In this week’s issue of Computer Weekly, we look at the key trends and technologies that will be on IT leaders’ agenda in 2012. Our first Buyer’s Guide of the year examines how IT consumerisation will affect business technology; and Home Office IT director Denise McDonagh tells us why government IT isn’t working. Download the new issue now. 

It’s no longer feasible for an IT department to ignore the smartphone push from the majority of the employee population. IT management must attempt to channel the chaos and determine ways to embrace the personal mobility wave while maintaining effective security and management measures, especially in relation to the corporate network. 

Security is one of the most commonly cited barriers preventing IT managers from taking advantage of cloud computing – yet some experts say the cloud could and should be more secure than in-house IT. This paper looks at how to be confident about security in the cloud. 

Enterprises can take control of the burgeoning number of unsanctioned spreadsheets by adopting a policy of centralized master spreadsheet generation. Learn how WebFOCUS creates fully summarized, organized, and styled Excel spreadsheets with complex formulas already in place, lowering the potential for keystroke and logic error. 

Like many organisations, data at Bromford Group falls into two distinct groups. On one side is a Microsoft SQL database that tracks customer relationship management, records of tenants and properties. On the other side is all of the data that runs the business itself: Microsoft Exchange, corporate files, and network drives crammed with documents. 

The number of mobile enterprise workers is growing which is also compounding the data they create. Since they are often disconnected from the corporate network, backing up this endpoint data is quite a challenge. 

Content provided by Google. This paper examines whether cloud computing makes good business sense for your company. Ultimately, you may find that moving your data to the cloud actually improves security, scalability, access, and disaster recovery. 

This Aberdeen Group paper provides analyst insight into the drivers, benefits and pitfalls of the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) phenomenon and offers recommended actions to take to avoid IT risk. 

Allowing employees to use their own devices may increase the overall productivity and performance of your organization. Access this exclusive resource to learn how supporting a range of endpoint devices is the right choice for your organization and how desktop virtualization is a practical method for supporting this initiative. 

In this Gartner report, explore some of the key considerations for planning, administering and supporting mobile devices. Discover how organizations can prepare to embrace "Bring Your Own" mobile device initiatives to satisfy employee needs for flexibility while minimizing associated risks.