With any luck at all, there isn't a giant asteroid headed our way soon, but in the world of information technology, an extinction event may be on the horizon.

When employees make up their minds that a knowledge management (KM) system is more trouble than it's worth, they simply stop using it. This decision affects the employer's bottom line and is a crucial factor in whether the big aspirations for a KM system pan out.

Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, the authors of "Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers" are so passionate about the value of business blogging, they admit having toyed with the idea of titling their book "Blog or Die." Blogging, the authors insist, promises

Last year, some 28 percent of corporate managers surveyed told Evans Data, a market research firm, that their primary driver for outsourcing was cost cutting. You'd think saving money would catch the eye of Wall Street but, in fact, it doesn't.

Few companies operate independently in the Electronic Age, which means that the security vulnerability of every business partner -- outsourcer, client, whatever -- whose computer system has access to yours is a potential portal to your most sensitive data.

As chief information officer for the state of Arizona, Chris Cummiskey directs computer operations for 114 agencies ranging from the Acupuncture Board of Examiners to the Weights and Measures Department.

The question has been debated for centuries: if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound? Conventional wisdom says yes, but that no one will notice. The axiom could be applied to podcasting.

Trust has always been the cornerstone of a successful business relationship. But in a global marketplace, your business partners may include a myriad of companies spread across the globe, linked by information gateways.

Chances are, service-oriented architecture and an active data warehouse are coming to your IT shop, if they haven't already done so. According to Michael Goul, professor of information systems at the W. P.

Information technology jobs rank high on the list of those most likely to be outsourced to other countries, and thousands of such jobs have been "offshored" in recent years.