For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Consumer Cloud Services Are The Foundation For Multidevice Strategies

A Consumer Product Strategy Introduction To The Personal Cloud

by Ian Fogg, February 9, 2010

Consumers are embracing cloud services now without realizing it. Amazon.com's Kindle, the Palm Pre, Spotify, virtually every Google product, and a raft of products from other brands are now using cloud thinking to build tangible consumer benefits. The . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IaaS) Clouds Are Local And So Are Their Implications

Know Where Your Cloud Is Before Deploying

by Onica King, James Staten, February 9, 2010

Many leading infrastructure and operations professionals looking for more innovative ways to reduce costs and increase operational flexibility are choosing public IaaS cloud computing solutions. Their elasticity, low entry costs, and ease of use are well . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The All-Wireless Campus: A Westmont College Case Study

Using WLAN, Mobile Devices, And Innovative IT To Serve A Community

by Chris Silva, February 9, 2010

Westmont College is a small college of 1,000 students nestled in the foothills of Santa Barbara seeking to differentiate itself by providing a completely unwired environment for students and staff. Currently 90% of the way to completing this task with . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Trends 2010: Customer Relationship Management

Eleven Trends Shape CRM Technology Adoption Agendas

by William Band, February 9, 2010

As the economy recovers, what are the key trends that will drive customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and technology adoption in 2010? Business and IT professionals who support customer-facing business processes must take into account 11 . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

RFP Template For Applications Maintenance Outsourcing Services

by Bill Martorelli, February 9, 2010

This template is intended to give firms a starting point for thinking about sections to include in an RFP for a application maintenance outsourcing provider selection. Firms should view this as only as starting point and should make sure to adapt it to . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

What IBM-Lombardi Means To Application Development Professionals

BPM Technology Will Be Much More Prominent; You Need A Plan For It

by John R. Rymer, Clay Richardson, February 9, 2010

IBM's acquisition of Lombardi Software is key to its plan to take business process management suites (BPMSes) from their current niche as a sometimes-used tool for developing and delivering applications to usage as common as Java or Visual Basic. The . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

The State Of Enterprise Architecture 2010: Drivers, Initiatives, And Technology Priorities

by Gene Leganza, Alex Cullen, February 9, 2010

Enterprise architecture (EA) priorities for 2010 show a continued focus on helping IT reduce costs and get applications out on time and on budget. For the longer term, however, EA will look to enable key business capabilities, with a particular focus . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

The Online Customer Engagement Software Ecosystem

Understand Your Options For Supporting Public-Facing Web Sites

by Stephen Powers, February 8, 2010

Information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals who support public-facing Web sites face a potpourri of product options from software vendors. Currently, persuasive content functions — such as content services, analytics, and more . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

B2B Tech Field Marketers Must Adapt To Remain Relevant

New Challenges Emerge As Field And Marketing Definitions Change

by Peter O'Neill, February 8, 2010

Field marketers in the technology industry are challenged as their corporate colleagues introduce more marketing automation and increasingly leverage the digital marketing opportunity for business-to-business (B2B) communications. The more traditional . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

SharePoint 2010: Search Improved, But Think Twice About FAST Search Upgrade

by Leslie Owens, February 8, 2010

Microsoft recently unveiled the public beta of SharePoint Server 2010 and the public beta of FAST Search for SharePoint. Information professionals will welcome the new ability to centrally manage metadata, as well as improved search for people functionality . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Accenture, Cognizant, And Infosys Boost R&D Services Competition

Three Major Services Firms See Opportunity In Offshore Product Development

by Sudin Apte, February 8, 2010

The previously uneventful offshore product development market is poised for significant change. Anticipating a huge growth in this untapped market, top IT services firms Accenture, Cognizant, and Infosys are investing in it. These firms are tapping their . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

TV Advertising Budgets Are Under Siege

by David M. Cooperstein, February 8, 2010

Forrester and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) surveyed 104 US advertisers representing nearly $14 billion in measured media budgets. More than half of them — 62% — told us that TV advertising is less effective than it used to . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Market Overview: Applications Outsourcing Suppliers Adjust To The "New Normal"

by Bill Martorelli, February 8, 2010

Suppliers of application development and maintenance (ADM) were whipsawed during 2009 by the impact of severe economic uncertainty and the subsequent partial recovery throughout the middle and latter parts of the year. Revenues are still down for many . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Increasing Online Insurance Self-Service Adoption

Nine Tactics To Increase Adoption, Serve Customers, And Lower Costs

by Chad Mitchell, February 8, 2010

Insurance online self-service continues to gain momentum, but customer adoption remains low. We found that 55% of US online adults who own insurance have not visited their insurance provider's Web site in the past year. eBusiness managers for direct and . . .

