For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Status, Challenges, And Near-Term Tactics For Cloud Services In Enterprise Outsourcing Deals

by Paul Roehrig, Ph.D., November 18, 2009

The blab-o-sphere is full of warnings, proclamations, and sales pitches about cloud services and this is only making it tougher for IT decision-makers to sort the reality from the hype in the face of pressing technology challenges. Decision-makers are . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: Develop A Technology Watch List

The Top 15 Technology Trends To Watch

by Sharyn Leaver, November 13, 2009

As IT executives set out their strategies and plan for 2010 and beyond, they must determine what the top technology trends are for their business and gauge IT's ability to support the next phase of technology innovation and growth. To help, Forrester . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Vendors Beware: Virtualization, PaaS, And SaaS Are Changing The Capacity Management Tools Market

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, November 10, 2009

Continuous improvement in the server technology performance-price ratio has caused many organizations to simply dismiss the need for accurate workload and resource planning efforts. In the current economic climate, infrastructure optimization and operational . . .

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 Business Process & Applications Professionals

The State Of ERP 2009: Market Forces Drive Specialization, Consolidation, And Innovation

by Paul D. Hamerman, November 2, 2009

As the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software market struggles against an unprecedented tide of economic woes, strategic opportunities are surfacing for customers. Soft market conditions mean fewer deals for vendors and better deals for buyers of . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Consolidated Backup Strategies For Remote Sites

by Stephanie Balaouras, October 30, 2009

A remote site can be as small as a branch office location with five employees or as large as a regional sales office with 50 employees. Regardless of a company's size, end users are creating and storing critical data at these sites. In some industries . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: Middleware Software Market, H2 2008 And H1 2009

Middleware Vendors Must Fight For Awareness In A Consolidating Market While Offering Cloud Innovations

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., October 27, 2009

Forrester's market momentum data includes mergers and acquisitions (M&A), product, partnership, and strategy/go-to-market announcements. A trend analysis provides vendors with important background for the ongoing market consolidation and various strategic . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Trends 2009: Master Data Management

Findings From Forrester's August 2009 Global Master Data Management/Data Quality Online Survey

by Rob Karel, October 23, 2009

Forrester continues to witness growing enthusiasm for master data management (MDM) initiatives across all industries, and in many cases those visions are slowly becoming reality. Yet while many large organizations work to either improve an existing MDM . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Q&A: A Cloudy Future For SaaS-Based Records Management

by Brian W. Hill, October 23, 2009

Effective records and retention management programs are critical to achieving compliance objectives and mitigating legal risk. However, enterprises face complex and shifting scenarios as they contend with a rapidly expanding array of digital content, . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Rewrite The Netbook Story For Business Technology Buyers

Position Netbooks For Business Use — Especially In Emerging Markets

by Jennifer Belissent, Ph.D., October 9, 2009

For a device that originated in the concept of the $100-laptop, the netbook certainly hasn't been fully marketed to emerging markets. Nor have firms really marketed netbooks for serious business use. Netbooks have become known as companion devices for . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

The Top 15 Technology Trends EA Should Watch

by Alex Cullen, October 6, 2009

IT organizations need to inform their annual and longer-term plans with an understanding of how changes in technology will enable business outcomes. EA groups are the logical leaders for this effort. Forrester has identified 15 technologies with the greatest . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

TechRadar™ For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals: Cloud Computing, Q3 2009

As Much Diversity Of Maturity Across Categories As Confusion Among Them

by James Staten, October 2, 2009

The No. 1 challenge in cloud computing today is determining what it really is. What categories of services exist within the definition and business model, and how ready are these options for enterprise consumption? Forrester defines cloud computing as . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Economic Forces Drive Lean BPM Trends And Adoption  (631 KB PPT)

by Clay Richardson, September 18, 2009

Data chart with key findings from the April 2009 Global Lean BPM Online Survey. Results include data on BPM initiative ownership, budgets, tools, and SaaS.

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

In Hard Economic Times, Technology Companies Must Make Implementation The Priority

by Tom Grant, Ph.D., September 15, 2009

As the current recession continues, and technology buyers keep a keen eye on total costs, missing or poorly defined implementation capabilities can stop new purchases short. Technology vendors must put implementation program design and execution high . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Case Study: CryoPort Turns To Cloud Computing To Develop Tomorrow's New Vaccines

by James Staten, September 9, 2009

New-vaccine and pharmaceutical delivery is a very time-sensitive application to say the least, especially when uncertainty can skew test results. CryoPort and KLATU Networks teamed up to build a biological package tracking system that leveraged Amazon . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Best Practices: Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IaaS)

by James Staten, September 9, 2009

It seems as if every CIO comes back from a conference cocktail party demanding IT "move to the cloud." While this can mean many things, including using software-as-a-service, managed hosting, or application service providers, the demand often centers . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Market Overview Of Cloud IT Services From Major Telcos

by Paul Roehrig, Ph.D., September 1, 2009

Interest and hype around cloud IT services is at an all-time high, but most enterprise decision-makers are still exploring the potential risks and rewards. Although most clients are not rushing to implement an unproven set of services, the promise for . . .

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 CIOs

Q&A: By 2011, CIOs Must Answer The Question, "Why Not Run In The Cloud?"

But Finding A Good Place To Start Is A Challenge For Most Shops

by James Staten, Ted Schadler, John R. Rymer, Chenxi Wang, Ph.D., August 14, 2009

At Forrester's IT Forum in Las Vegas in May 2009, we hosted an analyst panel about saving, making, and risking cash with cloud computing. The session sparked a lot of interest — and a lot of questions. With the buzz still strong, and a few more months . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Case Study: Ingres Takes Advantage Of Identity Management In The Cloud

by Andras Cser, August 14, 2009

Ingres, an open source database software and support services provider, knew that it needed to reform its online community by improving its ease of use, particularly in the area of identity management. After deciding to explore the use of a cloud-based . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Best Practices: Identity Management In The Cloud

by Andras Cser, August 14, 2009

Many companies are struggling to adopt cloud-based identity and access management (hosted IAM) because they typically end up overscoping this initiative or have a difficult time getting funding for it in the current economic climate. Organizations that . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Tier Your Workforce To Save Money With Cloud-Based Corporate Email

Occasional Users Can Run Email In The Cloud For As Little As $2.43 Per Month

by Ted Schadler, August 13, 2009

Information and knowledge management (I&KM) pros are used to giving all employees the same software tools. While this has the benefit of simplicity, it often means buying licenses for software that is seldom or never used. With cloud-based email, . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Yet Another Cloud

Forrester's First Proposal Of A Cloud Taxonomy

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., July 30, 2009

Despite the current crisis, the demand for cloud computing is growing at enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Some customers consider virtual infrastructure in the Internet as cloud, while others deem their business applications delivered . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

How To Message "Cloud" Offerings And Not Get Lost In The Fog

Speak Clearly To The Right Prospects Without Boosting Competitors

by Frank E. Gillett, July 24, 2009

The cloud computing phenomenon is extraordinarily hot, leading tech marketers to make messy messaging mistakes in their rush to respond. Positioning IT products and services vis-à-vis cloud concepts is challenging because marketers are using the term . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

How The Cloud Will Transform Disaster Recovery Services

Tape-Based Recovery Services Are Going The Way Of The Dinosaur

by Stephanie Balaouras, July 24, 2009

Regardless of company size or industry, your business can't afford downtime, but it's hard to justify improving your disaster recovery (DR) capabilities when you're under pressure to cut IT costs and when DR is seen as an expensive insurance policy. There . . .