn how to integrate the offshore center with the head office to make the offshore team an extension of the head office. While integrating teams with the head office, offshore center managers can still retain independence and authority to meet team aspirations. The book provides insight into devising new organizational structures to balance the authority and responsibilities of offshore center and head office managers. Head office managers responsible for managing globally distributed projects learn how to achieve a higher success rate on their projects and be better rewarded for their efforts in offshoring. Head office managers also learn techniques to make more significant contributions in their expatriate assignments to the offshore center. This book guides both the offshore center managers and the head office managers to fully realize the potential of the offshore center, which can result in higher revenues and profitability.

Top performing dotcoms share a common feature. It isn't a new software plug-in or a design gadget or any other piece of technology. These sites share a passionate focus on usability. This book is written by an international usability consultant, writer and trainer who specializes in the design and evaluation of web-based and wireless applications, e-commerce sites and interactive television. The author has worked with a number of blue-chip clients that value usability, including Hewlett-Packard, Thomas Cook, Philips, the Financial Times and Motorola. This guide is designed for software developers, project managers, business analysts and user interface designers, and does not require a background in human factors or usability. E-Commerce Usability: Tools and Techniques to Perfect the On-Line Experience presents a practical, structured, customer-centered design method that encourages innovation yet helps you make sure your final design is still easy to use.

The First International Conference on Advancement of Computer, Communication and Electrical Technology focuses on key technologies and recent progress in computer vision, information technology applications, VLSI, signal processing, power electronics & drives, and application of sensors & transducers, etc. Topics in this conference include: Computer Science This conference encompassed relevant topics in computer science such as computer vision & intelligent system, networking theory, and application of information technology. Communication EngineeringTo enhance the theory & technology of communication engineering, ACCET 2016 highlighted the state-of the-art research work in the field of VLSI, optical communication, and signal processing of various data formatting. Research work in the field of microwave engineering, cognitive radio and networks are also included. Electrical Technology The state-of-the-art research topic in the field of electrical & instrumentation engineering is included in this conference such as power system stability & protection, non-conventional energy resources, electrical drives, and biomedical engineering. Research work in the area of optimization and application in control, measurement & instrumentation are included as well.

Intelligent IT Outsourcing enables practitioners to focus in on the essential issues that need to be addressed so that the fundamental structure of their sourcing strategy and its implementation is sound. The authors provide insight into the challenges likely to be faced and give detailed advice on how to pre-empt and manage these. IT and outsourcing continue to be problematic, not least because fundamental learning about this subject fails to be applied systematically, and because IT is inherently difficult to manage. The economics are not obvious and emerging technologies have to be addressed, therefore IT goes to the heart of many enterprises and interfaces with multiple business units and processes, and there are continuous skills shortages. Unfortunately complexities are not removed in outsourced situations where additional problems come into play, for example the supplier's capabilities, whether the IT is right for an outsourcing solution, and whether the contract is robust but flexible enough to allow for outsourcing to take place. Objectives need to be realistic, and factors such as whether the internal management is mature and capable enough in this field, and the impact of prohibitive switching costs on behaviour once an outsourcing deal has been signed all have to be taken into account. The authors have built up over two decades of research, advisory and practitioner experience that enables them to distil the fundamental challenges in IT and outsourcing and demonstrate how these can be addressed.

This book is concerned with the ways in which organizations design, build and use information technology systems. In particular it looks at the interaction between these IT-centred activities and the broader management processes within organizations. The authors adopt a critical social science perspective on these issues, and are primarily concerned with advancing theoretical debates on how best to understand the related processes of technological and organizational change. To this end, the book examines and deploys recent work on power/knowledge, actor-network theory and critical organization theory. The result is an account of the nature and significance of information systems in organizations which is an alternative perspective to pragmatic and recipe-based approaches to this topic which dominate much contemporary management literature on IT. This book is intended for academic: Management and social science academics and postgraduate students of IT strategy and organization. Practitioner: Senior managers concerned with IT and strategy issues.

This book shows IT managers how to identify, mitigate and manage risks in an IT outsourcing exercise. The book explores current trends and highlights key issues and changes that are taking place within outsourcing. Attention is given to identifying the drivers and related risks of outsourcing by examining recently published and existing concepts of IT outsourcing. Founded on academic theory and empirical and quantitative information, this book: * Incorporates the complete risk identification and mitigation life cycle * Highlights the concept of core competency * Looks at motivating factors and working relationships of the buyer and supplier * Provides background to understand the risks as a result of 'human factors' as defined by the agency theory * Reviews the areas of risk that influence the decision to outsource the IT function * Examines the forces that determine the equilibrium in the risk profiles for the buyer and supplier