For CIOs

The State Of The PMO

Increased Strategic Focus Extends PMO Roles Across The Enterprise

by Craig Symons, February 8, 2010

In the fall of 2009, Forrester Research in partnership with the Program Management Office Specific Interest Group (PMOSIG) of the Project Management Institute conducted a survey of the PMOSIG membership about the state of the PMO. The survey results provide . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

London 2012: Athletes And New Services Will Push Boundaries, Not The Underlying Technologies

by Mike Cansfield, February 8, 2010

In the first of our series of reports on the information and communications technology (ICT) behind the London 2012 Olympic Games, we looked at the six lessons that vendor strategists can draw from planning the biggest show on earth. When it comes to . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Web Application Firewall: 2010 And Beyond

WAF+ Finds Its Place In Firms' Network Infrastructure

by Chenxi Wang, Ph.D., February 8, 2010

Having been thrust into the spotlight by payment card industry (PCI) data security standard (DSS) requirements three years ago, Web application firewall (WAF) — a technology that detects and blocks attacks against Web applications — has significantly . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Using Digital Channels To Create Breakthrough Multichannel Experiences

How eBusiness Executives Can Adapt To Changing Consumer Behavior

by Henry H. Harteveldt, February 5, 2010

Operating in a multichannel environment isn't new, but it's becoming increasingly complex. Customers spend more time online and increasingly use digital channels to do more than just buy goods — they now routinely use digital channels to gather . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Mapping The Customer Journey

Best Practices For Using An Important Customer Experience Tool

by Bruce D. Temkin, February 5, 2010

Left to their own devices, companies often neglect customers. But they don't need to. We recommend that organizations use customer journey maps to examine interactions from their customers' points of view. Mapping the customer journey requires five steps: . . .

For CIOs

Banking CIOs: Keep Your Eye On The Ball

Hot Banking Tech Companies To Watch In 2010

by Bobby Cameron, February 5, 2010

As the banking industry begins its climb out of the recession, banks are looking for ways to provide new services, foster better relationships with customers, integrate business processes and technology in new and better ways, and preserve or increase . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Trends 2010: North American Retail Banking eBusiness And Channel Strategy

Ten Areas Of Focus For The Next 12 Months

by Brad Strothkamp, February 5, 2010

2010 is shaping up to be a much better year for retail banking. While there will undoubtedly be lingering effects of the recession, the industry feels that that the worst is behind it. So what should eBusiness and channel strategy executives expect for . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Leveraging Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, And Perception To Drive B2B Tech Success

Vendors Must Enhance Customers' Total Vendor Experience (TVE) In A Rapidly Changing Tech Industry

by Daniel Krauss, February 5, 2010

In the tech sector, 2009 was challenging. A down economy paired with high uncertainty in purchasing decisions made it particularly hard for strategists to defend their competitive position. Vendors focused on retaining and acquiring clients that in 2009 . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Is The Honeymoon Over For Music And Video Games?

by Sonal Gandhi, February 4, 2010

The steep decline in the sales of music-based game titles in 2009 has both the music and games industries wondering if there is life left in the music/gaming liaison. While the current form of music-based gaming may have hit its market peak, music and . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Projections For 2010: IT Management Software

Say Hello To IT Management Software 2.0

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., February 4, 2010

The past decade has seen a considerable improvement in IT management software, especially where operational effectiveness is concerned. However, the economic downturn as well as new technologies such as virtualization and new thinking such as green IT . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Benchmarks And Best Practices For Online Video Advertising

The 2009 US Online Video Advertising WebTrack

by Nate Elliott, February 4, 2010

With users consuming more online video than ever, marketers are set to spend more than $1 billion on online video advertising in 2010. We watched nearly 50 hours of video on 87 Web sites to learn more about how publishers and marketers are deploying in-video . . .