Philip Dawson, Gartner VP offers best practice advice for organisations looking to virtualise their IT infrastructure. 

Between 25% and 50% of most companies’ revenue goes toward purchasing goods and services, so the ability to keep these costs down is paramount. Applying strategic sourcing methodologies to pinpoint spend categories and select qualified suppliers allows organizations to reduce expenses and positively impact the bottom line. 

In the cover story of the April 2012 issue of Storage magazine, Lauren Whitehouse outlines best practices for cloud backup integration and the various methods for doing so. Also included in this issue are articles regarding virtual server management, storage for big data, the rising cost of disk drives and more. 

This editorial e-guide features two articles on choosing the right master data management (MDM) software and how to convince your executives to invest in MDM tools. 

If you're a small or mid-sized business thinking about virtualization, particularly in the world of Microsoft, it makes sense to upgrade your database servers as well. This article explains why to upgrade and provides several examples of companies that have successfully made the move. 

Unplanned business disruptions come at a high cost.  In an emergency situation, desktop virtualization enables displaced workers to continue working from home, on any device – a tablet, a rented laptop, an old PC or a device they just purchased. Discover why desktop virtualization is a vital element of business continuity planning. 

In this article, Kaplan, of Harvard Business School, and Norton, founder and director of the Palladium Group, explain how to effectively manage both strategy and operations by linking them tightly in a closed-loop management system, which comprises five stages. 

Cloud computing offers massive scalability -  in virtual computing power, storage, and applications resources - all at almost immediate availability and low cost, and business managers are demanding their IT operations assess the benefits this new computing model can represent. 

In this expert e-guide, you will receive tips and best practices on using business intelligence to effectively grow your business. 

This edition of BI Trends & Strategies features a lead article by SearchCIO.com's Linda Tucci, who offers a helping hand in the quest to dismantle the dreaded data silo. The second piece outlines mobile BI, including a reference to Apple's iPad, and the final article delves into the world of performance management. 

<p>Businesses need to keep a close eye on the evolution of cloud based services to avoid wasting money and missing out on business opportunities.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> 

With a potential economic crisis looming in the Eurozone, Gartner offers a checklist of questions that CIOs and CEOs should ask each other. 

Master data management (MDM) tools are on the rise as more companies look toward ways to solve all their data needs through one system. This expert e-guide from our editorial team features two articles with exceptional insight on what vendors and trends are prevailing in the current MDM market.