For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

eBusiness Professionals: Plan Your Customer Intelligence Strategy Now

How To Develop A Focused Customer-Centric Approach

by Brian K. Walker, November 16, 2009

The importance of eBusiness professionals to the customer intelligence (CI) effort is clear. As owners of the online profit and loss (P&L), they must align with the CI command center to drive a true multichannel, multipronged approach, which Dave . . .

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 eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Is The Time Right To Build A Mobile App?

Balance The Buzz With Real Customer Value And Revenue Opportunities

by Brian K. Walker, October 29, 2009

The rapid growth of the iPhone and iPod touch application market has fueled a race to develop these applications on the part of eBusiness and channel strategy professionals. Recently, Forrester published a useful outline to help determine if a mobile . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Taking The Fog Out Of Cloud Computing: Planning For Security And Risk Management

by Randy Heffner, September 22, 2009

Architectural planning for an organization's use of cloud computing products and services should focus first on the biggest differences between cloud computing and traditional computing options, and security and risk management (SRM) concerns are among . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: Use TEI To Unearth IT Investment "Options"

by Sharyn Leaver, September 21, 2009

As firms look to squeeze value from technology, IT executives' ability to understand, quantify, and communicate the flexibility options of an IT investment becomes vital for business health. Leveraging Forrester's Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) methodology . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: Categorize And Define Technology Investment Risk

by Sharyn Leaver, September 21, 2009

Failed, delayed, and misaligned IT projects have fueled business executives' dissatisfaction with IT. The benefit and cost estimates of technology investments provided by IT executives are often far from the realized business costs and benefits. To set . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: Note The IT Market Outlook, Q2 2009

by Sharyn Leaver, July 17, 2009

It's no surprise that the Q1 2009 tech market indicator data was dismal; however, Forrester predicts that the US tech market is more than halfway through the downturn. Poor Q1 results in both the US and the global market have prompted a reduction in our . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

EA: Incorporate Enterprise Role Management Into Your Architecture Strategy

by Henry Peyret, July 15, 2009

Adoption of enterprise role management tools is increasing dramatically as a result of compliance and cost pressures. Enterprise role management tools simplify the provisioning and deprovisioning of employee and contractor access to resources, enabling . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Business Architecture Clarifies The Scope Of Business Change Programs

by Jeff Scott, July 10, 2009

Most IT organizations have experienced projects where, despite good project management and delivery to business requirements, the project failed to deliver the desired business benefits and was deemed a failure. The root cause of these failures is that . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Multichannel Is Still A Myth For Retailers

Companies Continue To Struggle With Cross-Channel Contact Strategies

by Sucharita Mulpuru, June 29, 2009

Retailers have been striving to provide seamless multichannel shopping experiences in order both to stay ahead of the market in an increasingly interconnected world and to align themselves with consumer multichannel behavior. In a recent report, Forrester . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: New Sourcing Models Mean New Tactics For IT

by Sharyn Leaver, June 25, 2009

As emerging sourcing models such as managed hosting, SaaS, PaaS, and cloud-based services become more prevalent, traditional sourcing tactics, terms, and expectations may no longer be adequate. CIOs should be aware of the challenges their sourcing teams . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Role Overview: Virtual Infrastructure Architect

by Galen Schreck, Rachel A. Dines, June 25, 2009

As the adoption of virtualization across servers, storage, and networks continues to climb and organizations push to larger implementations of virtual infrastructure, a new question arises: Who is going to manage your virtual infrastructure? Sure, you . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Help Yourself Make Tomorrow's IT Decisions

Tools For IT Planning

by Simon Yates, June 23, 2009

Flexibility and quick thinking are vital when planning for IT, so go ahead and arm yourself with the best weapons: You're going to need them. Volatility in the marketplace and an increased reliance on IT across all business sectors have forced IT managers . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

EA Must Guide Master Data Management Initiatives Through Information Architecture

by Gene Leganza, June 22, 2009

Master data management (MDM) can be used as a strategic means to deliver a trusted view of critical data throughout the enterprise. However, MDM has not yet matured as a business capability, and there is still a great deal of market confusion regarding . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

EA Can Facilitate IT Cost Transparency

by Alex Cullen, June 19, 2009

IT is directly tied to most businesses' products and services, but in most cases 100% of IT's cost is allocated to the general and administrative (G&A) portions of the business' financial reports. While this produces a distorted view of financial . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Keep An Eye On All IT Costs

Do You Know Your IT Cost Of Goods Sold?

by Simon Yates, June 17, 2009

Understanding your IT cost of goods sold can lead to a more agile and competitive organization. Cost of goods sold (COGS) includes the variable and fixed costs — for example, materials and labor — directly linked to the product or service. The key to . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Virtualization Is This Season's Cap Management

Capacity Management In A Virtual World

by Simon Yates, June 17, 2009

With improved service performance, coupled with the rise of virtualization and the limits of hardware sprawl, Forrester anticipates improvements to the capacity management process. Data centers will make a comeback. They'll be different though, and better, . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The iPhone Is Ready For The 9 To 5

Making iPhone Work In the Enterprise: Early Lessons Learned

by Simon Yates, May 12, 2009

Apple has proven adept at diverting the course of entire industries, their most recent shake-up being in the mobile device world with the iPhone. This visible diversion, which it surely is, has caused companies to wait intently for things to settle a . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

BT For I&O: Make IT Easy For The Business

BT Changes IT's Operating Model

by Simon Yates, May 12, 2009

IT's role is changing. As business units become ever more reliant on technology and more comfortable with implementing it themselves, IT is becoming an advisor and a service integrator rather than the direct manager of all technology assets. Forrester . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Topic Overview: Governance, Risk, And Compliance

by Chris McClean, April 29, 2009

Successful businesses universally strive to achieve better corporate governance, more effective measurement and management of risk, and greater assurance that compliance requirements are met. Whether or not these efforts bear the governance, risk, and . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

During Tough Economic Times, IT Leadership Will Rely On I&O To Drive Cost Savings

Redesign IT Roles To Drive IT Cost Reduction

by Simon Yates, April 22, 2009

When times get tough, executives start looking for ways to cut costs. In many cases, their cost-reduction strategies will require considerable input from the infrastructure and operations (I&O) group. Whether the department is being restructured, . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Application Threat Modeling: Uncover Security Vulnerabilities Before It's Too Late

Using Threat Modeling To Develop More-Secure Applications

by Robert Whiteley, April 22, 2009

Security and risk professionals have long used security threat modeling to find security vulnerabilities. However, many of your application development colleagues don't even know what threat modeling is. By communicating the benefits of threat modeling . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: Insist On TEI Calculations To Justify Business-Critical IT Investments

by Sharyn Leaver, April 22, 2009

Now more than ever, IT executives face difficult decisions around which IT investments in their portfolios to execute on, cancel, or defer. IT executives must identify the projects that are business-critical or strategic to maximize the business value . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Building The Proactive Case For Full Disk Encryption

Case Study: A Leading Hospitality And Gambling Firm Proactively Implements Full Disk Encryption

by Natalie Lambert, April 8, 2009

In today's economy of tighter budgets and increased scrutiny over requests for investment, security professionals are struggling to make the business case for full disk encryption (FDE). Unfortunately, despite highly publicized data leaks, the business . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How Are Recruiters Affected By This Year’s Trends In US IT Occupations?

by Zach Thomas, April 3, 2009

It's no surprise that with the current economic conditions we will see a decrease in total IT jobs and IT salaries will see almost no growth in 2009. What does this mean for human resources (HR) professionals? First, that it's critical to identify and . . .