For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Refresh Your Information Management Strategy To Deliver Business Results

by Rob Karel, James G. Kobielus, August 11, 2009

Many enterprises lack a framework to ensure business alignment with their information management (IM) strategies. Yet sound strategy is critical for prioritizing IM investments. Business issues driving the urgency for a revitalized strategy include: 1) . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Top Five Information Access Predictions For 2009

by Leslie Owens, January 30, 2009

Forrester's clients are frustrated by their inability to get enterprise search to work as advertised. Facing tough economic times in 2009, information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals in different industries will go separate ways with . . .

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

Topic Overview: Business Intelligence

by Boris Evelson, November 21, 2008

Business intelligence (BI) is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information. It allows business users to make informed business decisions with real-time data that can . . .

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 Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Must-Read I&KM Research For An Economic Downturn

by Matthew Brown, Connie Moore, Rob Karel, October 29, 2008

Financial bailouts, downward consumer spending, and roller-coaster stock markets are starting to put pressure on information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals. Will industry consolidation mean gut-wrenching systems consolidation? How will . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

A Consumer Market Researcher's Introduction To Reinventing The Corporate Library

by Ted Schadler, June 27, 2008

Consumer market research professionals have a lot in common with corporate librarians: Both are responsible for putting information in the hands of decision-makers. A new report by Forrester is a must-read for any market researcher struggling to manage . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Best Practices: Reinventing The Corporate Library

by Leslie Owens, May 20, 2008

Knowledge workers and the companies they work for will only thrive if they have the best information. People have been lulled into thinking that there are just two places where information exists: somewhere in the enterprise or on the consumer Web. They're . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Case Study: Deere & Company Library Integrates With The Business And Quantifies Its Impact

by Leslie Owens, May 20, 2008

Many corporate libraries face extinction because they are out of step with business needs and out of the loop with their potential customers. To overcome this challenge, Deere & Company's library team hired a professional with a business background, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Five Top Challenges Information And Knowledge Managers Must Master In 2008

by Connie Moore, Rob Karel, January 30, 2008

Information and knowledge managers are constantly bombarded by new technologies — like RIAs, wikis, blogs, and virtual worlds — or new market trends, such as the recent consolidation in business intelligence (BI). Plus there's the ever-changing organizational . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Build EA Artifacts That Matter

by Jeff Scott, January 15, 2008

Enterprise architects frequently ask Forrester which artifacts are most important to create and how they should be constructed. Though the answer to which artifacts are important varies by organization, there is a straightforward method for constructing . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Tooling EA Road Maps

by Henry Peyret, January 10, 2008

Enterprise architects increasingly use road maps as essential graphics for technology planning and synchronizing business planning with technology strategy. With virtually no option other than the manual construction of road maps, architects are creating . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Information Managers: Deliver Trusted Data With A Focus On Data Quality

by Rob Karel, January 3, 2008

Information managers have gone through ten or more years of underperforming CRM, ERP, data warehousing (DW), and business intelligence (BI) initiatives. These projects' want of success often shares the same root cause: lack of business user confidence . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Enterprise Architecture? What's In It For Me?

To Communicate EA's Value, Architects Must Relate It To Stakeholders' Goals

by Gene Leganza, December 21, 2007

Enterprise architects know that their EA programs provide significant value to their organizations. But communicating EA's value is challenging: As a strategic activity, it doesn't have the immediate impact of other IT activities, such as implementing . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Automated Application Discovery: The Enterprise Architect's Auto-Aide

by Charles Brett, December 12, 2007

The challenge that enterprise architects face in establishing enterprise architecture (EA) lies less in its creation and more in its lack of observance by the developers or others that it is supposed to govern. There are few tools to assist architects . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Assess Your Enterprise Agility

Agree On Agility Objectives With Your Internal Peers

by Henry Peyret, November 12, 2007

Firms and government organizations are constantly buffeted by changes in their business environment — from changing customer tastes to economic changes affecting raw material prices to government regulations that make hitherto smart business strategies . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Best Practices: Architecture Review

Transparency, Consistency, And Project Governance Alignment Are Key

by Larry Fulton, October 25, 2007

Enterprise architecture (EA) professionals must achieve high levels of technical consistency across IT projects with limited resources and often with limited authority. Many EA groups implement some variation of an architecture review as the means to . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Case Study: BOK Financial Uses Architecture Review To Streamline Technology Usage

Costs Reduced While Improving IT Effectiveness

by Larry Fulton, October 25, 2007

Faced with rapid growth of customers and expansion into new banking markets with larger competitors, BOK Financial launched a transformation of its technology team, including the formation of its first enterprise architecture group, a technology steering . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Information Classification Must Reach Beyond Knowledge Management

There Are Many Faces Of Information Classification

by Paul Stamp, Barry Murphy, Stephanie Balaouras, October 2, 2007

Information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals incorrectly assume that information classification is all about making information easier to find. This narrow vision ignores other critical reasons for classifying information — such as ensuring . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Effective High-Level Architecture Principles Spoon-Feed Business Implications To Stakeholders

US Government's Architecture Principles Illustrate Right Form And Content

by Gene Leganza, September 27, 2007

High-level architecture principles encapsulate and communicate an enterprise's goals, vision, and values. They are key constructs that provide guidance to governance bodies and individuals for making decisions in a manner consistent with the enterprise . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Will Enterprise Architecture Exchange Tools Emerge?

by Henry Peyret, September 16, 2007

Many organizations find that they can't avoid choosing several tools to satisfy their wide range of enterprise architecture (EA) stakeholders. These enterprises can only maintain a single version of the truth for EA by consolidating and exchanging data . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

EA And Metrics: For Maximum Impact, Measure The Business Value

by Ken Vollmer, September 13, 2007

Enterprise architects have a variety of options for defining metrics related to projects or day-to-day activities, and the most obvious ones are those that relate to the technical aspects of these efforts. However, by highlighting the positive impact . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Data Governance: What Works And What Doesn't

by Rob Karel, September 10, 2007

The demand for trusted information continues to spiral upward, driven not only by investments in customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management, business intelligence, and data warehousing, but also . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Topic Overview: Enterprise Architecture

by Gene Leganza, August 13, 2007

As business technology (BT) becomes integral to organizations' focus on growth, innovation, and flexibility, IT organizations are turning to enterprise architecture (EA) to best advance objectives ranging from operational efficiency to delivering BT-enabled . . .

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 . . .