Posted by Mark Brousseau
Responding to a still sluggish economy, IT executives in North America and Europe are taking a variety of measures to get more value for the money spent on IT services, according to the latest Enterprise IT Services Survey by Forrester Research, Inc. According to the survey results, IT contractors and consultants will see the deepest decreases in spending, while systems integration and outsourcing services will have the most increases.
Unlike during the last recession from 2001 to 2002, when outsourcing and offshoring experienced growth from firms seeking to reduce internal IT costs, the picture for IT services is much more mixed in terms of spending plans. When asked about changes they expect to see in their organization's total spending on IT services, 30 percent of executives surveyed said they plan to increase spending on systems integration and project work, 26 percent plan increases in applications outsourcing, and 25 percent expect to increase spending on infrastructure outsourcing. However, 41 percent of executives expect to reduce spending on contractors, and 34 percent foresee lower spending on IT consulting.
"As the global economic downturn puts pressure on IT services spending, firms are taking a range of actions to deal with the cuts," said John McCarthy, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. "The pressure to reduce IT spending is going to continue well into 2010. The data shows no quick turnaround — it's going to be a tough year for services firms as clients increasingly ask them to justify the ROI for IT projects and provide more value for a lower price."
Other key highlights of the survey include:
... Infrastructure outsourcing priorities. When asked what infrastructure services their firm is currently outsourcing or plans to outsource to a third-party company in the next 12 months, survey respondents placed convergent telecommunication/network management services and data center management services at the top of the list.
... Application outsourcing priorities. Managed hosting services lead the list of application outsourcing priorities, with 44 percent of respondents currently outsourcing and six percent planning to use managed hosting services in the next 12 months. In addition, the outsourcing of packaged applications maintenance and support services increased from 27 percent in 2008 to 38 percent in 2009, and another seven percent of respondents are planning to do so in the next 12 months.
... Systems integration priorities. Integration work installing or upgrading packaged applications remains a top activity, with 42 percent of respondents saying they already have a project under way or will hire a consultant for this in the next 12 months. Custom application design and development follows, with 38 percent of firms doing a project or hiring a consultant to do so in the next 12 months.
... IT consulting priorities. Forty-three percent of respondents have a security assessment project either already under way or one that will commence in the next year. Infrastructure virtualization and automation programs follow, with 32 percent of respondents hiring a consultant in the next 12 months or already having a project under way.
What do you think?
Showing posts with label Forrester. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forrester. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
iPhone App for Car Payments
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Mercedes-Benz launched an iPhone application that allows customers to make a car payment, calculate the amount needed to pay off the loan, locate dealers and find customer service numbers. The Mercedes-Benz website describes it as the "coolest way to make a payment."
Some people might hear this news and think "we better do something with mobile", but Forrester Research recommends that companies use the POST (People Objective Strategy Technology) method to determine which technologies they deploy. The POST method starts with the P, understanding the People that the company serves and how they use their mobile devices. People fall into six major categories in terms of mobile phone usage. Nineteen percent (Inactives) do not own a mobile phone, 35 percent (Talkers) only use the voice features of their mobile phone and 13 percent (Communicators) use no data service other than text messaging. The next three categories use more features of their mobile phones; categories do overlap. 19 percent (Connectors) send or receive email on their mobile phones but use the mobile Internet less than weekly. Twenty percent (Entertainers) stream music or video and purchase music over their mobile phones. Twelve percent (SuperConnecteds) use the mobile Internet and log onto social networking sites from their mobile phones at least once a week.
Forrester Research says that after they understand the people they are serving, companies can then set their Objectives and determine what Strategy will accomplish their objectives. The final step is then to choose the technology that will enable the company to meet their strategy. The technology decision comes last in the process, not first, warns Forrester.
What do you think?
Mercedes-Benz launched an iPhone application that allows customers to make a car payment, calculate the amount needed to pay off the loan, locate dealers and find customer service numbers. The Mercedes-Benz website describes it as the "coolest way to make a payment."
Some people might hear this news and think "we better do something with mobile", but Forrester Research recommends that companies use the POST (People Objective Strategy Technology) method to determine which technologies they deploy. The POST method starts with the P, understanding the People that the company serves and how they use their mobile devices. People fall into six major categories in terms of mobile phone usage. Nineteen percent (Inactives) do not own a mobile phone, 35 percent (Talkers) only use the voice features of their mobile phone and 13 percent (Communicators) use no data service other than text messaging. The next three categories use more features of their mobile phones; categories do overlap. 19 percent (Connectors) send or receive email on their mobile phones but use the mobile Internet less than weekly. Twenty percent (Entertainers) stream music or video and purchase music over their mobile phones. Twelve percent (SuperConnecteds) use the mobile Internet and log onto social networking sites from their mobile phones at least once a week.
Forrester Research says that after they understand the people they are serving, companies can then set their Objectives and determine what Strategy will accomplish their objectives. The final step is then to choose the technology that will enable the company to meet their strategy. The technology decision comes last in the process, not first, warns Forrester.
