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Mobility and wireless network infrastructures are the big takers when it comes to IT budget planning for 2012, our latest study reveals. Even so, organizations are moving to the next stage of the IT infrastructure build-out across multiple budget areas, and our 2012 IT Investment Patterns Study shows how the strategy trends of innovation, integration and reversion are having a significant impact on 2012 spending patterns.
Gartner's Top 10 Business Apps for Tablets
As Apple’s iPad and other tablets move from the consumer world into the corporate IT ecosystem, business applications are moving beyond simple personal productivity applications to include enterprise heavy-hitters such as CRM and ERP. Vendors are launching tablet applications to meet enterprise demand, following where users want to take the tablet platform, says Gartner vice president and analyst David Willis, and CIOs should be aware of the ways software is evolving to conform to the tablet platform. “There are many highly visible ‘quick wins’ for tablets, such as board books and sales automation, which the CIO can use to break new ground,” Willis says. “But not all tablet apps are created equal from an enterprise perspective. Businesses must evaluate tablet apps based on functionality and business process integration, user factors, system integration, management and security, application architecture and vendor viability.” According to Gartner’s latest forecast, worldwide media tablet sales to end users will total 63.6 million units in 2011, a 261.4 percent increase from 2010 sales of 17.6 million units. Media tablet sales will continue to experience strong growth through to the end of 2015 when sales are forecast to reach 326.3 million units. By the end of 2014, the installed base of devices based on new lightweight mobile operating systems like Apple iOS, Google Android and Microsoft Windows 8 will exceed the total installed base of all PC-based systems. Here, we take a look at Gartner’s predictions of the top 10 commercial business applications you'll see on tablets.
Computer History Quiz: Ten Most Influential Contributors
Do you consider your computer history chops to be up to snuff? Then test your smarts with our quiz of the 10 most influential contributors to the history of computers. You’ll find no mention of the usual suspects, such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, in this quiz, which we compiled based on information from Ranker.com. Instead, we focus on unsung pioneers whose collective work dates back to the War of 1812. We’re presenting this quiz in classic “Jeopardy!” answer-then-question format. Ranker.com is a site dedicated to declaring superlatives within the worlds of film, TV, music, games, sports, automobiles, books and technology. It claims more than 2 million monthly unique users. We work on the honor system here, so take the quiz with no help allowed from your “Internet machine”:
Tablets Rule: 2011 Emerging Technology Adoption Trends Study
A little over a year after the introduction of the Apple iPad, nine out of every 10 organizations in North America with 50 or more employees are in some stage of adopting tablets for employee use. And three in 10 organizations are specifically in the testing or piloting stage--more than for any other new technology we asked about in the CIO Insight 2011 Emerging Technology Adoption Trends Study.
Research Editor Guy Currier Discusses Trends in New Mobile Apps
New features have come to mobile app development - HTML5, location awareness, near-field communications (NFC). Guy Currier, Senior Editor / Research, talks with Eric about mobile app research planned for release at the October CTIA tradeshow.
2011 Vendor Value Study: Research Exclusive
Our annual Vendor Value Study aims to provide you with enough objective detail on individual vendor value—based on the input of your peers—to evaluate your current technology providers and consider the options for your upcoming IT initiatives.
IT Investment Trends: Infrastructure Back in the Mix
In recent years, recession-fueled cost reduction and efficiency-driving new technologies have pulled IT budgets away from business-technology basics. Our latest study of IT investment trends reveals how -- and why -- spending is returning to these areas.
CIO Watch: CRM Apps are On the Rise
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications are becoming increasingly important in today’s corporate world. Companies all over the globe count on CRM solutions to help market products, manage customer service, empower sales teams and enhance contact-center capabilities, all with the ultimate goals of increasing revenue and improving customer loyalty. The Worldwide Semiannual Customer Relationship Management Applications Tracker, from research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), finds that CRM solutions gained significant popularity among corporate users in 2010. Oracle, SAP, and Salesforce.com each amassed more than $1 billion in CRM software revenue worldwide in 2010. Business customers are expected to spend even more this year on CRM solutions. If you’re thinking about acquiring a new CRM solution, or if you’re already invested in one, view the following slides to check out how the market is growing:
Cloud Spending: The Hidden Truth
Recognizing that cloud computing is really a framework for understanding application delivery helps us interpret and adjust our strategies. We can look at where the spending is taking place— not in terms of use case or business unit, but by budget area.
Exclusive Research: Enterprise Security Spending Trends
Our latest spending study reveals the many areas of the IT budget that are affected by security needs. It also highlights how many organizations are paying hidden costs with a piecemeal approach in which no central security investments exist to provide guidance, strategy or measurable results.
