IT Salaries Take a Hit Due to Economy, Lay-offs, Hiring Freezes, and Outsourcing
At a median annual base salary of $77,367, IT
staffers are still earning well above the median household income of $50,233,
according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Still, the weak economy,
company closures, lay-offfs, and outsourcing are taking a toll on all types of
IT professionals. Plus, these problems are being further compounded by shrinking
corporate revenues and profits - bailouts.
IT departments are being forced to cut costs, many
CIOs are giving more work to their existing IT staffers rather than hiring for
open positions or replacing departing IT workers. Over 50 percent of
IT workers surveyed rby Janco have reported taking on extra work because of
budget cuts and layoffs. In addition to this many are seeing cuts in
fringe benifits and other IT perks.
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Audit and Security Requirements for File Transfers
Prudent business practices demand the securing of key digital
assets and the ability to audit the exchange of those assets both within the
company and externally. Increasingly, regulations demand the same thing. The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requires trading partner certification, data center
validation and information transparency auditing. The Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) insists on the stringent protection
of health information privacy. And, Gramm- Leach-Bliley (GLM) dictates that the
privacy of individualsÂ’ financial information must be protected.
Due to the advent of these rigorous regulations, companies
must now not only follow good information management practices, they must also
be able to prove that they have done so. For example, they need to be able to
prove that they did, indeed, send information that was legally required to be
sent to a government body or trading partner; they need to be able to prove that
they protected that information while it was stored internally or in transit;
and they need to be able to prove that they have the means to recover
information that is lost or accidentally destroyed.
Audit & Security Requirements include the ability
to:
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Recover files from the archive log to ensure non-repudiation by
partner
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Access audit trails to prove compliance
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Access weekly compliance reports for each partner
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Encrypt sensitive files in transit
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Support all security protocols used by all trading
partners
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Control access by certifying partners for file
transfer
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Remote Support System Features
Leading remote support platforms core components typically
include:
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Remote
desktop control. Agents can access the customer's
equipment via a secure web connection, and take control, performing functions
as if they were sitting in front of the machine.
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Web chat. Agents may chat with a customer using
a Web chat dialog during the remote control session, freeing up the customer
to take a call or perform other work, with the agent prompting them with the
chat dialog when additional information is required.
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Web collaboration. Web collaboration, ranging
from allowing other agents to join the remote control session to provide
assistance to full online meeting and webcast capabilities.
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Screen
sharing. With screen sharing, the agent can view the
customer's
desktop, with an option to allow the customer to view the agent's
desktop as well. This allows agents to walk customers through procedures they
may be struggling to attempt on their own. Other features may include joint
form fill and page push.
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Session monitoring. Supervisors can select a
remote control session currently in progress to see how the agent is handling
the situation. Useful for quality control monitoring, to keep tabs on new
agents, or to gage proficiency with the remote support technology.
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Customer log files. Diagnostics that can be used to pull complete log
files of a customer system for real-time or historical analysis. Log files
typically are sent to the agent as a text file at the end of the session and
attached to the incident in the case management system.
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E-Commerce, Wireless, and Internet Management Job Description Bundle
E-commerce, wireless and Internet activities now take up over
50% of the focus of the IT function. There are new positions and new
responsibilities for existing positions. The need to have up-to-date job
descriptions is required to meet the objectives of both industry standards and
mandated requirements.
The 21 job descriptions
in the e-Commerce, wireless, and Internet job descriptions bundle have been
developed to meet those needs. Each job description has been reviewed with
PCI-DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, and ISO in mind. Industry experts agree
that these job descriptions are the most comprehensive ones available
today. In addition to being practical and easy to use, they meet the needs
of industry standards and requirements.
Job Description bundle
includes:
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Director Electronic Commerce
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e-Commerce Specialist
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Internet-Intranet Administrator
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Manager Internet - Intranet Activities
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Manager Internet Systems
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Manager Point of Sale
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Manager Record Administration
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Manager Transaction Processing
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Manager Wireless Systems
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On-Line Transaction Processing Analyst
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PCI-DSS Coordinator
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POS Coordinator
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POS Hardware Coordinator
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POS Senior Coordinator
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Record Management Coordinator
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System Administrator - Unix
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System Administrator - Windows
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Web Analyst
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Web Site Designer
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Webmaster
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Wireless Coordinator
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Feds Nab Break Identity Theft Ring
(Computerworld)
Federal authorities say they have taken another step toward busting a
multinational identity theft ring that is alleged to have used stolen personal
data to withdraw millions of dollars from home equity line-of-credit accounts at
dozens of financial institutions in the U.S., including some of the country's
largest banks.
Four individuals were arrested last week in
connection with the alleged scheme, which has resulted in more than $2.5 million
being stolen from the affected financial institutions, according to law
enforcement officials. Another $4 million worth of attempted withdrawals by the
gang were unsuccessful, the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey said in
announcing the arrests last Wednesday (download PDF).
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