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

Vendor Strategists: Time To Revisit Your Corporate Strategy And Your Management Portfolio

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., Daniel Krauss, October 29, 2009

The current recession clearly showed at many companies how fundamental issues with corporate strategy can lead to a savage reality, affecting corporate stability in a big way. Strategists have started fighting back with a constant stream of ad hoc decision-making . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Gen Y Won't Change Workplace Collaboration; Better Integrated Tools Will

Demystifying The Myth Of A Gen-Y-Led Workplace Revolution

by TJ Keitt, October 28, 2009

Gen Yers in the US workforce, those between the ages of 18 and 29, are a confounding phenomenon. Some employers see their self-assured, authority-wary ways as a detriment to business while others see their tech-savvy as a harbinger of a new collaborative . . .

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 Vendor Strategy Professionals

M&A Activity In The Current Downturn Reshapes The Software And Services Markets

A Review Of M&A In The Software And Services Markets, H1 2009

by Daniel Krauss, October 13, 2009

Although mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the tech industry in absolute numbers declined in H1 2009, the deals coming through in the current period are likely to fundamentally transform the overall market landscape. Principally, M&A . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Tata Consultancy Services: Using The Downturn To Reposition Its IT M&A Services

M&A Services SWOT Analysis: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Q4 2009

by Daniel Krauss, Pascal Matzke, October 6, 2009

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has primarily focused on the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) IT requirements of clients in the financial services industry for many years. Backed by its strong IT system and process knowledge and experience, it has mainly . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Case Study: How HP Drives World-Class Product Innovation

Openness And Tight Management Define HP's Innovation Process

by Paul Jackson, September 21, 2009

In HP's 70-year history, it has innovated in many new and established technology fields. But how does the firm cope with the inevitable slide — faced by most dominant global firms — into driving established products rather than innovative ones? Whether . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Big Blue Gets Smarter: IBM Announces The Acquisition Of SPSS

IBM Strikes Out To Become The Leading BI Vendor

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

On July 28, 2009, IBM announced the plan to acquire SPSS, a leading provider of predictive analytics solutions. The acquisition, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, is expected to close later this year and will accelerate IBM in the . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Convenience Quotient Of Consumer Storage And Backup

by Nathan Safran, July 6, 2009

The consumer backup and storage space has become increasingly crowded — and sophisticated — over the past 24 months. From burning a DVD to using a full-blown home server, there are a wide variety of options today, with varying features and degrees of . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Less Is More In CE Design

by Nathan Safran, July 2, 2009

Consumer electronics (CE) design has long followed an upward technology curve as firms respond to consumer expectations for "more" — more features, more horsepower, more of everything. While consumers still expect their devices to become faster and more . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Building The Perfect Bundle

Use Quantitative Methods To Pinpoint What Consumers Want And How Much They Will Pay

by Doug Williams, June 29, 2009

Bundles have emerged as a strong opportunity for service providers to drive acquisition and improve customer retention, but only 20% of US online consumers subscribe to voice, broadband, and pay-TV service from a single provider. Today's consumers have . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Convenience Quotient Of Portable Computing

How Do Different Consumer Devices Stack Up For "Computing" Tasks?

by Paul Jackson, June 8, 2009

We're finally seeing consumers embrace computing on the go — whether it's experimentation with Net access and application downloads on the iPhone or trying out inexpensive netbooks, the past 18 months have seen an explosion in activity and functionality. . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

How Consumers Get Online Video To The TV

The Convenience Quotient Reveals The TV-Connected PC Is The One To Watch

by James L. McQuivey, Ph.D., June 8, 2009

Online video has finally come to the living room. Forrester estimates that nearly 9 million homes in the US watch at least some online video on a TV set in a typical month. Why they do so is obvious: They get more control over when they watch their favorite . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Innovating Corporate Strategy Services

by Daniel Krauss, May 29, 2009

Blurring boundaries within the broader consulting services market are leading to heated competition among consulting firms around thought leadership and business model innovation. In this context, strategic management paradigms and models are playing . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Verizon Becomes A Lean, Mean, FiOS Machine

by Doug Williams, May 15, 2009

From a consumer product strategy perspective, Verizon's decision to sell its remaining rural wireline properties to Frontier Communications will free the carrier to focus on its FiOS and wireless products in more strategic, densely populated areas. By . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Siemens IT Solutions And Services Evolves A Strong IT-Based M&A Services Proposition

