For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Content Management Suites, Q4 2009

Traditional Players Continue To Lead, While Microsoft Makes Inroads

by Stephen Powers, Brian W. Hill, Craig Le Clair, November 12, 2009

In Forrester's 70-criteria evaluation of eight enterprise content management (ECM) suite vendors, we found that IBM, Oracle, EMC, and Open Text lead due to breadth and depth of functionality and a continued focus on end-to-end ECM needs. Strong Performer . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Xerox Jolts The Document Processing Services Market With A Major BPO Acquisition

Xerox's Acquisition Underscores BPO, ITO, And DPS Convergence

by Craig Le Clair, October 5, 2009

On September 28, 2009, Xerox announced the purchase of business process outsourcing company Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), in a deal valued at approximately $6.4 billion. Xerox's acquisition sends a clear signal about the strategic direction of the . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Best Practices: Mastering Output Options For Customer Communications

Simple Ways To Cut Costs And Improve Customer Experiences Are Hard To Achieve

by Craig Le Clair, Sheri McLeish, September 29, 2009

A new generation of document output for customer communications management (DoCCM) technology promises to reduce costs, improve the customer experience, and expand output beyond the print channel. Yet best practices must also evolve to achieve these promises. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Importance Of Matching BPM Tools To The Process

Single Vendor Solutions Are Not Ready Yet To Meet Customers' Full Needs

by Ken Vollmer, Clay Richardson, Craig Le Clair, September 4, 2009

The world is a complex place, and business process management (BPM) is no exception. Forrester defines BPM as a discipline for continually improving cross-functional business processes. In contrast, BPM suites (BPMS) have a narrower focus as software . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Transparency Is The Next Step In Compliance . . . Bring On Enterprise Content Management

Compliance Processes Remain Untamed And Short On Insight

by Craig Le Clair, Chris McClean, August 28, 2009

Milestones in regulation such as the USA PATRIOT Act, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act, and amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) helped drive substantial enterprise content management (ECM) enhancements for better document management and . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Untamed Business Processes: When Even The Best Of Intentions Go Awry

by Craig Le Clair, August 21, 2009

A business process — at its highest level — is any activity that helps an enterprise achieve its goals. Packaged and industry-specific applications form the transactional backbone for most critical business processes in enterprises and small and medium-size . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester TechRadar™ For BP&A Pros: Business Process Management Suites, Q3 2009

The Need For Increased Business Agility Drives BPM Adoption

by Clay Richardson, Ken Vollmer, Craig Le Clair, August 13, 2009

Business process management (BPM) refers to a broad category of software, typically sold as a suite, that automates, improves, and optimizes business processes across the full range of process activity — including human-, document-, and integration-centric . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

How SaaS-Able Are Content, Collaboration, And Data Software Categories?

Only Some Categories Possess The Innate Characteristics Suited To SaaS Delivery

by Craig Le Clair, Ted Schadler, July 8, 2009

Many enterprises are considering information and knowledge management (I&KM) software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions as alternatives to on-premise software installations and perpetual-license models. In response, I&KM vendors — old and new — have . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Document Output For Customer Communications Management, Q2 2009

No Overall Market Leader Emerges As Vendors Build Out DOCCM Capabilities

by Craig Le Clair, Sheri McLeish, June 25, 2009

In Forrester's 95-criteria evaluation of document output for customer communications management (DOCCM) vendors, we found no overall Leader across all segments; however, numerous Strong Performers and Contenders bring their own strengths to the structured, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Best Practices: Customer Onboarding

A Visible Target During Economic Uncertainty

by Craig Le Clair, April 27, 2009

Take customer onboarding . . . please. Customer onboarding lags behind other business processes in both the quality of customer experience and costs. The poor state of customer onboarding results in customers abandoning the application process, loss of . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Governing SharePoint In The Enterprise

Using A Framework To Govern SharePoint In ECM Initiatives

by Craig Le Clair, January 9, 2009

SharePoint can provide value to enterprises by supporting new and collaborative ways of working. When deployed effectively, team and community collaboration technology consolidate apps and content that contribute to information overload and context-switching. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

In Good Times And Bad, Document-Centric Web Transactions Lower Costs And Improve Experience