What do you think?
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Getting the Point!
By Mark Brousseau
More organizations are leveraging Microsoft SharePoint as a common presentation layer for delivering information from disparate enterprise content systems in a highly contextual way.
“Your content and collaboration strategy needs to take into consideration the role of multiple systems serving different needs, but with a strategic vision,” Rob Koplowitz, principal analyst, Forrester Research, Inc. (rkoplowitz@forrester.com), said today during an Information Week WebCast sponsored by ASG Software Solutions.
“Companies see SharePoint as a layer for shared access across systems,” Koplowitz said. “Not only for pulling information from systems, but for presenting the information in a common way. Lots of people are doing lots of interesting things with SharePoint.”
That’s for sure. SharePoint has now surpassed 100 million licenses worldwide, representing more than 17,000 customers with over $1 billion in revenues. What’s more, Microsoft now counts over 3,300 companies as SharePoint partners. “SharePoint is a game-changing platform for Microsoft,” said Adam Morgan, portal, collaboration and search specialist with Microsoft (adam.morgan@microsoft.com).
And SharePoint should continue to move very fast. According to the results of a Forrester survey presented by Koplowitz, 24 percent of organizations said they are ‘immediately’ implementing or upgrading to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. An additional 41 percent of respondents said they will be implementing or upgrading to the platform within six months, and 22 percent said they would be doing so within the next 12 months. Only 7 percent of organizations responding said they have no plans to use the SharePoint platform.
Underlying this demand for Microsoft SharePoint is a renewed interest in enterprise collaboration and document management, Koplowitz said. “Collaboration and content management are becoming increasingly intertwined,” Koplowitz explained. “A new layer of infrastructure is being developed to access and manage content across multiple systems and processes. Users want simplified access or they won’t participate.”
This is the role Microsoft SharePoint is filling, Koplowitz said.
As evidence of the move toward collaboration and content management, Koplowitz shared the results of a Forrester survey showing that 50 percent of organizations said that implementing enterprise collaboration strategies would be among their major technology initiatives for the next 12 months. Thirty-four percent of respondents said it was a priority and 15 percent of respondents said it was a ‘critical priority.’
What’s more, Koplowitz provided the results of another survey revealing that nearly 75 percent organizations will invest in document management solutions in 2008 – topping content and e-mail archiving (66 percent), document imaging (64 percent), Web content management (62 percent), and enterprise content management (60 percent).
What is your organization’s view of Microsoft SharePoint? Post your comment below.
More organizations are leveraging Microsoft SharePoint as a common presentation layer for delivering information from disparate enterprise content systems in a highly contextual way.
“Your content and collaboration strategy needs to take into consideration the role of multiple systems serving different needs, but with a strategic vision,” Rob Koplowitz, principal analyst, Forrester Research, Inc. (rkoplowitz@forrester.com), said today during an Information Week WebCast sponsored by ASG Software Solutions.
“Companies see SharePoint as a layer for shared access across systems,” Koplowitz said. “Not only for pulling information from systems, but for presenting the information in a common way. Lots of people are doing lots of interesting things with SharePoint.”
That’s for sure. SharePoint has now surpassed 100 million licenses worldwide, representing more than 17,000 customers with over $1 billion in revenues. What’s more, Microsoft now counts over 3,300 companies as SharePoint partners. “SharePoint is a game-changing platform for Microsoft,” said Adam Morgan, portal, collaboration and search specialist with Microsoft (adam.morgan@microsoft.com).
And SharePoint should continue to move very fast. According to the results of a Forrester survey presented by Koplowitz, 24 percent of organizations said they are ‘immediately’ implementing or upgrading to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. An additional 41 percent of respondents said they will be implementing or upgrading to the platform within six months, and 22 percent said they would be doing so within the next 12 months. Only 7 percent of organizations responding said they have no plans to use the SharePoint platform.
Underlying this demand for Microsoft SharePoint is a renewed interest in enterprise collaboration and document management, Koplowitz said. “Collaboration and content management are becoming increasingly intertwined,” Koplowitz explained. “A new layer of infrastructure is being developed to access and manage content across multiple systems and processes. Users want simplified access or they won’t participate.”
This is the role Microsoft SharePoint is filling, Koplowitz said.
As evidence of the move toward collaboration and content management, Koplowitz shared the results of a Forrester survey showing that 50 percent of organizations said that implementing enterprise collaboration strategies would be among their major technology initiatives for the next 12 months. Thirty-four percent of respondents said it was a priority and 15 percent of respondents said it was a ‘critical priority.’
What’s more, Koplowitz provided the results of another survey revealing that nearly 75 percent organizations will invest in document management solutions in 2008 – topping content and e-mail archiving (66 percent), document imaging (64 percent), Web content management (62 percent), and enterprise content management (60 percent).
What is your organization’s view of Microsoft SharePoint? Post your comment below.
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