M&A Services SWOT Analysis: Siemens IT Solutions And Services, Q2 2009

by Daniel Krauss, Pascal Matzke, April 27, 2009

Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS) has made significant efforts to build out its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) services portfolio over the past two years, with a strong focus on the IT requirements of clients during the course of transactions. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IBM Offers A Broad M&A Services Portfolio With Strong Integration Capabilities

M&A Services SWOT Analysis: IBM Global Business Services, Q2 2009

by Daniel Krauss, Pascal Matzke, April 27, 2009

IBM Global Business Services (IBM GBS) provides a broad mergers and acquisitions (M&A) services portfolio, which is also fueled by IBM's ample M&A knowledge and business expertise. The company benefits not only from its strong brand and global . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Deloitte Offers A Strong Globally Integrated Services Portfolio For Complex M&A

M&A Services SWOT Analysis: Deloitte, Q2 2009

by Daniel Krauss, April 27, 2009

Deloitte provides a highly compelling mergers and acquisitions (M&A) services proposition through its broad portfolio and deep business expertise, which are underpinned by a highly consistent and integrated go-to-market strategy. Deloitte primarily . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Accenture Provides Truly Integrated M&A Services, Backed By Strong Industry Expertise

M&A Services SWOT Analysis: Accenture, Q2 2009

by Daniel Krauss, April 27, 2009

Accenture's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) services portfolio represents a core element of its offerings and is provided through a truly integrated and global go-to-market strategy. Thanks to its deep business expertise as well as its strong and trusted . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Impetus For Consumer Product Strategy Change

by Paul Jackson, April 9, 2009

It is an "interesting" time to be a consumer product strategist at a technology or services company: The technologies we have been waiting for have finally hit the mainstream, and new technologies are emerging from the lab — but the consumer market and . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IBM's Bid For Sun Is About More Than Just Solaris And Java

Sun's Innovations Can Improve IBM's Prospects Outside Enterprise Markets

by Frank E. Gillett, March 24, 2009

Vendor strategists are calling Forrester asking what we make of the possibility of IBM buying Sun Microsystems. The conventional wisdom is that IBM wants to capture the Solaris/SPARC customer base to boost the AIX/Power business and own Java to protect . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: Tech-Enabled Business Services Market Activity, H2 2008

by Chris Andrews, March 17, 2009

Many IT service providers are seeking to embed themselves deeper in the core business processes of their customers. In the process, they are uncovering new market opportunities that are increasingly differentiated from traditional IT services work. Service . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Navigating Through The Volatility And Complexity Of The Tech Industry Ecosystem

by Pascal Matzke, January 9, 2009

Whatever the vagaries of the current economic downturn, the tech industry is caught in the grips of a deep structural change that will drastically alter the nature of industry supply and demand. Tech vendor strategists need to learn new rules in order . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Leveraging Forrester's Research And Models For Strategic Advantage

Uncertain Economic Times Create Competitive Opportunities

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., Daniel Krauss, December 22, 2008

A recession provides companies in general and vendor strategists in particular with a unique opportunity to leapfrog the competition. But not all strategic paradigms and models are equally well suited for this task. We have designed Forrester's research . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

There Are Two Types Of Compute Clouds

Server Clouds And Scale-Out Clouds Serve Very Different Customer Needs

by Frank E. Gillett, November 21, 2008

Cloud computing is a confusing topic for vendor strategists. One reason? Most of us confuse two fundamentally different types of compute clouds as one. Server clouds support the needs of traditional business apps while scale-out clouds are designed for . . .