For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

How The Adoption Of Several Important Emerging Technologies Affects Sourcing

by Chris Andrews, August 31, 2010

Many sourcing and vendor management (SVM) professionals who Forrester speaks with know that they need to play a proactive role in sourcing emerging technologies but have difficulty identifying which technologies matter most for their business. Interest . . .

For Business Process Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Open Source Business Intelligence (BI), Q3 2010

Actuate BIRT Leads, With Jaspersoft Enterprise, SpagoBI, Pentaho Enterprise, And Pentaho Community Close Behind

by Jeffrey S. Hammond, Boris Evelson, August 10, 2010

Comparing open source BI technologies is often an apples-to-oranges comparison: 1) not all vendors include the same functionality in the free community versions of the software versus commercial open source versions that carry license and/or support cost, . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Demand Insights: The SMB Software Market 2010

Small And Medium-Size Businesses Are Defying Gravity

by Tim Harmon, August 9, 2010

Small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), like their enterprise brethren, are shifting their technology focus from IT to business technology (BT). As their focus on business solutions — as opposed to technology products — continues to grow, SMBs are now . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Hot Insurance Tech Companies To Watch In 2010: Q2 Update

by Ellen Carney, July 29, 2010

Effective vertical strategies are becoming more critical for tech vendors as they try to address the core business problems — not just the pure technical problems — of their customers. This is especially evident in the insurance industry, which emerged . . .

For Business Process Professionals

BI Service Provider Short-Listing Tool

by Boris Evelson, Liz Herbert, July 21, 2010

Firms should use the Forrester BI Service Provider Short-Listing Tool to input details about geographic scope, technology needs, and type of third-party support (i.e., consulting versus implementation versus hosting/outsourcing). The tool will then output . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Hot Banking Tech Companies To Watch In 2010: Q2 Update

by Ellen Carney, July 16, 2010

Focusing on solving the core industry-specific business problems is the next big wave in the tech industry. Nowhere is it more evident of technology's unique role in solving business problems than in the highly tech-dependent banking market. The outlook . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The State Of Business Intelligence Software And Emerging Trends: 2010

BI Vendors Need To Stay On Top Of Technology Innovation And Business Evolution

by Holger Kisker, Ph.D., May 10, 2010

While the whole IT market is facing challenging economic times, the global software market declined by 8% in 2009 compared with the previous year. Business intelligence (BI) software, which can provide the transparency and decision support to improve . . .

For Business Process Professionals

Agile BI Out Of The Box

Reduce Development Time And Effort With Metadata-Generated BI Applications

by Boris Evelson, April 22, 2010

Complexity represents one of the toughest challenges facing traditional business intelligence (BI) applications. Multiple components must be considered including data integration, cleansing, modeling, warehousing, metrics creation and management, reports, . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Smart Computing Innovation Must Be Guided By EAs

by Henry Peyret, March 30, 2010

Forrester predicts that the latest cycle of technology innovation, "Smart Computing," will reshape the technology market through 2017. Smart Computing — which involves a blend of smart devices, smart networks, smart analytics and applications, and smart . . .

For Business Process Professionals

Latest BI Adoption Trends -- Still Strong And Going Ballistic

by Boris Evelson, March 9, 2010

This set of data charts highlights BI-related findings from Forrester's recent Enterprise And SMB Software Survey, North America And Europe, Q4 2009.

For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

The Arrival Of Smart Computing Reinforces The Need For Dynamic Business Applications

Smart Computing Drives The New Era Of IT Growth

by Mike Gilpin, February 18, 2010

Since the 1950s, the US has seen three cycles of technology investment growth and refinement. In 2008, the US entered its fourth such cycle, which Forrester is labeling "Smart Computing." Smart Computing seeks to help organizations maximize assets and . . .

For CIOs

Insurance CIOs: Prepare IT For Business Growth

Interesting Insurance Tech Companies To Watch In 2010

by Marc Cecere, February 12, 2010

As economic conditions for some insurers improve, they may want to consider investing in more innovative products. As they do, they will need to take on more risk than they have with their traditional vendors.

