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 Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Next-Generation Contact Centers

Solutions To Keep Pace With Your Customers

by Elizabeth Herrell, November 11, 2009

Contact center customer support needs to evolve to better serve customers who no longer rely on one venue for receiving information but instead engage multiple sources. In addition to checking a company's Web site and its brochures, many customers research . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: WAN Optimization, Q4 2009

Blue Coat And Riverbed Lead, With Expand And Cisco Close Behind

by Chris Silva, November 10, 2009

In Forrester's 65-criteria evaluation of wide-area network (WAN) optimization vendors, we found that Blue Coat Systems and Riverbed Technology lead the pack, in part due to the changes these vendors made over the past year through acquisition of complementary . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Top Customer Experience Takeaways From SpeechTEK 2009

by Adele Sage, November 10, 2009

Forrester recently attended SpeechTEK 2009, where presenters focused on using speech technologies to improve the phone self-service customer experience. Among speakers' top recommendations: Don't ignore customer experience, do focus on target users and . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Unified Communications Vendor Selection Criteria

Many Categories Of Products Make Vendor Selection Challenging

by Elizabeth Herrell, November 6, 2009

Unlike most commercial software applications that have a preset number of features, unified communications (UC) provides a software framework for linking multiple discrete applications on a common platform. UC integrates enterprise mobility, conferencing, . . .

For CIOs

Catalog Of Technical Services  (66 KB XLS)

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., Wolfgang Benkel, November 6, 2009

The workbook defines 10 generic profiles of technical services and associates provisioning processes and activities with each of them. The activity-based descriptions enable IT executives to establish the link between technology assets, resources, and . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Market Overview: Network Access Control (NAC)

Evolving NAC Market Focuses On Features That Provide Operational Efficiency

by Usman Sindhu, November 3, 2009

Network access control (NAC) is high on the security professionals' wish list, but few are able to justify the business case for it. Complex deployments, too many architectural options, and a quickly changing vendor landscape have pushed most NAC deployments . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The State Of WAN Services Adoption In North America 2009: CIOs Lead On Cost Reduction

by Phil Sayer, October 30, 2009

The need to cut costs dominates North American enterprises' 2009 plans for wide-area networks (WANs). This is the top priority for almost three-quarters of enterprises as part of IT budget cuts mandated at board level. At the same time, network traffic . . .

For CIOs

IT In The Public Sector In Australia

Benchmarking Your Practice Against Your Global Peers

by Tim Sheedy, October 28, 2009

With the tightening of IT budgets in the Australian federal government due to the review of IT operations by Sir Peter Gershon, the considerable consolidation of public sector agencies at the state level, and the considerable drop in tax revenues brought . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Smart Grid Technologies: Coming To A Utility Near You

Modern IT And Communications Systems Are Transforming The US Power Industry

by Roy C. Wildeman, October 19, 2009

Today's energy companies face an unprecedented quandary of regulatory requirements, market pressures, and public scrutiny that, in combination, act to disrupt traditional approaches to cutting costs and servicing consumers. With the recent federal stimulus . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Trends In Enterprise 802.11n Adoption, 2009  (427 KB PPT)

by Chris Silva, October 15, 2009

A data chart that looks at 802.11 adoption trends.

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

Cisco Continues Its March On Collaboration Strategy

Decision To Acquire Tandberg Is About More Than Just Video

by Henry Dewing, October 6, 2009

Cisco has made an approved offer to acquire Tandberg, promising to develop an integrated, unified, video-centric collaboration capability and foment the creation of a new market for unified collaboration solutions. Cisco continues its march to deliver . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

To Invest Wisely, Know The Business Value Of Diverse CRM Solutions

by William Band, September 30, 2009

To help customer relationship management (CRM) professionals make smart decisions and navigate the complex CRM technology landscape, Forrester surveyed 286 companies. The goal was to determine the business value-add adjusted for uncertainty of 19 types . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Cisco Consumer Business Group Builds The Business Case For Social Media

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., September 28, 2009

Consumer Business Group (CBG) — formerly Linksys — is a division of Cisco that offers a wide variety of consumer and small office voice over IP (VoIP) and networking solutions such as routers, switches, and storage systems under the Linksys by Cisco brand. . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Twelve Criteria For Contact Center Outsourcers

Questions Companies Need to Ask When Engaging A Contact Center Outsourcer

by Elizabeth Herrell, September 10, 2009

Many companies consider outsourcing their contact center or customer service centers to improve operational efficiencies and to increase customer satisfaction. However, many decision-makers know little about potential contact center outsourcers, and they . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Mobility User Profiles, Apps, And Devices  (98 KB XLS)

by Brownlee Thomas, Ph.D., September 9, 2009

This workbook contains an overview of mobility user profiles (user job roles and tasks, locations, applications, devices, access and support requirements), as well as mobile applications by role (mobile applications supported) and mobile devices by role . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Best Practices In User Experience (UX) Design

Design Compelling User Experiences To Wow Your Customers

by Mike Gualtieri, September 4, 2009

Users have great expectations when they visit your Web and mobile applications. They increasingly want an experience that's valuable, easy to use, aesthetically pleasing, and emotionally satisfying. To retain and gain customers, you have to continually . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The State Of WAN Services Adoption In Europe 2009: Cost-Cutting Dominates Enterprise Plans

by Phil Sayer, September 3, 2009

Cost-cutting dominates European enterprise plans for wide area networks (WANs) for 2009. This is the top priority for almost three-quarters of enterprises as part of IT budget cuts mandated at board level. At the same time, network traffic is growing . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

European IT Market Outlook: 2009 To 2010

The European Recession Hurts IT Purchases

by Andrew Bartels, Peter O'Neill, August 28, 2009

The European market for business-purchased technology goods and services (measured in euros) will decline by 6.3% in 2009, and be slow to recover in 2010 with only 4% growth. In both regards, it will lag behind the US tech market, which will have a smaller . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Contact Center Purchase Plans And Trends In 2009

Positive Growth For Software And Services For Core Operations

by Elizabeth Herrell, August 13, 2009

Major software investments in existing contact centers will grow at 40% in 2009 according to Forrester's recent survey of contact center decision-makers. However, new licenses for agents' positions will experience only modest growth, as expansion plans . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Get A Good Start With Unified Communications

Upfront Planning Ensures A More Effective Deployment

by Elizabeth Herrell, August 12, 2009

While many businesses express high interest in deploying unified communications (UC), they often struggle to advance their plans. They face challenges developing their UC business case and getting the executive attention and commitment for UC upgrades. . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

2009 Enterprise Mobility Spending And Adoption Trends   (472 KB PPT)

by Michele Pelino, August 7, 2009

Using data from BDS Enterprise And SMB Networks And Telecommunications Survey, North America And Europe, Q1 2009, Forrester examines enterprise mobility spending and adoption trends.

For B2B Market Research Professionals

The State Of SMB IT Budgets: 2009

Business Data Services North America And Europe

by Heidi Lo, Andrew Bartels, August 7, 2009

This document provides SMB highlights of an extensive data set collected via Forrester's Enterprise And SMB Global IT Budgets And Spending Survey, Q2 2009. Overall, the global recession has made CIOs and IT decision-makers cut back their IT budgets, with . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

The State Of Enterprise Networks And Telecommunications: 2009

Business Data Services North America And Europe

by Ellen Daley, August 7, 2009

This document gives highlights of an extensive data set collected across North American and European enterprises via our Enterprise And SMB Networks And Telecommunications Survey, North America And Europe, Q1 2009. Even given the current economic crisis, . . .