mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Join us in exploring the world of modern development, evolving technologies, and the art of future-proof software

Year: 2014

7 critical security tips for modern web development

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EducationModern developers are caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, businesses are requiring faster application delivery from their development staff. As software plays an increasingly important role in the modern business, developers regularly face impossible deadlines.

On the other hand, web application development is becoming more complex. For instance, as outlined in this article, modern developers must create applications that adapt to any device, port to any platform, integrate with other services, and withstand increasingly sophisticated attacks. Whew!

The big problem: With these changing requirements and growing demands for faster development, developers struggle to keep up. Certain development aspects are bound to fall through the cracks.

As it turns out, that is exactly what’s happening…with security. Despite the growing importance of proper security, many developers aren’t following basic security principles. How bad is it? According to this study from last year, 99% of applications have one or more serious vulnerabilities.

Today, let’s examine this problem. While I know we can’t address every security mistake developers make, we can highlight the most important principles. What basic security guidelines should every modern web developer follow? How can you protect your web applications from being easy targets for an attack? While the list could be much larger, I’ve rounded up 7 of the most important security tips every developer must follow, and listed them below:
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Weekly Recap: Build vs. buy, the enterprise IT infrastructure agenda for 2014, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the “Build vs. Buy” myth, BYOD, and more. I hope you find them useful:

It’s Not Whether To BYOD or Not to BYOD, It’s How To
With the workforce becoming increasingly mobile, businesses must find a way to balance productivity, affordability and security to meet current and future workforce demands. To read more about one secure way to handle BYOD, check out this article.
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9 most common Business Intelligence misconceptions

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EducationGartner recently predicted that Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics will remain a top focus for CIOs through 2017. As the benefits of a data-driven decision-making process become more evident, we’ll see most businesses adopt a BI strategy in one form or another over the next few years.

The only problem: Many businesses still don’t quite understand BI. They have a general idea, but the concept remains clouded in misconceptions. These misconceptions keep many businesses from adopting BI, or from taking full advantage of its potential.

Today, I’d like to address these misconceptions, and explain why they’re false. So, what are the biggest areas of confusion surrounding BI? While the list could be much larger, here are 9 of the most common BI misconceptions:
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Whatever the future holds, we’re ready for it. Here’s why…

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EducationWhat’s the next big tech trend? How will the web change in 5 years? Who knows? Sure, people like to speculate and make bold predictions. But, they don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what the future holds. Neither do you.

One thing I do know: Whatever the future holds, we’re ready for it.

How am I so sure?
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Weekly Recap: Worst practices of cloud computing, state of the CIO, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the worst practices of cloud computing, the state of the CIO, and more. I hope you find them useful:

State of the CIO slideshow
In the annual “State of the CIO” research findings, nearly 50% of all CIOs admit that their IT departments aren’t considered a peer to the business. They aren’t looked upon as innovators, but cost centers. How can IT break free from this perception?
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7 habits of highly productive web developers

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EducationA recent Forrester study highlights a major shift in the business landscape: More and more, software development plays an increasingly important role in a company’s competitive edge. According to the study, “Companies that are able to innovate quickly with software will outcompete traditional market leaders.”

There’s just one problem: As the study points out, software development is still a problem for the majority of companies. Most are not able to deliver software solutions as fast as the business leaders want them.

photo credit: Nathan E Photography via photopin cc
photo credit: Nathan E Photography via photopin cc

The fact is, as business moves to the web, software development speed plays a crucial role in a company’s success. The old software development methodologies–in which development projects required months (or even years) to complete–will no longer work. Businesses must permanently shift their development cycle into the “days and weeks” range.

How can businesses improve their development speed so drastically? While the answer to that question varies by company, today I’d like to focus on one area that’s relevant to most businesses: improving developer productivity.

What separates the productive developer from the unproductive? What do the productive developers do differently? How can developers become more productive? We posed those questions to a few experts in the area, and have compiled their advice below. Here are 7 habits of highly productive developers:
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21 ways m-Power will improve your enterprise systems

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EducationAccording to Forrester, “approximately half of ERP customers are currently on releases that are two versions behind the current release, which may be four years old or more.” For these companies, upgrading to a new ERP version or package is often too difficult or expensive. Past customizations or enhancements have virtually locked these companies into their current ERP versions. An upgrade represents countless dollars and months of extra work—a project that most companies can’t afford to undertake.

The sad reality: These companies are locked into their enterprise system. Many feel tied to the old features and capabilities of their outdated systems.
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Weekly Recap: 5 hybrid IT roles you need in 2014, how to control Shadow IT, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on hybrid IT roles you’ll need in 2014, how to control Shadow IT, and more. I hope you find them useful:

5 Ways to Decide If Your Business Needs a Mobile App
Can your company still capitalize on mobile devices without creating mobile apps? Of course! Very few companies actually require native mobile apps. Chances are, creating web apps that automatically adapt to mobile devices is all most companies need.
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7 secrets of effective IT departments

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EducationWhat’s the difference between effective and ineffective IT departments? Some operate efficiently, while others race around fighting fires, barely keeping their head above water. Some drive the business forward, while others simply keep the lights on…but not much else. Why?

More than ever, this is an especially important question for modern IT departments. As technology plays a larger role in the business, more pressure will fall on IT departments. As more pressure is placed on the IT department, the need for highly efficient IT departments becomes greater than ever.

This brings us to the original question: What separates the effective IT department from the ineffective? What do efficient IT departments do that slow IT departments don’t do? We’ve posed those questions to a few experts in the area, and have compiled their advice below. While I realize that we can’t possibly touch on every reason, here are 7 important traits of effective IT departments.
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3 examples of wildly productive IT departments

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ProductivityOn our 2013 survey, we asked this question: “What problems keep you from accomplishing your goals?” In other words, what stops your company from addressing all of those pressing needs on your to-do list?

Can you guess the most common answer? For the third year in a row, the winner was…time! No one has enough time.

Now, I get it. Many IT staffs are overworked and understaffed. They have too much on their plate. There’s just not enough time in the day to tackle all of their “urgent” projects.

But, then I read stories like the ones below, and wonder if the issue isn’t a “lack of time” so much as it is an “inefficient use of time.” For instance, here are 3 great examples of IT departments completing big projects in impossible time frames:
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