For CIOs

Best Practices In IT Financial Management

The Foundation For Running IT Like A Business

by Craig Symons, November 6, 2009

In a recent Forrester survey of 84 enterprise IT decision-makers, only 52% said that they have a formal IT chargeback process in place. It is difficult to run IT like a business when the product appears to be free to customers but costs the business hundreds . . .

For CIOs

IT In The Public Sector In Australia

Benchmarking Your Practice Against Your Global Peers

by Tim Sheedy, October 28, 2009

With the tightening of IT budgets in the Australian federal government due to the review of IT operations by Sir Peter Gershon, the considerable consolidation of public sector agencies at the state level, and the considerable drop in tax revenues brought . . .

For CIOs

IT To BT Transformation: Threats And Opportunities For CIO Reporting Lines

by George Lawrie, October 26, 2009

CIOs face many threats and opportunities as they grapple with the IT to BT transformation — including the risk of being sidelined by their line-of-business peers. Forrester surveyed 47 enterprise IT decision-makers to understand CIOs' level of confidence . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Making The Case For The Next-Generation PMO

Broader Visibility And Flexible Frameworks To Tackle More Work Without Killing The Budget

by Margo Visitacion, October 16, 2009

There isn't a business case for the "old school" project management office (PMO): We've tried it, and quite often it didn't work. Today's PMOs are under pressure to be business process change agents that demonstrate value without generating revenue. PMOs . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

What's Next For The IT-To-BT Transformation: The Contractualization Trend

by Henry Peyret, October 14, 2009

The combination of the current economic climate and business globalization is accelerating the evolution of business models toward a networked model, where businesses focus on their core competencies to add value and engage with other external and internal . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

SOA Centers Of Excellence: The Five Most Valuable Practices That Keep SOA On Track

Survey Ranks Governance As More Important Than Training For SOA COEs

by Randy Heffner, August 28, 2009

Among the ways to keep a service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiative on track, forming a center of excellence (COE) is a frequently named option. Indeed, a recent Forrester survey shows that having an SOA COE correlates with higher satisfaction with . . .

For CIOs

Five Steps To Transform An IT Organization

Tips And Techniques From Top Consulting Firms And IT Shops

by Marc Cecere, August 21, 2009

Transforming an IT organization typically requires dramatic changes to processes, structure, governance, and culture. To determine how best to do this, Forrester reviewed the results of several transformation projects and the methodologies of a number . . .

For CIOs

IT Globalization Examples — Drivers, Hurdles, And Opportunities

by Bobby Cameron, August 7, 2009

CIOs are increasingly pursuing globalization in support of their firms' efforts to attack new markets and achieve greater efficiencies. But globalization is both an emerging and complicated change, and there are no signposts to tell firms which way to . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Your 2009 Business Analysts: Know Them To Grow Them

by Mary Gerush, July 23, 2009

A recent survey of approximately nine hundred current business analysts (BAs) indicates that business analysts are alive and kicking in organizations of all sizes and in all industries. They report into many different groups, and many are finding homes . . .

For CIOs

Distributed Enterprise 2.0

CIOs In Consumer-Facing, Distributed Firms Can Capitalize On Cloud Computing

by George Lawrie, July 23, 2009

In a desperate effort to maintain the connection with fickle consumers, line-of-business executives and their allies in IT are conspiring to lower the IT drawbridge in order to deliver personalized customer experiences wherever and whenever consumers . . .

For CIOs

Redesigning Your Applications Organization

by Marc Cecere, July 8, 2009

Redesigning the applications organization is the next major target for IT restructuring and is particularly attractive when cost reduction is needed. Infrastructure organizations have already gone through several stages of consolidation and standardization. . . .

For CIOs

Inquiry Spotlight: IT Chargeback, Q2 2009

Drivers And Challenges Of IT Cost Transparency

by Craig Symons, July 8, 2009

Charging back for IT services has been a controversial practice for many years, so much so that a significant number of organizations have either never implemented IT chargeback or have stopped the practice. Past crude allocation mechanisms provided no . . .

