http://www.forrester.com/ Forrester is an independent technology research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice about technology's impact on business. en-us 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 120 http://www.forrester.com/imagesV2/affiliates/logos/forrester.gif http://www.forrester.com/ http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44873&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Windows Server 2008, formerly code-named Longhorn, is finally out in the wild. The new version delivers enhancements in virtualization, manageability, and security that will entice firms to the new edition — but Microsoft's server virtualization solution, Hyper-V (code-named Viridian), is undoubtedly the most important enhancement. Windows Server 2008 retains a similar licensing structure to Windows Server 2003, but trends in virtualization and consolidation will have a significant impact on which licenses you purchase. IT Infrastructure & Operations Packaged Applications Sourcing & Procurement Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Christopher Voce" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44873&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=43207&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed With change endemic, business flexibility paramount, and the lines between strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making blurring, information and knowledge management (I&KM) pros must find new application architectures for a new generation of requirements. Business process management (BPM), business intelligence (BI), and business rules engine (BRE) software offer the architectural foundations to meet the challenge of continual business optimization, but too many I&KM pros approach these technologies largely in isolation. In fact, these "three B's" have significantly greater business impact when used together than when used separately. If your enterprise wants to move beyond mere efficiency and productivity improvements for back-office processes and seeks instead to optimize (and even transform) the business, look to the convergence of the "three B's" to serve as the foundation. Application Development Information & Knowledge Management Packaged Applications Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Boris Evelson, Colin Teubner, John R. Rymer" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=43207&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44730&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed An increasing number of firms are shifting the focus of their enterprise architecture (EA) practice from a local and national approach to a more regional, multicountry, and global one. This change in focus alters the way that architects must approach the various tasks they need to perform to become successful. Forrester studied a number of scenarios that show the challenges of global EA. Our key finding? Global EA is not an entirely new set of EA disciplines. It needs to be a carefully orchestrated extension of EA's reach that allows for more local requirements and for more complex decision-making and technology challenges in global organizations. Enterprise Architecture Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Jost Hoppermann" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44730&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45970&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Dynamic publishing — the ability to create content and repurpose it for the appropriate audience in the right medium — dramatically enhances an enterprise's ability to localize and deliver multichannel content. While dynamic publishing can enable faster time-to-market, ease content globalization efforts, and help leverage content for new uses, information and knowledge management (I&KM) pros had perceived these technologies as too complex to embrace. But with maturing technology, and the emergence and adoption of the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), dynamic publishing now appeals to greater audiences. Producers of marketing materials, technical publications, contracts, and others types of content struggling to be more efficient with content reuse and multichannel output should begin incorporating dynamic publishing into their content strategies. Information & Knowledge Management Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Sheri McLeish" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45970&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45920&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Telecommunications companies confront a high volume of inbound calls that deal with many different topics and problems. It is important for these companies to have valuable interactions with their customers as quickly as possible, whether they are solving a problem or finding a service plan to satisfy a customer. Forrester spoke with a telecommunications company that implemented complex event processing (CEP) to improve customer service. After incorporating CEP into its business processes, the company was able to decrease the time spent on calls by 18%, increase the sales of data plans by 27%, and create a simpler working environment for its customer service agents. Application Development Customer Experience Enterprise Architecture Information & Knowledge Management Packaged Applications Telecommunications Services Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Charles Brett" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45920&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45884&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Defining an SOA platform is not as simple as some in the industry make it out to be. Serious pursuit of service-oriented architecture (SOA) requires new and different characteristics in your application infrastructure. New product categories such as SOA repositories and enterprise service buses (ESBs) provide part of what's needed, but vendors are also making SOA enhancements to existing product categories such as application servers and IT management software. An effective SOA platform must be a cohesive integration of both new and existing products. Why? To deal with the many feature and function overlaps between specialty products, to manage feature and function overlap between specialty products and existing software infrastructure, and to achieve the smooth handoffs among SOA platform elements necessary to attain high quality of service (QoS) for your services. Sorting through the confusion requires that architects define their SOA platforms function-first — starting with the specific design and architecture characteristics of SOA — and not product-first (like some in the industry do). Forrester presents a model for defining a comprehensive SOA platform. Application Development Packaged Applications Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Randy Heffner" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45884&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45248&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Each wave of technology change challenges IT's management practices. Two forces coming together will frame IT's next set of challenges: ubiquitous computing and business technology (BT). Each will affect the CIO's organization differently, but the end result must be the transformation from an IT-centric view of technology to a BT-centric one. Five complementary best practices guide IT executives through the IT-to-BT