Use BPM And DOM Technologies To Move To On-Demand Transactions

by Craig Le Clair, December 17, 2008

Despite delivering tangible cost savings, document-centric transactions have moved to the Web rather slowly for a number of years. Yet the need for electronic statement delivery, tying customer self-service events into accounting opening, and moving document-centric . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

ECM Systems Integrators: Fit Matters Most

Strategy, Platform Breadth, And Industry Experience Provide Value

by Craig Le Clair, Sheri McLeish, November 14, 2008

Every dollar spent on enterprise content management (ECM) software usually requires another dollar to make it work. Services such as project management, systems design, and integration support are a few of the needed services that systems integrators . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Use ECM To Fire Up Business Processes

An Assessment Of Imaging Support Of Common Business Processes

by Craig Le Clair, Sheri McLeish, October 20, 2008

Enterprise content management tools developed as horizontal platforms that I&KM pros often custom tailor to meet their needs in medical records, accounts payable, contract management, human resources, and other document-centric business processes. . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

The Persuasive Content Architecture

Understanding How To Apply ECM To Marketing's Business Objectives

by Craig Le Clair, Stephen Powers, July 2, 2008

Customer experience expectations rise each year as customers want faster responses to requests, more conversational interactions, and more relevant content. Marketers now find themselves under pressure to better manage content associated with their outbound . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

SharePoint Success Will Take a Village

by Rob Koplowitz, Craig Le Clair, June 24, 2008

With the introduction of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, Microsoft moved SharePoint well beyond its traditional roots in portal and collaboration. SharePoint now includes broad, robust middleware capabilities. Achieving business value . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The BPM COE Is Here: Now What?

Answers To Frequently Asked Questions

by Craig Le Clair, June 20, 2008

Forrester receives many inquiries from information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals within enterprises implementing business process management (BPM) centers of excellence (COEs). Many questions concern COE goals, key roles, and organizational . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Market Overview: Document Processing Services

Using Managed Services To Tackle Document-Centric Needs

by Craig Le Clair, April 29, 2008

Many information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals still view document processing services (DPS) as a diverse set of specialized services that support document-intensive business processes. Yet over the past year, DPS offerings have separated . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Best Practices: Distributed Output Services

The Office: A Visible Target During Economic Uncertainty

by Craig Le Clair, April 17, 2008

In most organizations, distributed output devices such as printers, fax machines, and scanners seem to magically multiply. Although enterprises often do not count the cost, the amount of money spent on distributed output is astounding, and it greatly . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Hewlett-Packard Enters The ECM Race

How Small But Smart Acquisitions Affect Your ECM Strategies

by Kyle McNabb, Craig Le Clair, April 11, 2008

With its acquisition of Exstream Software and announced acquisition of TOWER Software, Hewlett-Packard (HP) has finally put to rest any doubt that the company is targeting enterprise content management (ECM) for enterprises. While it's not the splashy . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Enterprise Content Management's Next Step Forward

I&KM Pros Need To Push For Organic Support Of Business Context

by Craig Le Clair, Ken Poore, February 29, 2008

Current approaches to enterprise content management (ECM) don't work for most enterprises. Low adoption rates and frustrated users plague enterprise implementations. And expectations for how people create and use content continue to change, thanks to . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Market Overview: Document Output Management

Using Software To Help Improve Multichannel Customer Experiences

by Craig Le Clair, February 8, 2008

Information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals looking to help line of business owners improve the customer experience increasingly realize the potential that document output management (DOM) has to satisfy their customer experience concerns. . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Business Context: A Better Way To Define An ECM Strategy

by Kyle McNabb, Craig Le Clair, December 27, 2007

Defining and executing an enterprise content management (ECM) strategy can be frustrating. Tangible needs such as IT cost reduction, system and server consolidation, and keeping the enterprise out of hot water from the mismanagement of content, drive . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Give DOM Its Due

Move Beyond Back-Office Document Production To Interactive Content Apps

by Craig Le Clair, October 24, 2007

For years, document output management (DOM) has been pegged as a back-office operation that produces customer statements and bills. Now, customer experience demands will thrust DOM into a major software category supporting the growing and diverse content . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

How To Save Money And Be A Greener Business: Shine A Light On Office Peripheral Management

by Craig Le Clair, September 17, 2007

In most organizations, printers, fax machines, and scanners seem to magically multiply without human intervention. Although companies often don't count the cost, the amount of money spent servicing such equipment that is aging or underutilized is astounding . . .