Young entrepreneurs often face the problem of having to provide “free advice” or “consulting services.” This applies not only to consultants, but also to doctors, lawyers, advisors, architects, and many others. Read the following story about a doctor and a star lawyer...

In my experience stress and related - as quoted in the article - »burnout« will materialize after an amount of time with the absence of “fun and satisfaction” on what you have to do and the pressure to do it rightly, nonetheless. Whereas the pressure may come from outside (»the boss«) or the inside (»own “wrong” expectations to oneself, abilities and how things should in “the own” option work out to be experienced as good and just«). Those pressure points must be known to oneself in order to avoid depression and »burnout«.  ....

Can’t we just stop? Stop the endless emailing?

How many times have you found yourself frustrated by the flood of emails—only to respond with a manic burst of productivity, forwarding messages left and right just to clear your inbox? And how often have you worked through the day, focused and determined, only to realize by evening that all you really did was write and reply to emails?

It’s exhausting. And it’s not productive.

Everyone working in customer service knows the feeling: when things run smoothly and the job is done well, no one seems to notice. But the moment something doesn’t go exactly as planned—regardless of the reason—it suddenly becomes everyone’s concern.

Occasionally, managers in smaller companies ask me what ITIL is all about and whether, based on my experience, I also have the impression that “this framework... (?), well, you know, this framework” is like “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” Of course, a politically correct answer would be something like “this framework is designed to scale from the smallest to the largest companies.”

Problem management is just one of many components within the support processes. The focus is on permanently eliminating the causes of errors or malfunctions. This means that the process is initially reactive.

The reality in today's data centers is that information must be processed dynamically as it arises. Coupled with a world that is now largely virtualized, CIs and their statuses are changing incredibly quickly, dynamically, automatically, and continuously.

Part 2 of the blog deals with the successful planning and introduction of an agile CMDB.

Are you convinced that your company should be ISO 27001 compliant, but don't have a clear idea of how to convince your senior management?

Developing a well-thought-out IT policy framework is the only promising way for a company to support the necessary compliance in the long term. Time and again, it has been shown that investing time in the development, definition, and implementation of a suitable framework pays off in any case BEFORE defining and introducing policies.

Assessments on establishing a suitable and effective security organization

I am often asked when a company has invested sufficiently in security/cybersecurity. What are the key points to consider? I have attempted to present my experiences and opinions from the perspective of a security consultant, auditor, and manager in the following fictional Q&A.

Anyone wishing to use cloud computing services should be aware of the associated dangers and risks. Read a detailed analysis and learn about the specific issues to be aware of...

Lessons every company should learn from the 2015 Sony Pictures hack...

Can't remember it?

Here you will find all the details and an explanation of why the insights gained are also important for your company!

Everyone surely remembers the Hillary Clinton email drama, most recently during the presidential elections. Although it is difficult to prove empirically, the few voters who made Trump president could well be found here.

Vertrauliche Informationen werden hinter verschlossenen Türen in Besprechungsräumen ausgetauscht, so verlassen unsere vertraulichen Informationen unsere Firma nicht! Sind Sie sich da wirklich sicher?

If we are honest, the first thing we learn about passwords is not particularly encouraging. Let's learn something about ourselves: our own memory is pretty poor. The second thing we find out about ourselves is that we are pretty bad at successfully choosing and using our own passwords based on true randomness.

A detailed look at the electricity dependency of the new/old IT world, possible consequences, and scenarios of a large-scale failure...

According to a study, companies are confronted with approximately 17,000 incoming reports of potential malware every week; however, only 19% of these reports can be considered reliable, and only 4% have been thoroughly investigated by security engineers working for antivirus software manufacturers.

According to a recent study by ISACA from 2015, 80% of all organizations surveyed expected a targeted cyberattack on their company this year, and almost all of them point out that the security risk is particularly high and that skilled personnel are in short supply. 

According to a study by CreditCards.com, more than 50% of American online users surveyed avoid sales portals that were hacked last year and where data misuse or theft has been confirmed. 

When names like Dropbox, JP Morgan Chase, Yahoo, or DHS appear in headlines about “hacked companies with data security problems,” don't you wonder what you and your company should be doing and investing in when it comes to security issues? Do you also ask yourself, “What is my organization actually doing to professionally address any security issues that may arise and minimize the expected impact on your organization?” or “What should my company have invested in so far?” or even “What do we need to do now to be secure in the future?” 

The Ponemon Institute found in a study that it costs US companies affected by cybercrime an average of $12.7 million to detect, investigate, and take planned measures to finally return to normal operations after a single security incident.

Global security threats will continue to rise rapidly in the coming year and are “as certain as death and taxes,” according to PWC's assessment in its latest report, “The Global State of Information Security 2015.”

Don't wait until your company has already been hacked! 

Take cybersecurity seriously before it's too late!

Security managers and CISOs surveyed in the US, Europe, and Africa rate the risk of being a target of cyberterrorism and cybercrime as significant!

It appears that Samsung's smart TVs are recording personal information and secretly transmitting it to an unnamed third-party company without permission!

Many IT projects are simply difficult. The main burdens of the project manager are juggling the competing interests of stakeholders with (almost always) limited resources in terms of time, constantly changing and updating technologies, the number of trained project staff, and constant pressure from middle and upper management. To outsiders, juggling project management often seems like a juggler actually juggling too many balls in the air.

No matter how I look at it, my thesis is that an IT project is basically only part of a business project. Or have you ever seen a successful, recognized IT project that solely served the specific goals of the IT department?