For Business Process Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Predictive Analytics And Data Mining Solutions, Q1 2010

SAS, SPSS/IBM, KXEN, Oracle, And Portrait Software Lead, With Others Innovating

by James G. Kobielus, February 4, 2010

In Forrester's 53-criteria evaluation of predictive analytics and data mining (PA/DM) vendors, we found that SAS Institute, SPSS (evaluated separately from new parent IBM's other PA/DM offerings), KXEN, Oracle, Portrait Software, and IBM (pre-SPSS acquisition . . .

For Business Process Professionals

BI In The Cloud? Yes, And On The Ground, Too

Why, When, And How To Select A BI SaaS Vendor

by Boris Evelson, January 26, 2010

Slowly but surely, with lots of criticism and skepticism, the business intelligence (BI) software-as-a-service (SaaS) market is gaining ground. It's a road full of peril — at least two BI SaaS startups have failed this year — but what software market . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IBM's BAO Service Offering Is Positioned For Growth In 2010

by Chris Andrews, January 25, 2010

In April 2009, IBM Global Business Services (GBS) announced the formation of its Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO) services organization, a move that IBM claimed would help clients make "a fundamental shift to a smarter, fact-based enterprise." . . .

For Content & Collaboration Professionals

SharePoint Server 2010: An Evolutionary Step Toward Content-Centric Middleware

by Rob Koplowitz, January 25, 2010

At the SharePoint Conference in October 2009, Microsoft disclosed the full functional road map for SharePoint Server 2010. Forrester views this release as evolutionary, not revolutionary. Since its debut in 2001, SharePoint's value proposition has evolved . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Buyers Of BI Services Navigate A Crowded Landscape

Sourcing Professionals Sift Through Choices With Multiple Dimensions

by Boris Evelson, Liz Herbert, January 24, 2010

Forrester sees strong interest from technology buyers in business intelligence (BI), including the significant expansion of existing BI initiatives as well as new projects. Key areas of investment range from implementing domain-specific dashboards through . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Topic Overview: Information Architecture

by Gene Leganza, January 13, 2010

Information architecture (IA) is a cornerstone of enterprise architecture (EA), but 43% of the architects we surveyed either have not yet addressed this domain or have only begun to implement what they need. And for the vast majority of the established . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Next Wave Of IT Investment Is Smart Computing

Smart Computing Drives The New Era Of IT Growth

by Simon Yates, January 5, 2010

Like the mainframe, personal, and network computing eras that have gone before it, "Smart Computing" will usher in a new era of technology innovation and growth. But, says Andrew Bartels, it will be the most vertical epoch yet. It represents an amalgam . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Hot Insurance Tech Companies To Watch In 2010

by Ellen Carney, December 21, 2009

The insurance industry toughed it through the darkest days of the downturn by focusing on two perennial business themes — cutting costs and driving efficiency. But as the economy returns to growth, insurers are now aiming for business growth and profitable . . .

For Business Process Professionals

BI Maturity In The Enterprise

by Boris Evelson, December 4, 2009

This set of data charts present the findings from Forrester's Q4 2009 Global BI Maturity Online Survey.

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Smart Computing Drives The New Era Of IT Growth

A New Tech Investment Cycle Holds Seismic Promise — And Challenges

by Andrew Bartels, December 4, 2009

The technology industry has entered a new cycle of tech innovation and growth, which we are calling "Smart Computing." Like prior cycles of mainframe computing, personal computing, and network computing, Smart Computing will power a seven- to eight-year . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: Develop A Technology Watch List

The Top 15 Technology Trends To Watch

by Sharyn Leaver, November 13, 2009

As IT executives set out their strategies and plan for 2010 and beyond, they must determine what the top technology trends are for their business and gauge IT's ability to support the next phase of technology innovation and growth. To help, Forrester . . .

For Business Process Professionals

In-Database Analytics: The Heart Of The Predictive Enterprise

by James G. Kobielus, November 12, 2009

Visionary organizations are adopting an emerging practice known as "in-database analytics," which supports more pervasive embedding of predictive models in business processes and mission-critical applications. With in-database analytics, enterprises migrate . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Inquiry Insights: Business Intelligence, 2008 To H1 2009

The BI Market Is Changing And So Are The Questions

by Holger Kisker, Ph.D., November 5, 2009

Forrester receives more than 20,000 inquiries every year that reflect the key questions for which vendors and users are seeking answers. In 2008 and the first half of 2009, 632 of these questions were related to the business intelligence (BI) market. . . .