For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: IT Management Software Market, H1 2009

Vendors Are Missing The Cloud And Virtualization Waves

by Peter O'Neill, November 5, 2009

Forrester's market momentum overview assists vendor strategy professionals in tracking the evolution of the IT management software (ITMS) market and in gathering intelligence about the major activities. In the first half of 2009, we tracked 165 different . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Refresher Course: Hiring VARs

Most Enterprises Have Experience With Value-Added Resellers, But Updating The Selection Process Can Bring More Value For Clients

by Duncan Jones, Caroline Roeleveld-Hoekendijk, November 5, 2009

Most enterprises use value-added resellers (VARs), but in our research we found that clients are dissatisfied with their resellers' value for money. Sourcing managers should work out what they are spending with resellers across all product and business . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

B2B Channel Incentive Programs In The Technology Industry

A Benchmark Of 11 Technology Vendors' Programs And Operations

by Peter O'Neill, Tim Harmon, October 13, 2009

One of the most important business processes for technology industry (TI) vendors is to manage an indirect sales channel, which some vendors see as only an augmentation to their direct sales efforts. Forrester interviewed 11 leading TI vendors about their . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

2009 Canadian Telecom Outlook   (646 KB PPT)

by Ellen Daley, September 22, 2009

Forrester Research takes a look at the percentage of Canadian firms who purchase managed telecom services and why they chose to purchase, their interest in procuring managed services, and who would they prefer to purchase managed services from. Data was . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The Tier One Middleware Vendors

A SWOT Analysis Of The Leading Business Process Platform Vendors: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, And SAP

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., September 4, 2009

The four largest traditional software vendors — IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP — compete around business process platform software. This broader software segment covers all the components that independent software vendors (ISVs) need to create a packaged . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Making The SaaS And Collaboration Marriage Work

A Framework For Collaboration SaaS Vendors To Capitalize On The Channel

by TJ Keitt, August 31, 2009

Finding collaboration and Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate collaboration between employees and partners is a top business priority. How technology enters businesses is changing as business leaders and individual workers are demanding more say in choosing . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

The Seven Deadly Sins Of B2B Channel Enablement

Channel Partners Sound Off

by Tim Harmon, July 17, 2009

Current economic conditions are laying bare what's not working for channel partners, exposing issues ranging from channel conflict, to the "channel usability" of technologies, to community disenfranchisement. As companies try to move more volume through . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

The Changing Yin And Yang Of Tech Vendors And Channel Partners

Business Model Changes Call For Realigning The Demand Chain

by Tim Harmon, July 10, 2009

For years, channel partners have based their businesses around specific offerings sold into specific geographies or verticals. Today, channel partners are making dramatic adjustments to business models to cope with new levels of complexity, software-as-a-service/platform-as-a-service . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Software Budget Outlook And Preferred Purchasing Channels By Company Size: 2008 To 2009  (244 KB PPT)

by Ellen Daley, June 5, 2009

Software budget outlook and preferred purchasing channels by company size that provides insight into how the current global economic climate is affecting IT budgets, an overview of software budget breakdowns, and a comparison of preferred purchasing channels . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Enterprise Versus SMB: Who Influences Your Software Purchasing Decisions?  (448 KB PPT)

by Ellen Daley, June 5, 2009

Forrester's 2008 software study was fielded to 2,227 IT executives and technology decision-makers located in Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US from companies with 2 or more employees. The purpose of this study was to analyze trends in enterprise . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Sources Of Offline And Online Media Influence For Purchasing Decisions: North America And Europe  (234 KB PPT)

by Ellen Daley, June 5, 2009

An overview of offline and online media that influence purchasing decisions of North American and European firms.

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: Business Intelligence, Q1 To Q3 2008

Vendor Communications Reflect Business Intelligence Trends

by Holger Kisker, Ph.D., May 29, 2009

As the business intelligence (BI) market absorbs a recent round of market-changing mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Forrester analyzed the evolution of this fast-growing market and tracked 434 unique activities in the first three quarters of 2008 from . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Clouds Appearing In The Sky Of Outsourcing

How Outsourcing Providers Can Turn Cloud Computing And SaaS From Threats Into Opportunities

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., May 13, 2009

While cloudy vendor marketing is creating customer confusion, cloud computing represents a powerful force that will change the IT services landscape. Public and private clouds in particular represent a new paradigm for provisioning enterprise IT infrastructure . . .

