Sourcing and vendor management

Tier II and alternate location outsourcing options

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:35:48 GMT

One of the major concerns of the sourcing community is that suppliers are unable to deliver the cost and service benefits that had been agreed upon at the start of the contract. As outsourcing contracts become more specific in requirements,...

Mobile and video are embedding in UC

Forrester Analysts — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:47:31 GMT

I recently attended Enterprise Connect 2013 where I had over two dozen one-on-one briefings with UC technology and services vendors. Highlights included Microsoft’s keynote by Derek Burney (Corporate VP, Skype Division) the content of which was almost entirely live-demos of...

Sourcing strategies to drive digital disruption: Early and fast-evolving

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:06:14 GMT

Leading-edge executives at organisations drive growth, innovate, and disrupt industries through emerging technologies: social, mobile, cloud, analytics, sensors, GIS and others. 85% of executives in a recent survey shared that "the need to drive innovation and growth" would have a...

Cisco Services can it deliver on growth plans?

Forrester Analysts — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:35:23 GMT

As you’re all well aware by now, a perfect storm of technology innovations — including cloud, analytics, mobile, and social — is fundamentally disrupting the way your company engages with its customers (as well as employees and partners). For service...

More thoughts on SAP's maintenance price hike

Forrester Analysts — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:54:46 GMT

SAP's claims that its increase in price of standard support on new contracts by 5% from 15 July 15, 2013 is necessary: 'In order to ensure the same high level of quality support in the future.' hat justification is disingenuous,...

Sharpen your skills to keep SVM relevant

Forrester Analysts — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:48:01 GMT

I needed to order a tool from Amazon.com recently, and I was greeted with a “New Year, New You” panel linking me to whole host of exercise equipment targeted to my lifestyle. Same old New Year’s resolution song-n-dance, right? Well,...

IBM Global Business Services refines its business technology value proposition

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:27:00 GMT

The event was designed for IBM to share its view of the future of the technology marketplace with industry analysts — and of course speak about how IBM fits into that role.What’s clear is that IBM believes in the power...

Microsoft's tablet and smartphone licensing: Still counting devices when the world only wants to count users

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 14:00:00 GMT

These handy mobile computers give us access to our Microsoft Windows and Office products anytime and from anywhere. No longer are we tied to the old clunky desktop device in the office. This is good stuff: It lifts the age...

Sourcing and vendor management professionals' rising scope of responsibilities

Forrester Analysts — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:30:00 GMT

As part of my ongoing research into the product development services market, I took a step back to consider how sourcing and vendor management (SVM) professionals have seen their responsibilities increase as new sets of stakeholders start to rely and...

Upsell versus downbuy - Purchasing meets sales at IBM's smarter commerce event

Forrester Analysts — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Last week I was a guest at IBM’s Smarter Commerce event, mainly to see what it has been doing with Emptoris, which it acquired seven months ago. You may recall that I blogged certain misgivings when IBM announced the takeover...

Microsoft - Innovator or aggregator?

Forrester Analysts — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:30:00 GMT

Vanity Fair ran a terrific article in its recent August issue, entitled "Microsoft’s Lost Decade". The gist of the article is that since 2000, Microsoft, under the guidance of CEO Steve Ballmer, has fallen flat and failed in most new...

Product development will become a key new stakeholder for sourcing and vendor management

Forrester Analysts — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The recent news of a golfing glove utilising sensors and apps to allow golfers the opportunity to measure the trajectory and speed of their swing, is reflective of the increasing range of smart products on the market. It also serves...

Optimise your IT services planning, sourcing & management

Forrester Analysts — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:26:00 GMT

Services budgets represent 10 percent of annual IT operating and capital budgets[i], but Forrester sees considerable evidence that the influence of these IT Services vendors is proportionally higher - and growing dramatically. While there are several reasons for the rising...

What's your take on RfP versus RfS?

Forrester Analysts — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:09:00 GMT

Hi everybody. I'd like to get your opinion on the discussion about RfP versus RfS (Request for Solution). How do you see the difference?I am always using the term RfP for the activities to invite a vendor to provide an...

Thrive in the age of the customer: Forrester's Playbook for CRM

Forrester Analysts — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:43:00 GMT

We've entered a new era that Forrester calls the age of the customer. The new power of customers means that a focus on the customer now matters more than any other strategic imperative.To help clients thrive in this new era,...

How to navigate Microsoft's licensing of BYOD scenarios

Forrester Analysts — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:28:00 GMT

Microsoft is gradually improving the way it allows for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and other scenarios in which many employees use Microsoft on multiple devices. We’re getting growing numbers of questions from Forrester clients about this topic, and while...

Outsourcing T's And C's

Forrester Analysts — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:54:36 GMT

Corporate customers of cloud services are not having much fun when negotiating with emerging cloud suppliers. Forrester clients seeking support for their longstanding contractual preferences ranging from access to supplier data centres for due diligence to more robust terms...

SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions address cost and speed of deployments

Forrester Analysts — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:35:43 GMT

At SAP SAPPHIRE (SAP’s biggest user conference, May 14-16), SAP announced that it has deployed more than 1,400 instances of Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS) at more than 1,000 unique customers. These solutions help customers deploy SAP modules in as short...

Clients demand business innovation from services partners

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:31:26 GMT

Innovation is again the hot topic for clients, as it was before the economic downturn. Clients have a renewed interest in innovation and business growth, and they seek services partners who can help. But what is innovation in this context?...

Reunion special: licensing with the frenemy

Forrester Analysts — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:45:45 GMT

A recent conversation with IBM software executives sheds more light on the topic of software audits. Responding to a blog post we published a few months ago, IBM recognised some of the challenges inherent in an IBM software audit. They...

Deloitte to acquire Workday implementation specialist Aggressor

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:46:28 GMT

Deloitte continues to ramp up its software-as-a-service (SaaS) consulting practice, both through organic growth as well as acquisition. Today, Deloitte announced plans to acquire Workday implementation specialist Aggressor. Aggressor has been one of a very small set of Workday integrators...

Now that tablets and smartphones are here, how do we get our apps and enterprise data on them?

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:18:04 GMT

According to Forrester surveys, 27% of companies support the iPad today, while another 31% plan to support it in the future. As organisations begin to support connected smart devices such as iPads and smartphones, they also want to connect them...

Oracle had a strong third quarter, but well-informed buyers can still get great deals in its Q4

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:24:19 GMT

Oracle reported its results for the three months to February 29 earlier this week, and it beat analysts’ expectations. Software licence sales were up 15% from last quarter, and up 7% on last year’s Q3. The blogosphere’s “Oraclefreude” delight at...

Clients say Big Data is now an imperative (not just an initiative)

Forrester Analysts — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:40:20 GMT

At IBM's Smarter Analytics event this week, clients and partners presented success stories about how organisations are driving business value out of big data, analytics, and IBM Watson technology.Examples included:- City of Dublin, Ireland using thousands of data points from...

Identify your current state as a starting point for a new communications strategy

Forrester Analysts — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:40:15 GMT

Defining a best-practice communications strategy requires establishing a planning starting point. To do this, SVM professionals need to undertake a comprehensive audit of the company's communications current operational state that includes compiling use-cases by different business divisions, determining the more...