About Forrester
Forrester Research, Inc. is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology.

Connie is a member of Forrester's Business Technology Futures team, which serves CIOs and their business partners by predicting the long-term business impact of information technology. Her research focus is on smart computing and analytics.
Connie came to Forrester through its acquisition of Giga Information Group in 2003. She has more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry and has been an analyst for 19 years. Most of her research focuses on business process management and business optimization. Prior to joining Giga, Connie managed BIS Strategic Decisions' European IT consulting group, headquartered in the UK. Before then, Connie was vice president of product marketing at TDC (now part of BancTec), a manufacturer of high-end document capture systems. She was also a manager with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), specializing in document management, document imaging, and end user computing. Earlier, Connie was with Wang Laboratories, where she managed Wang's technical support resources for the US Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. She began her career in IT and management at Mathematica Policy Research.
Connie was the co-champion of Forrester's 2009 Business Technology Forum, with its theme of "Lean: The New Business Technology Imperative." Connie also co-championed Forrester's 2007 Technology Leadership Forum, with the theme of "Design for People, Build for Change," and Forrester's 2008 Technology Leadership Forum, themed as "Embrace Technology Chaos, Deliver Business Results." Connie is a widely sought speaker. She has keynoted at many industry events, chaired 10 business process and workflow conferences in Europe and the US, and co-chaired Giga's "Leveraging Knowledge" conference. Connie also served as a director of AIIM International, the premier association for the content management industry, and is a member of the Association of Business Process Management Professionals.
Connie attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a B.A. in political science and history from East Carolina University and an M.B.A. in information systems from George Washington University.
Many of the marque open data programs are in the big cities. Think New York City and its NY Big Apps Contests, or Chicago or London or Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro. But smaller cities are also sitting...
On Sunday I will be participating in IBM’s Middle East and North Africa CIO Conference 2010, where I will present my research on Smart Cities. I’m looking forward to speaking with...
Smart City Governance Brings New Opportunities For Tech Providers
Interest in smart cities has taken off like wildfire. Cities of all sizes navigate the challenge — growing demand for new constituent services within increasingly constrained budgets —...


A Structured Methodology For Prioritizing Geographic Market Entry
Today I attended a conference for Russian entrepreneurs organized by Digital October. I’m going to digress a moment and describe the location which for a Moscow veteran is one of the...
I spent a lot of time last week thinking about public safety. What is public safety? How do you achieve it? Well, it seems to me that it could be anything and everything; but that...
Really, it is not. I was heartened to see that it doesn’t even make the oxymoron list, which does however include “government worker,” “congressional ethics,” and...
A few weeks ago, I attended the Meeting of the Minds 2012, a conference dedicated to urban planning and sustainability, or smart cities. The conference was a great balance of academics and nonprofit...
Everyone’s using the term “sustainability.” And, I’ll admit I’m a little jaded. But, given that it’s around to stay for a while, let’s take a look at the...
I attended a Xerox analyst event last week in Grenoble, France, and was very impressed with both the setting and what I heard. Xerox is much more than the verb it was once associated with, and office...
Understanding The Cloud Computing Opportunities In Africa
After years of stagnant enterprise spending on information and communications technology (ICT), Africa is gearing up for a new period of growth. As political stability across the continent gradually...

While I started my previous blog post with the observation that KACST was not a “city,” Caroline Spicer, Strategy and Market Development Leader for IBM Global Business Services, made the...
Open Data Pioneers Offer Lessons For Launching Initiatives
Data has become quite the buzzword lately, with everyone looking to mine their big data for customer insights, operational efficiencies, and business performance improvement. Governments are no...

Or maybe I should title this “When Public Sector Isn’t ‘Public’ At All.” In recent blog posts, I’ve written about how “cities” are not just those...
“Winning the Future” was the theme of the recent US State of the Union address. With the global economy and new education performance rankings as our “sputnik moment,”...
“Telecommuting” and flexible work spaces are nothing new. I’ve worked from home, from public libraries, airport lounges, and even Sun Microsystem’s iWork Cafes and drop-in...
Last week, Forrester released results from our “Global IT Budgets, Priorities, And Emerging Technology Tracking Survey.” Highlights of the survey are reported in Chris Mines’...
Social Media, Mobility, And Open Data Transform eGovernment From Electronic To Engaged
One of the most significant changes in city governance has been the growing trend toward constituent engagement — both with individual citizens and local businesses. Even in non-democratic...

Mature market telecom operators can learn from many of their fellow service providers in emerging markets. Recognizing that contexts differ – and they certainly do – there is still...
[Co-authored with Rachel Brown] Recently, two top-tier American universities announced plans to launch new global satellite campuses. Yale University will partner with the National University of...
I will be joining Forrester's Tweet Jam on Cloud Computing today to add some commentary on the differences we're seeing in attitudes toward "cloud" as a delivery model and in adoption across...
Ready, set, go. Earlier this week IBM announced their Smart City Challenge – a competition for cities to help investigate and launch smart city initiatives. IBM will award $50...
Twenty three years ago I arrived with a backpack and my best friend. Last week I went back. The city was as welcoming this time as it was the last, although the circumstances of my visit...
Tech vendor strategists are attracted by the "edu" opportunity — a large and fast-growing user base and increasing reliance upon technology by governments, educators, parents, and students. But...
[Co-authored with Charles Green] In my last blog I asked the question, “What’s it take to be a smart city?” One of the critical elements lies in smart governance. Smart governance...
The recent Executive Order Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum Open Data Policy –...