Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. Often they are from the people whose work I admire or resonate with me. More importantly, I picked these articles to help my fellow IT professionals be more successful. I hope you will find these ideas thought-provoking at the minimum. Even better, I hope these ideas will, over time, help my fellow IT pros make better decisions, be awesome, and kick ass!

More and more workplaces are demanding more hours from the employees far beyond the typical 40-hour week. If you are in one of those organizations and need to cope with it, Bob Lewis has some insight to share. Escaping the toxic workplace (IS Survivor Publishing)

With enterprises being more software driven than ever, George Colony believes that technology management leaders must not only continue to manage the traditional IT but also need to make large strides on managing BT (business technology). Tech Management in the Age of the Customer (Forrester Blogs)

With ITSM concepts and frameworks in existence for over 20 years, most people thought we probably have reached a plateau in term of squeezing more productivity out of ITSM efforts. Allen Houpt advocates that more productivity can still be had and suggests 10 tips to reduce service costs in a webcast. The Little “ITSM” Engine That Could (CA Service Management)

As a follow-up to a recent discussion in the Software Asset Management group on LinkedIn, Rory Canavan presents a detailed process model for Corporate Governance for a successful SAM implementation. Process of the Month – Corporate Governance Process (The ITAM Review)

As the cloud and big data trends develop, jargons and buzzwords have made them difficult for people to understand the real issues behind those trends. Jeremy Bergsman talks about how data protection and third-party risk management should be addressed in order to master the cloud and big data trends. Are Buzzwords Clouding Your Judgment? (CEB’s IT Blog)

When it comes to creating a strong foundation for customer loyalty management, Ted Rubin believes that your customer service department plays the most important role. He recommends four approaches to leverage your customer service team for effectively turning customers into fans. Customer Loyalty Management via the Customer Service Silo [] (Straight Talk)

Empowerment is a noble notion where people are given the opportunity to fully leverage their capability and contribute to their organizations. For some under-performing individuals, Rob England suggests that “empowering” people can sometime means setting them up for failure. Empowering the hopeless (The IT Skeptic)

In an IT project, a business analyst will often need to create a functional specification. Laura Brandenburg explains what a functional specification is and what information goes into it. What Goes Into a Functional Specification? (Bridging the Gap)

Mitch Joel believes that many people are doing it wrong when it comes to preparing for a public speech. He recommends a 22-step approach on how to prepare for one. How To Give A Great Presentation (Seriously) (Six Pixels of Separation)

After spending three years managing a recent start-up, Jeff Nolan wrote a series of blog posts to document the lessons learned as well as what worked and did not. Startup Lessons Learned: Hiring; Startup Lessons: Dynamic Org Structures; Startups Lessons: Product First; Startup Lessons: Marketing; Startup Lessons: Board Management; Startup Lessons: Tough Decisions (Enterprise Irregulars)