transformation: 1) make IT-as-a-service your strategy; 2) architect IT governance as a process-of-processes; 3) consolidate and simplify organization around the services model; 4) use Lean methodologies to change the workaround culture; and 5) measure your performance in business-relevant terms. Individually, none of these practices are new or innovative, but the difference comes when IT executives orchestrate them together — filling the gap between aspiration and action. IT Management Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Alexander Peters, Ph.D." <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45248&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45814&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Firms are ramping up their vendor management capabilities as part of an overall drive to improve IT performance and service quality while managing cost. A vendor management office (VMO) provides the organization focus to institutionalize mature processes for the life cycle of a vendor relationship. A VMO can take a portfolio view of supplier relationships, recognizing the best partnerships and best practices for getting the most out of a partnership. CIOs should charter and build their VMO function, and position it as part of an extended "Office of the CIO." Sourcing & Procurement Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Alex Cullen" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45814&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44769&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Enterprise voice communications are undergoing significant changes. While IP telephony adoption has reached the mainstream, unified communications (UC) is transforming the market by offering new capabilities that facilitate business communications and integrate voice into the desktop. Non-traditional players in voice communications such as IBM and Microsoft redefine how companies will view voice in the future. To adequately prepare for the next five years, it is important for IT infrastructure and operations managers to fully understand the emerging market dynamics for collaboration and communication technologies. You need to update communication strategies to include new modes of communications: evolving standards such as session initiation protocol (SIP), the addition of presence and federation in the workplace, and the management of a mobile workforce. IT organizations need to prepare to support these technology advancements and meet the requirements of their organization for supporting real-time connectivity. Enterprise Mobility Information & Knowledge Management Networking Telecommunications Services Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Elizabeth Herrell" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44769&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45594&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed A global manufacturing firm had a highly fragmented IT organization with redundant functions, nonexistent standards, and a management structure that viewed IT as a cost rather than as an enabler of success. This case study describes how a new CIO transformed the organization into "one-company IT" by adopting a new strategic vision, re-architecting IT governance, consolidating and rationalizing the organization, shifting organization culture, and adopting business-relevant metrics. The result is an IT organization that is making the leap from IT to BT IT Management Manufacturing Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Alexander Peters, Ph.D." <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45594&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=46059&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Hewlett Packard (HP) sent a shock wave through the IT services industry today by announcing the acquisition of EDS for a reported $13.9 billion. The acquisition creates an IT services powerhouse of tremendous scale and global reach — and leaves outsourcing decision-makers with a different landscape to navigate on the path to successful provider selection. Although HP is clearly planting a flag in the large-deal space, a definitive strategy linking consulting services, systems integration project work, and annuity revenue infrastructure and applications work has yet to emerge, and significant integration challenges remain. Although the scope of the deal is clear, just how many clients will decide that "bigger is better" for their businesses remains the biggest unknown. IT Services High-Tech Professional Services Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Paul Roehrig, Ph.D." <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=46059&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45845&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Orange Business Services (OBS) is stepping up its efforts to become an established market leader for Converged Service Delivery (CSD). Over the past 18 months, the company has significantly improved its CSD capabilities through a number of strategic measures, including acquisitions, partnerships, the realignment of its internal capabilities, and a new go-to-market approach. OBS has bundled its professional services portfolio into five discrete offerings, each aligned with the recurring business scenarios of its enterprise customers. While this has clearly helped drive more business orientation into its CSD value proposition, OBS still needs to develop its marketing and messaging to fully exploit the CSD market opportunity. IT Services Telecommunications Services High-Tech Professional Services Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Pascal Matzke, Daniel Krauss" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45845&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45376&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed When a large multichannel retailer decided to improve consistency across its IT solutions, it turned to an improved architecture review process to drive project teams to comply with established technology standards. Applying the best practices of mixed formal and informal authority, a process tied to project phases, and regular communication, this company was able to significantly improve compliance. In the first two years, it realized an estimated $3 million by avoiding costs associated with implementing nonstandard project team solutions in areas that already have standard solutions in place. Longer term, the retailer has significantly reduced the number of exceptions to EA guiding principles it grants to project teams; it now grants fewer than five exceptions per year. Enterprise Architecture eBusiness/eCommerce Retail Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Larry Fulton" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45376&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45586&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Biometrics has matured to the point where several technologies have been internationally standardized and incorporated into major international and national identity verification implementations across both the public and private sectors. Because these biometrics technologies are being incorporated into mainstream government to citizen (G2C) and business to consumer (B2C) identification processes, broader adoption of these technologies can be accomplished more quickly and at lower cost than was previously possible. The prospect of biometrics becoming the principle consumer and citizen