Glenn O'Donnell

VP, Research Director Serving Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

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Glenn serves Infrastructure & Operations Professionals. He is widely regarded as a top thought leader in IT service management, IT operations, and the broader social implications of technology evolution. Glenn's specialties are in data center automation and operational excellence. He is the co-author of The CMDB Imperative, a book on configuration management database (CMDB) best practices.

Previous Work Experience

Prior to joining Forrester, Glenn was a major force in transforming EMC's resource management software business as a marketing lead and strategic contributor. He is also a former IT operations analyst at Meta Group. Most of Glenn's career encompassed 21 years in various companies within the Bell System, including Western Electric, Bell Labs, AT&T, and, finally, Lucent Technologies, where he held increasingly influential roles in technology development, IT operations, and enterprise architecture.

Education

Glenn studied electrical engineering at Lincoln Technical Institute and computer science at Moravian College.

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Glenn O'Donnell

VP, Research Director Serving Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Read Glenn's blog posts

Previous Work Experience

Education

Glenn studied electrical engineering at Lincoln Technical Institute and computer science at Moravian College.

Research Coverage

Glenn O'Donnell's Research

Most RecentMost Popular

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

REPORT: Automation Drives The I&O Industrial Revolution

Vision: The Infrastructure Transformation Playbook

October 16, 2018Glenn O'Donnell, Chris Gardner

A digital business needs technology that adapts and scales quickly, reliably, and economically. As infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals transform their infrastructure to meet this need, they must adopt new tools and skills to handle the transition of everything to software. Automation is at the heart of this, with a rich industrial history and a bold new approach to technology operations. In this report, we lay out the vision for a winning automation strategy for I&O leaders. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For CIO Professionals

REPORT: Maximize Business Value With Fast, Connected Technology

The Vision Report In The IT Transformation Playbook

June 22, 2018 Matthew Guarini, Sharyn Leaver, Christopher Mines, Glenn O'Donnell

The age of the customer has shifted into high gear. Compelling experiences, delivered digitally, separate winners from laggards in this new era. The pervasive need for digital experiences exposes old systems, static organizations, and, especially, outmoded cultures that cannot deliver at the speed of the customer. This report outlines a vision for the fast, connected technology organization that companies need to maximize technology's contribution to business value. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and revises it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy. We're updating it now to incorporate new research, data, and market trends.
For CIO Professionals

REPORT: Use Technology To Drive Business Value

The Executive Overview For The IT Transformation Playbook

February 1, 2018 Matthew Guarini, Christopher Mines, Glenn O'Donnell

CIOs and CTOs have a mandate to improve the technology foundations and innovations required to win, serve, and retain customers — what Forrester calls business technology (BT). For most, it will require IT transformation and embarking on a journey to transform the underlying governance, people, and processes required to deliver that transformation. This report provides an overview of Forrester's framework for how to complete this journey successfully: the IT transformation playbook. This IT transformation playbook helps you win in an unforgiving market.
For CIO Professionals

REPORT: The Road Map For Customer-Obsessed IT Transformation

The Strategy Report In The IT Transformation Playbook

February 1, 2018 Laura Koetzle, Sharyn Leaver, Glenn O'Donnell

Transforming legacy technology systems, processes, and talent into the fast, connected technology organization required of customer-obsessed firms is complex and expensive. That's why, as a CIO, CTO, or other key technology leader, you need to craft a plan tuned to your specific starting point, your urgency to change, and the level of difficulty in making those changes. In this report, we describe the steps that will help you chart your course to customer-obsessed IT transformation.
For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

REPORT: Master Automation And Software To Transform Your Infrastructure

Executive Overview: The Infrastructure Transformation Playbook

January 4, 2018Glenn O'Donnell

Customer-obsessed technology places the broader charter of service design on the infrastructure and operations (I&O) team. I&O leaders must own the design for the full system of interacting parts sourced from a rich and dynamic software-defined ecosystem. Forrester's infrastructure transformation playbook, with its discover, plan, act, and optimize phases, provides the blueprint that I&O teams will need to meet this challenge. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and revises it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy. We've updated this edition to factor in new ideas, examples, and data.

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

REPORT: Cloud Services Accelerate Your Pursuit Of Customer Obsession

Executive Overview: The Cloud Computing Playbook

January 2, 2018Glenn O'Donnell

Confusing cloud definitions and erroneously identified "cloud" solutions impede cloud becoming a staple in your customer-centric technology portfolio. Forrester offers its cloud computing playbook to infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals who need to harness cloud to drive business growth. The playbook structure delivers a step-by-step road map for building and differentiating customer experiences with cloud. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

REPORT: Master Automation And Software To Transform Your Infrastructure

Executive Overview: The Infrastructure Transformation Playbook

January 4, 2018Glenn O'Donnell

Customer-obsessed technology places the broader charter of service design on the infrastructure and operations (I&O) team. I&O leaders must own the design for the full system of interacting parts sourced from a rich and dynamic software-defined ecosystem. Forrester's infrastructure transformation playbook, with its discover, plan, act, and optimize phases, provides the blueprint that I&O teams will need to meet this challenge. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and revises it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy. We've updated this edition to factor in new ideas, examples, and data.
For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

REPORT: Develop Your Road Map For Service Management And Automation Processes

February 7, 2012Eveline Oehrlich, Jean-Pierre Garbani, Glenn O'Donnell, Stephen Mann, John Rakowski

This report outlines Forrester's solution to help IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders develop their road map of service management and automation processes (SMA) using Forrester's TechRadar™ methodology. This is important because into 2020, the rise of "as-a-service" technologies, empowered workers, and a radically more complex business environment will challenge IT I&O leaders to deliver higher levels of value, agility, and user satisfaction, all while lowering the cost of IT services. This will require I&O organizations to shift from the role of primary provider of IT services to a broker of public and private services. To succeed, I&O leaders must improve and streamline SMA processes by adopting best practices such as those described in ITIL. This report focuses on the key SMA processes I&O leaders must improve to operate in this new model of IT and to provide IT-as-a-service. In particular, I&O leaders should prioritize incident, problem, and knowledge management in the short term, while maturing IT financial, configuration, and release management over the long term.
For CIO Professionals

REPORT: Cloud Keys An Era Of New IT Responsiveness And Efficiency

November 19, 2012 Liz Herbert, Glenn O'Donnell

The cloud landscape is shifting to cover a broader range of enterprise needs. Why? Cloud is curing the lack of responsiveness and economic flexibility that ails on-premises IT. Look for the popular software-as-a-service (SaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) models to become much more flexible by allowing more customization and integration. Look for more pragmatic cloud development platforms that cross the traditional cloud service boundaries of SaaS, platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and IaaS. And look for good private and public cloud options — and simpler ways of integrating private-public hybrids. This report charts the shifts taking place in the market as indicated by the most advanced cloud developers and consumers.
For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

REPORT: Service Catalog — Your Prerequisite For Effective IT Service Management

Yes, They Can Help Connect You With The Business

October 28, 2009Eveline Oehrlich, Glenn O'Donnell

The vision and purpose of effective IT service management is to efficiently develop, operate, and deliver services with value and alignment to the business. To do this, IT must transform itself from an organization with many silos of technical and functional silos into a business with reliable and cost-effective service offerings. The attitude, behavior, and culture of the organization must shift to a service provider organization. The first step in this transformation is to develop a service catalog that describes the IT services supporting the business services and in turn the business process.