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

George serves Application Development & Delivery Professionals. He brings to Forrester more than two decades of experience deploying global enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications in complex multinationals. During his five years with Forrester, George has led research into topics such as SAP deployment best practices, ERP consolidation, IT investment prioritization, global data synchronization, and trade promotion management.
George has been quoted in general business media such as the Financial Times and specialist publications such as Retail Week. He is a popular speaker and has appeared on the BBC and Sky. He has led sessions at user conferences for vendors such as IRI and Progress Software and well-received sessions at Forrester events.
George was a senior analyst at Forrester Research from January 2003 to November 2005, publishing and advising clients on consumer goods value chain topics. Prior to joining Forrester, his 20-year IT career included senior implementation and customer service, product management, and business development roles in firms such as MSA, Digital, SSA, and Mapics. Prior to rejoining Forrester in April 2007, he was general manager in one of BT's enterprises, building a portfolio of convergence applications and services for large enterprises.
George has a bachelor's degree in economics from Exeter University and a master's degree in operational research from Warwick University Business School. George has been the architect and lead implementer for global ERP, supply chain, and financial implementations for multinationals operating in B2C and B2B markets. He holds APICS CPIM certification and is a Goldratt Institute-certified Jonah. He is a CIMA-qualified accountant and a certified management consultant. He is member by examination and professional experience of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and of the British Computer Society.
New Mountain Capital, the owner of Red Prairie, the demand sensing and supply chain execution software vendor, announced last week that it would fully acquire supply chain planning vendor JDA. The...
Some of my readers know that I worked in my career before Forrester in product management and business development at MSA, SSA, and Mapics, all now part of Infor. When people ask if I “follow...
Do you ever wonder which IT investments really drive competitiveness or comparative advantage for your firm and which are there simply to support mundane processes that are identical to those of all...
Retail is experiencing substantial change because consumers are now empowered by the web with information about price, availability, and merchandise features. The retail industry is still served by...
Most Forrester readers certainly understand the importance of empowering their employees to contend with highly informed and increasingly demanding customers. But I’m often asked just how to...
We would like to discuss the marketplace for off-the-shelf point-of-sale (POS) software that we can integrate. We are building a hospital management system, which must provide the capacity for...
I am trying to gather best practice information on what companies do in support of SAP Basis and where these support people fit into the organization (are they within infrastructure and operations or...
What are the best practices for implementing retail systems — locally, regionally, or globally? What does the future of retail point of sale (POS) look like?
What value is RFID/bar code tracking delivering for business? We are looking at high-value items such as pharmaceutical products, automobile parts, beverage/tobacco, etc.
Are you a wondering how to get the most out of your SAP investment? Are you trying to figure out SAP’s long-term strategy? Do you want to make better use of SAP’s BI platforms and...
Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote, man is born free and is everywhere in chains. So too Enterprise app deployments are conceived as self contained yet everywhere are integrated with legacy and...
Forrester had heard rumors of restructuring at SAP before the announcement on February 7th that SAP’s CEO Leo Apotheker has resigned with immediate effect. The return to joint CEOs with Jim...
By George Lawrie With retail confidence and global cargo volumes at their lowest for 5 years, retailers face increased pressure to identify quick ways to minimize costs, reduce unplanned mark downs...
GS1 offers the opportunity to standardize the attributes that retailers and their suppliers exchange, reducing the need for retailers to maintain on-boarding portals and for manufacturers to publish...