High foreclosure rates and negative equity continue to haunt real estate markets across the nation. In fact, a new report states that about 20 percent of mortgages nationally are under water.

A cynic might say that information systems consultants shortchange their clients. They can, for example, promise more than they deliver. Or they can tarry and delay. Or they might ask, on the back end, to bill for "unanticipated" work.

Companies like IBM, PetSmart and Marriott have been proving that enormous success, and enormous profits, can be found in services. Yet services have always been difficult to get your arms around — difficult to understand.

The small increases in Phoenix housing prices that began this spring will likely continue for only a month or two longer, then flatten out for "an extended period," said Karl Guntermann, a professor of real estate who calculates the ASU-Repeat Sales Index (ASU-RSI) at the W. P. Carey Sc

The team from the Department of Information Systems that created decision-support software to help distribute crucial H1N1 vaccine knew that for this project, speed trumped all other protocols.

Although the number of Valley home resales for June has improved over May, there's no doubt the market remains on shaky ground.

Chaos in clinics" was what one TV news broadcast called 2009's shortage of H1N1 vaccine. Once vaccine did start trickling into the supply chain, it was up to county officials to decide which healthcare providers would get the few doses available, and those decisions had to be made on the fly.

Recessions are especially hard on small businesses. Few small firms have the resources to stay the course and wait out the bad times. Credit is scarce, and budget cutting difficult. In a small operation, there are not that many places to cut.

Big picture, the Phoenix housing market showed gradual improvement overall through May, but zooming in on the various segments the picture changes, as some are still declining while others are improving — but only slowly.

The Phoenix resale market slowed a bit in May when compared to April, possibly because activity spiked last month as the federal first-time home buyer program came to a close, according to Jay Butler, associate professor of real estate and author of the monthly Realty Studies Report from the W.&n