For Technology Sales Enablement Professionals

Hardware Tech Marketers Bank On The Small Financial Services Market

by Ellen Carney, May 6, 2009

Not too long ago, IT hardware vendors banked on the business they got from financial services industry giants like Morgan Stanley, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and AIG. When the Wall Street bubble burst, hardware tech vendors like Cisco Systems, Dell, . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Forrester's Partner-Type Taxonomy: Lingua Franca For A New Era

Simplifying The Partner Dance Card So Everybody Is On The Same Page

by Peter O'Neill, April 22, 2009

Compared with other industries, outsiders perceive information technology (IT) to be relatively young — influenced in its youthfulness more by technology than business trends and driven by technology experts with only occasional business-savvy. The partnerships . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Craft Your Negotiations Strategy To Reflect New Packaged Apps Licensing And Pricing Trends

by R "Ray" Wang, April 3, 2009

Results from Forrester's Enterprise And SMB Software Survey, North America And Europe, Q4 2008 reveal three major trends shaping contract negotiations strategy: 1) declines in software spending; 2) improved negotiating leverage for buyers; and 3) vendor . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: IT Management Software Market, H2 2008

Are Vendors Promoting Themselves Enough?

by Peter O'Neill, March 27, 2009

Forrester's market momentum overview assists vendor strategy professionals in tracking the evolution of the IT management software market and in gathering intelligence about the major activities. In the second half of 2008, we tracked 177 different activities . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

The State Of Emerging SMB Hardware Trends: 2008 To 2009

Business Data Services North America And Europe

by Frank E. Gillett, February 27, 2009

This report provides sample highlights of an extensive data set collected across North American and European enterprises via our Enterprise And SMB Hardware Survey, North America And Europe, Q3 2008. Hot topics include server virtualization, cloud computing, . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

The State Of Emerging Enterprise Hardware Trends: 2008 To 2009

Business Data Services North America And Europe

by Frank E. Gillett, February 27, 2009

This report provides sample highlights of an extensive data set collected across North American and European enterprises via our Enterprise And SMB Hardware Survey, North America And Europe, Q3 2008. Hot topics include server virtualization, green IT, . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Forrester's Platform-As-A-Service Reference Architecture

A Tool To Guide ISVs, Hosting Providers, And Middleware Vendors To A SaaS Future

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., February 20, 2009

Increasing customer demand for software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications has already convinced 50% of software vendors to deploy some of their business applications via SaaS. The approach is turning out to be a major technology challenge, as it re-opens . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Market Overview: Sizing Unified Communications

Stalled Market Blossoms To $14.5 Billion In 2015 As Barriers Fall

by Henry Dewing, February 5, 2009

Forrester forecasts that the market for unified communications within enterprises in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific will reach $14.5 billion in 2015. Unified communications (UC) is an important, innovative capability that IT buyers and business . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

B2B Channel Management In A Down Economy

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

by Tim Harmon, February 2, 2009

Vendors are responding to the economic slowdown with a wide range of channel management and channel marketing initiatives. Economic conditions dictate new approaches, in particular rethinking channel performance management and channel model innovation. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

ISV Partner Programs Heat Up As SAP Doubles Down

Microsoft And IBM Add SaaS Dimensions To Leading Programs

by Merv Adrian, January 30, 2009

Software platform vendors are bidding for independent software vendor (ISV) loyalty with new features and benefits in their partner programs. In recent months, SAP has aggressively revamped and expanded its offering, Microsoft has begun to shepherd partners . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

A Go-To-Market Prescription For Economic Maladies

Looking At The Market Through SMB-Tinted Lenses

by Tim Harmon, January 30, 2009

During an economic downturn, all companies exhibit conservative technology buying patterns, not just small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). Consequently, many go-to-market models built for SMB tech buyers now apply to larger enterprises as well. Vendors . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Remote And Small Site Access In The US: A Look At Six Alternative Service Providers

AuBeta, Hughes Network Systems, IVANS, MegaPath, New Edge Networks, And PAETEC

by Lisa Pierce, January 15, 2009

Forrester clients whose network operations span a large number of small or remote locations often express interest in using providers other than AT&T, Qwest Communications, Sprint, or Verizon Business. They want to evaluate the capabilities of alternative . . .