identification method through incorporation into government and commercial credentials is now close enough for CISOs to begin active consideration for adopting them in their enterprise business processes. Security & Risk Government Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Geoffrey Turner" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45586&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=41280&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Garden Fresh Restaurant (doing business as Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes), a 30-year veteran of the all-you-care-to-eat restaurant business, lacks the margin to develop expensive guest loyalty and employee retention programs. Instead, the company made trust — respect and responsiveness to its diners and its employees — its guiding business principle. By consciously embracing this principle over the long term, by making key business decisions in the context of this strategy, and by applying it equally to guests and employees, the company has succeeded in increasing sales, reducing costs, and creating brand fanatics inside and outside of the organization. Customer Experience Marketing & Advertising Retail Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Lisa Bradner" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=41280&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44180&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Service providers across categories face the challenge of providing great customer care experiences via the Web channel as they try to cut costs in the call center and their customers start to seek support online. Unfortunately, online customer support from the average residential voice, TV, Internet, or wireless voice provider only proves satisfactory to roughly 40% of customers, sometimes less. While their competition and counterparts see customer satisfaction levels for Web-based care hovering around one-third, Qwest — a US telecommunications provider — garners satisfactory ratings from half of its customers. Why? A focus on bettering its Web site that centers around customer experience, features and functionality, and usability. Consumer product strategists should take note: Qwest's higher levels of customer satisfaction with the customer care for its voice product could mean less churn. Customer Experience Packaged Applications Telecommunications Services Consumer Technology Adoption Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Sally M. Cohen" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44180&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44847&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed Exstream Software’s industry analyst relations (AR) manager is generating direct sales benefits by consistently creating leads and providing strong sales cycle support that includes deployment of analysts who impact purchase decisions. While beating its sales contribution targets by 25% for each of the past two years, Exstream has discovered that different types of analysts play different roles in the sales cycle and that it must build deep confidence in all of them. It has also realized how fragile these successes will be unless it continually cultivates newly productive analysts. High-Tech Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Kevin Lucas" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44847&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45844&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed The BT HP Alliance (BT HP) combines the best of two worlds: BT Global Services’ (BT GS) strong background in enterprise telecom and network services and HP Services’ (HP) deep IT services expertise. Not only are the two partners highly complementary in terms of their existing capabilities, but together they are making a concerted effort to become market leaders for Converged Service Delivery (CSD). The partners have integrated their sales, marketing, and delivery strategies into a single, consistent go-to-market approach that allows customers to engage through single service contracts. While client success so far has proven BT and HP right, the alliance needs to evolve its CSD offerings further. In particular, it needs to move its underlying proposition from the infrastructure to the business level in order to reveal the added business value of its services to customers. IT Services Telecommunications Services High-Tech Professional Services Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Pascal Matzke, Daniel Krauss" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45844&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45847&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed The story we hear from Verizon Business is one of learning and growth: The provider is adding multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) client sites at a rate of 20% per year, and last summer it launched an internal program to expand its IT certifications and capabilities. Nevertheless, we should be clear: Verizon Business has a long way to go to become a leader in Converged Service Delivery (CSD). From a business perspective, its global footprint is almost nonexistent, despite a strong and growing global network infrastructure. And the provider's messaging still maintains a strong telecom bias that privileges the network over IT offerings. Further, Verizon Business has not yet built marketplace awareness of its place — either aspiring or actual — as a global CSD provider. Given these weaknesses, combined with several competitors that are bigger, better established, and equally focused on the future, Verizon Business should not expect impressive business success in the near-term. Nonetheless, other CSD ascendants should keep their eye on Verizon Business; it may turn into a credible threat if it plays its cards right. IT Services Telecommunications Services High-Tech Professional Services Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Pascal Matzke, Chris Townsend" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45847&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45846&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed AT&T's long history and expertise are undeniable, with more than 120 years of experience providing telecom services. For today's Converged Service Delivery (CSD) journey, however, this is both a blessing and a curse: AT&T is understandably strong in network support and managed services, but it lacks sufficient IT capabilities. To build the necessary computing depth, AT&T will need to struggle against its reputation and acquire experience and reference accounts in areas like systems integration, application development, utility data center transformation, and managed services. Only then will it be able to build a comprehensive suite of both IT and communications offerings capable of addressing clients' business problems. If AT&T can't manage the transition within the next few years, its reputation will harden into that of a pure-play network service provider. This will relegate AT&T to niche status as a network-only provider, a losing CSD position next to rivals like BT HP Alliance and T-Systems, which will offer across-the-board coverage for all geographies, technologies, and business problems. IT Services Telecommunications Services High-Tech Professional Services Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT "Pascal Matzke, Chris Townsend" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45846&src=RSS_TopicGroupFeed