For CIOs

Gross Consulting Mistakes In Transforming IT Shops

Know Your Consultants' Limits

by Marc Cecere, June 4, 2009

Transforming an IT organization involves changes to structure, processes, and even culture. Many firms use consultants for these high-risk, highly complex projects. Occasionally, consultants take actions that hurt the projects and their relationships . . .

For Technology Sales Enablement Professionals

Role Profile: The Chief Information Security Officer

Understanding And Marketing To Security And Risk Professionals

by Emily Van Metre, Eric G. Brown, April 15, 2009

The chief information security officer (CISO) drives technology and services decisions that ensure compliance and protect the company's IT assets and brand. Knowing these stakeholders will help your sales force start the right conversation with a prospect, . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Building Best-In-Class eBusiness Teams

by Carrie Johnson, Elizabeth Davis, April 15, 2009

eBusiness leaders' biggest challenge lies in facing the tension between forming strong teams while also building a channel to evangelize the corporate brand and grow sales — all while managing internal politics and IT. By assessing the maturity of an . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Hybrid Testing Centers Of Excellence

In Dynamic SQA, Leveraging Internal Expertise Is Critical

by Margo Visitacion, April 13, 2009

As outsourcing increasingly becomes a regular occurrence in today's software quality assurance (SQA) organizations, application development pros are wondering how to combine technical expertise and process maturity with sufficient business process knowledge. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Overview: The M&A Management Tools Market In 2009

Providers Of Dedicated M&A Tools Are Set For Significant Growth Ahead

by Daniel Krauss, April 10, 2009

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) management tool providers are growing at rapid rates. This strong growth of M&A virtual deal room (VDR) and project management tool (PMT) providers will continue despite the current economic turmoil and fall in the . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: IT Asset Life-Cycle Management, Q2 2009

by Evelyn Hubbert, April 10, 2009

IT asset life-cycle management (ITALM) is a requirement for many goals the modern IT organization is pursuing. Without adequate ITALM tools and processes, key initiatives like moving to informed, process-oriented management, addressing compliance and . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Get The Tools For Business Analyst Success

by Connie Moore, March 31, 2009

Organizations rely on business analysts (BAs) to facilitate the delivery of technology and use process methodologies to improve the organization's effectiveness at the business unit, business function, and/or business process level. So isn't it time to . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Organizing Architecture Teams Q1 2009

by Gene Leganza, Katie Smillie, March 27, 2009

Forrester examined a total of 2,292 end user inquiries from enterprise architecture (EA) professionals in 2008. Many of these inquiries were about specific technology topics such as information and knowledge management, infrastructure and operations, . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

A Template For Marketing The Vendor Management Office  (1.1 MB PPT)

by John C. McCarthy, March 27, 2009

The template provides a framework for a senior sourcing or vendor management professional to justify the creation/continuation of a vendor management office (VMO).

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Best Practices: Aligning Your Infrastructure And Operations Department Around Virtualization

by Galen Schreck, Rachel A. Dines, March 20, 2009

Getting the most out of virtualization requires firms to overcome cultural divides that exist within even the most functional of IT departments. Persuading the business to make the upfront investment in virtualization is no small task, but even companies . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Enterprise BI Survey Q&A: BI Professionals Recognize The Need To Focus Beyond Tools

Forrester's Perspective On BI Survey Client Responses

by Boris Evelson, Rob Karel, March 17, 2009

Business intelligence (BI) remains a top priority for many enterprises, but delivering successful BI capabilities goes far beyond just the tools and enabling technologies. Historically, foundational BI best practices in data governance, data quality management, . . .

For CIOs

Business Realities Drive IT Globalization

by Bobby Cameron, March 12, 2009

Business leaders target globalization to deliver performance that spans geographic and organizational boundaries. What globalization means for CIOs is not simple — they have to help their firms deliver optimized global performance while meeting local . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Infrastructure & Operations Organizational Structures, Q1 2009

by Doug Washburn, Rachel A. Dines, March 11, 2009

Infrastructure and operations (I&O) departments are currently in a state of flux. Beyond increasing centralization, I&O departments are reorganizing to become service-oriented or are at least considering such a change. Why? When surveyed, IT executives . . .