For CIOs

Role Descriptions For The Office Of The CIO

Key Roles Support The CIO In Driving IT's Success

by Marc Cecere, October 22, 2009

Forrester has assembled job descriptions for several roles within the Office of the CIO — the group of IT leaders who report to the CIO and provide services outside of applications and infrastructure. Based on analyst expertise and a sampling of actual . . .

For CIOs

The Value Of A Green IT Maturity Assessment

Introducing Forrester's Green IT Maturity Assessment Methodology

by Doug Washburn, Christopher Mines, October 20, 2009

CIOs recognize the importance of environmental considerations in planning IT operations, but they are often unsure about how to put that recognition into action. With sustainability rising on the corporate agenda, and the cost, risk, and revenue benefits . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Help Yourself Make Tomorrow's IT Decisions

Tools For IT Planning

by Simon Yates, June 23, 2009

Flexibility and quick thinking are vital when planning for IT, so go ahead and arm yourself with the best weapons: You're going to need them. Volatility in the marketplace and an increased reliance on IT across all business sectors have forced IT managers . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

During Tough Economic Times, IT Leadership Will Rely On I&O To Drive Cost Savings

Redesign IT Roles To Drive IT Cost Reduction

by Simon Yates, April 22, 2009

When times get tough, executives start looking for ways to cut costs. In many cases, their cost-reduction strategies will require considerable input from the infrastructure and operations (I&O) group. Whether the department is being restructured, . . .

For CIOs

Tools For IT Planning

by Sharyn Leaver, March 23, 2009

Strategic planning is more difficult than ever. Today's volatile economic environment means that IT must plan quickly, more flexibly, and more thoroughly. Plans that don't follow this path quickly become obsolete — sometimes even before they're completed. . . .

For CIOs

Redesign IT Roles To Drive IT Cost Reduction

by Marc Cecere, March 5, 2009

Today's economy requires most IT organizations to reduce their costs. Ironically, the roles most essential to this process are also viewed as overhead. Several strategic roles, including architecture, vendor management, and relationship management provide . . .

For CIOs

Back To Basics — IT Strategy In Turbulent Times

Service Archetypes Focus IT Delivery Strategy

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., February 4, 2009

Budget pressures and business expectations are squeezing IT as CIOs grapple with balancing efficiency and business enablement. CIOs can strengthen their position by mastering the business management practices identified by Harvard Business School's Evergreen . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Business Process Analysis, EA Tools, And IT Planning, Q1 2009

IDS Scheer, Casewise, MEGA, Metastorm, And Troux Technologies Lead The EA Tools Category

by Henry Peyret, January 7, 2009

In this second release of Forrester's assessment of enterprise architecture and business process analysis (BPA) tools, Forrester assessed nine leading vendors in a 93-criteria evaluation. We found that IDS Scheer, Casewise, MEGA, Metastorm, and Troux . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IT To BT — An Opportunity For Vendors

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., November 13, 2008

Forrester has argued that a fundamental shift from information technology (IT) to business technology (BT) is occurring. Vendor strategists need to realign their value proposition to take into account the different needs IT executives will develop when . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Tech Strategists — Improve Your Portfolio Planning

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., November 12, 2008

Forrester's TechRadar™ methodology is uniquely useful for vendor strategists in their portfolio planning. Using three criteria of ecosystem maturity, business value-add adjusted for uncertainty, and future trajectory, vendor strategists will be . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Enabling Business Technology

Five Essential Best Practices For The IT-To-BT Transformation

by Robert Whiteley, August 15, 2008

As technology becomes increasingly integral to firms' offerings, strategy, and organization, the traditional model of IT as an independent and monolithic entity within the larger business is outmoded. Business technology (BT) will replace IT's technology . . .

For CIOs

What Are The Hot Roles In IT?

by Marc Cecere, August 14, 2008

Near-term demand for hot roles in IT will be driven by the need for local and cross-discipline knowledge, changes in technology, greater emphasis on managing risk and the enterprise, and a limited supply of key roles. For example, business architects . . .

