It's that time of year when business and IT pundits alike peer into their crystal balls, and tell you what's ahead for 2012 and beyond. But the number of predictions and the resulting advice that emerge each year can be overwhelming at best, and confusing at worst. This year we're going to try to do the heavy lifting for you. Rather than create yet another list of predictions, we've decided to integrate our predictions with those from leading media, analyst, research, and consulting firms-including Gartner, Aberdeen, Forrester, McKinsey, and major IT trade publications. We want to put key information about major trends at your fingertips, and help you start thinking about what your organization needs to do to prepare. Read more...

In the 1980s, the typical portable computer weighed 30 pounds. Things have changed. Smartphones are required part of everyone's professional mobile toolkit. Tablet computing devices are either in use or on the way. The weights are decreasing and allow us to move a little easier with less weight lifting pull-ups. Read more...

The importance of agile planning, and the tools and techniques required to keep your business on the move is something we can't write about enough. Limiting planning to an annual exercise adds risk, because there's simply no way to anticipate and accommodate the wild market peaks and valleys businesses face today. But the need to embrace agile planning doesn't invalidate the need for an annual plan. If anything, the annual plan takes on more importance. It remains the fundamental strategy for the year, establishing the mission, goals, desired outcomes, measurement benchmarks, and specific actions for components of the organization. Read more...

Among the many institutions affected by internet threats, accounting institutions are especially vulnerable to threats such as viruses, hacking and malware. Since theft is often the goal of these attacks, accounting institutions are particularly susceptible to legal action resulting from fraudulent bank activity directly related to malicious external exploits. Read more...