For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Addressing Diverse Stakeholders In The IT And Business Services Buying Process

Planning For 2010 Requires A Clear Understanding Of Roles

by Chris Andrews, November 20, 2009

For years, Forrester has written about the evolution of information technology (IT) into business technology (BT) — an idea that is rooted in Forrester's view that technology is becoming more relevant and strategic to business processes. This trend, which . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

3Com Gives HP Core Networking — And Amps Up Cisco Competition

The Converged Infrastructure Market Heats Up

by Ellen Daley, November 12, 2009

HP announced an agreement yesterday to acquire 3Com for about $2.7 billion. This deal is mostly about market — not product — acquisition. HP gets China (a strong growth market), a good enterprise switch, a solid security product, and a router portfolio. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Consumer Security Market Trends, 2009 To 2010: Evolving Threats And Defenses

by Jonathan Penn, November 12, 2009

As the nature of cyber threats has evolved, consumers' definition of security and their expectations of solutions have been changing as well. With the rise of account compromise and identity theft as a primary and highly profitable goal for hackers, protecting . . .

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 Overview: Workload Automation, Q3 2009

Is BSM The Future Of Workload Automation?

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, November 9, 2009

Job scheduling is a necessary component of data centers. Without job scheduling, an enterprise could simply not execute long application processes that deal with massive amounts of data and are necessary to prepare for online and transactional processing. . . .

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 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

The IT Management Software Challengers

SWOT Analysis For ASG, Compuware, EMC, Quest Software, And Microsoft, Q3 2009

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, October 26, 2009

The 2009 IT management software (ITMS) market seems to favor smaller vendors to the detriment of larger ones. Preliminary results for the first three quarters of 2009 show that the megavendors' share of the ITMS market has again declined from 2008. This . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words: Business Video Growth

Improved Communications And Collaboration Drive Interest In Business Video

by Henry Dewing, October 26, 2009

Forrester's recent Enterprise And SMB Networks And Telecommunications Survey, North America And Europe, Q1 2009 asking businesses about their video use found that all types of video solutions were of interest — from video surveillance to IP video streaming . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Capgemini Consulting Is Moving To Become A Global Transformation Partner For M&A

M&A Services SWOT Analysis: Capgemini Consulting, Q4 2009

by Daniel Krauss, Pascal Matzke, October 21, 2009

Capgemini Consulting, the newly formed global consulting business unit of Capgemini, provides a well-defined portfolio for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) services. This step of globalizing its business is timely, given that strategic decisions in . . .

For Technology Sales Enablement Professionals

A Systematic Approach To Strategic Account Programs Improves Tech Sales Performance

Account Value Mapping Expands Wallet Share In Key Accounts

by Scott Santucci, October 19, 2009

In response to the continued tough economic climate and feedback from customers, vendors with large portfolios are placing bigger bets on their strategic account programs and shifting their focus from gaining market share of key products to expanding . . .

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

B2B Channel Incentive Programs In The Technology Industry

A Benchmark Of 11 Technology Vendors' Programs And Operations

by Peter O'Neill, Tim Harmon, October 13, 2009

One of the most important business processes for technology industry (TI) vendors is to manage an indirect sales channel, which some vendors see as only an augmentation to their direct sales efforts. Forrester interviewed 11 leading TI vendors about their . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: Enterprise Mobility Year In Review

Analysis Of Mobility Press Announcements Identify Key Vendor Opportunities

by Michele Pelino, October 7, 2009

An analysis of publicly available enterprise mobility announcements between mid-2008 through mid-2009 highlight opportunities for vendors in the mobility ecosystem, including device manufacturers, network operators, application developers, systems integrators, . . .

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 Vendor Strategy Professionals

Tech Horizons: OpTier, A Step Toward Business Service Management (BSM) 2.0

Is Business Transaction Management The New BSM?

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, October 5, 2009

BSM is firmly established now as a way to manage IT as a business tool rather than as a collection of fragile technologies. In this transformation of IT into a service provider, technology is only one element of the equation and is no longer the only . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Case Study: How AT&T Is Helping The Williams F1 Racing Team Become More Competitive

by Mike Cansfield, September 22, 2009

AT&T is the title sponsor and exclusive telecommunications services provider of the Williams Formula One (F1) motor racing team. Like any other business, F1 is a relentlessly competitive environment. AT&T is more than just a sponsor of the team; . . .

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

Market Momentum: IT Security Market, H1 2009

by Jonathan Penn, September 16, 2009

Forrester's market momentum overview assists vendor strategy professionals in tracking the evolution of the IT security market and in gathering intelligence about the major activities in that industry. In H1 2009, we tracked 178 different activities across . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Creating Value From "How-To" Videos

Use "Content As Marketing" To Engage Online Audiences

by Nick Thomas, September 11, 2009

We are all media companies now. One effect of the digitization of content is that the barriers to entry have come down: While the creation and distribution of content used to be the preserve of specialized companies with deep pockets and expertise, in . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Music Release Windows: The Product Innovation That The Music Business Can't Do Without

by Mark Mulligan, September 4, 2009

In the late 20th century, music business artist contracts, development cycles, release schedules, and promotional activity were all shaped around getting a little shiny disc of a dozen or so tracks into the stores. Now in the 21st century, the album straightjacket . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The Tier One Middleware Vendors

A SWOT Analysis Of The Leading Business Process Platform Vendors: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, And SAP

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., September 4, 2009

The four largest traditional software vendors — IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP — compete around business process platform software. This broader software segment covers all the components that independent software vendors (ISVs) need to create a packaged . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Case Study: Bank Of America Makes The Most Of Mobile Banking

A Mobile POST Case Study

by Julie A. Ask, Seth Fowler, September 3, 2009

Bank of America's mobile strategy aims to offer customers control of their accounts and convenient information through the most advanced mobile services available. Connectors and SuperConnecteds, whose cell phone habits include using productivity-enhancing . . .