For CIOs

Synchronizing Strategy And The IT Portfolio

Doing The Right Things Every Time

by Craig Symons, July 25, 2008

IT and business strategy alignment remains a concern of many IT and business executives, yet few organizations have put in place any formal processes or activities to improve it, and even fewer attempt to measure it. At the same time, portfolio management . . .

For CIOs

Creating An M&A Integration Assessment Framework  (318 KB PPT)

by Alex Cullen, July 3, 2008

Many IT organizations struggle with planning the integration after M&A - they are not brought into M&A discussions as soon as they would like, and the discussions are tactical around the current M&A issues. IT within firms that have a strategy . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Enterprise Process Improvement Initiatives  (186 KB PPT)

by Andy Salunga, Elisse Gaynor, June 16, 2008

Enterprise Process Improvement Initiatives From: October 2007 North American Business Process And Applications Online Survey

For CIOs

Five Essential Best Practices For The IT-To-BT Transformation

CIOs Must Prepare IT For Its Future Role As BT Enabler

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., May 13, 2008

Each wave of technology change challenges IT's management practices. Two forces coming together will frame IT's next set of challenges: ubiquitous computing and business technology (BT). Each will affect the CIO's organization differently, but the end . . .

For CIOs

A Best Practices Sample IT Strategic Plan

A Complete And Effective Plan Should Be Short And To The Point

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., Lewis Cardin, May 1, 2008

Every IT organization must develop and maintain a strategic plan; without one, IT will struggle with being the "master of its own destiny" — it will not have a means to document and communicate priorities and constraints nor to get business support for . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Forrester's Strategy Review Methodology Tool  (55 KB XLS)

by Chris Andrews, May 1, 2008

Forrester's Strategic Review Methodology Tool

For CIOs

Sample IT Strategic Plan  (3.3 MB PPT)

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., Lewis Cardin, May 1, 2008

This sample strategic plan for a fictional company can be used as a template for companies wishing to create their own strategic plans. Use the May 1, 2008, "Best Practices Strategic Plan" report for guidance through the powerpoint.

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IT As Just Yet Another Shared Service

SWOT Analysis: IBM Tivoli, Q4 2007

by Evelyn Hubbert, January 7, 2008

The ability for IT organizations to deliver strategic business value to their organizations depends on the operational integration among the still "siloed" sections in IT, which are the development, administration, and operation groups. To drive the shared . . .

For CIOs

Topic Overview: Legacy Applications

Forrester's Reference Guide For Effective Management Of Legacy Applications

by Phil Murphy, August 30, 2007

As an industry, IT tends to dismiss rather than reuse previous technology genres and, as a result, has spent vast sums to rip and replace technology for technology's sake, often at the expense of business value. With value-to-the-business being the rallying . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Introducing Forrester's TechRadar™ Research

How To Make Smarter Technology Planning Decisions

by Laura Koetzle, David Metcalfe, August 1, 2007

Technology planners face a challenge to make the best technology adoption, maintenance, and retirement decisions for their firms. To make these decisions, stakeholders assess business and technology criteria. Forrester's TechRadar research describes and . . .

For CIOs

A New CIO's 100-Day Plan

Setting The Stage For CIO Success

by Lewis Cardin, April 23, 2007

When new CIOs start, they have to immediately create momentum and build credibility. High expectations are held by the business community, senior executives, and the IT organization itself — and starting off on the right foot is critical to managing those . . .

For CIOs

The IT Strategic Plan Step-By-Step

Deliver An Actionable Plan In A Reasonable Timeframe

by Alex Cullen, Marc Cecere, April 10, 2007

It's April and you are four months into your organization's fiscal year. You know that within six months you'll need to have your operating plan for the upcoming year in fairly solid shape. You also know that creating an operating plan without a longer-range . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Operating System Vendors: Do More To Help Users With Server Security

by Jennifer Albornoz Mulligan, April 10, 2007

In November 2006, Forrester surveyed 137 server security decision-makers about their approaches to securing their server operating systems and learned about their struggle to keep their systems patched and ensure appropriate administrative controls. Operating . . .