Mobile Mavericks and Wannabes: A Workplace Invasion?
The growth of the mobile workforce is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. In fact, a recent study from Forrester, called “The Rise of Wannabe And Maverick Mobile Workers,” reveals some startling new stats about the number of & undocumented& mobile workers in North America and Europe. Forrester defines & mobile wannabes& as those workers who are often at their desks and, therefore, are not considered by IT to be among the company's mobile workers. Forrester defines & mobile maverick& employees as those who use smartphones for work, but go outside of the corporate purchasing process by selecting and purchasing their smartphones and work-related mobile apps on their own. Combined, these two worker segments currently account for 22% of all employees; by 2015, they will grow significantly to 42% of all corporate employees, Forrester predicts. The report is based on data drawn from the Forrester Foresights Workforce Employee Survey, which had 5,519 respondents in the U.S. Canada France Germany and the UK
Gartner's CIO Agenda: Cloud Computing Tops the List
Cloud computing ranks No. 1 on the CIO technology priority list for the year, according to a Gartner Research report, & Reimagining IT: The 2011 CIO Agenda.& The report is based on survey responses from 2,014 CIOs in 50 countries, as well as interviews conducted by Gartner analysts with leading CIOs. In fact, Gartner predicts an enterprise boom in cloud computing adoption in the coming years. Mobile technologies and virtualization are also top priorities for CIOs. These solutions dovetail with the top three business drivers: Increasing enterprise growth; attracting and retaining new customers; and reducing enterprise costs. Read on for more highlights from the report:
IT Adoption Trends: Where is the ROI?
What's your IT-business relationship like? Do you see yourself and your team playing the role of & order taker& responding to every business demand? Or is your operation functioning as a partnership with the business structure? Perhaps you're in the enviable position of playing a leadership role as a CIO who is charged with driving forward the business agenda in your enterprise. A recent survey of IT decision-makers, conducted by IT adoption consulting firm Neochange and sponsored by Datango, iRise and KNOA, reveals that those organizations in which IT plays a leadership role in business decision-making achieve the greatest return on their technology investments. Neochange worked with CIO Insight's research division, Ziff Davis Enterprise Research, to field the survey in winter 2010. A total of 204 IT and business leaders completed the survey, representing a variety of company sizes and industry verticals. The majority of respondents (59.3 percent) are experiencing positive IT ROI trends by working their existing IT investments for more value. One measure of IT ROI, according to the report, is the & effective usage rate& of a given solution among end users. In organizations in which IT is seen as an & order taker,& IT deployments achieve an average effective usage rate of 48 percent. This contrasts sharply with the average effective usage rate of 58 percent for organizations where IT is considered a partner to business, and the average effective usage rate of 69 percent in operations where IT is considered to be a business leader. Survey respondents also share significant shortcomings in their companies' ability to build end-user capabilities through training and support.
Enterprise IT: What Your Colleagues Really Think
When it comes to the enterprise, IT is a key component in just about every single company’s operation. One way or another, companies are dependent upon technology and the implementation of different products and services to compete. As a CIO, you might sometimes wonder if you and your team are really appreciated. You understand the value that technology brings to the corporate world, and chances are, your IT staff does, as well. But you undoubtedly want to know that the rest of your company sees that value. Luckily for you, it seems that the employees at your firm just might. A study from the not-for-profit, IT Governance Institute, which polled 834 executives in 21 countries around the world, reveals that the importance of IT in the enterprise is apparent across all levels of an organization. The study, & Global Status Report on the Governance of Enterprise IT,& reveals how IT workers and business employees view their IT organization and its role in the overall strategy of the enterprise.
Emerging Technology Adoption Trends for 2011
In these unsettled times, your reasons for investigating or deploying the newest technologies may be different from what’s driving your ongoing investment in established infrastructure. Our latest survey shows how this is so.
Hottest Emerging Technologies of 2011
Our annual Emerging Technology Adoption Trends study, which looks at roughly 40 new technologies and strategies (this year it’s 42), provides insight into the hardware, software and infrastructure solutions being evaluated and deployed by your peers. You can view the complete Emerging Technology Adoption Trends report here, or access the complete report as a PDF here. This kind of objective, random surveying allows us to gauge activity levels for each kind of “hot” technology you may wish to consider. It also gives us a glimpse into the future, by comparing the level of active testing to overall usage. We split our list into five groupings, including computing technologies and strategies; networking and mobile; software (including application development); Web and collaboration; and security. Each has shown remarkable dynamism over the past year, as priorities and the business outlook have shifted, at times radically. For this report, we looked at both hot new technologies as well as more established, but still relatively new, solutions. We also asked survey respondents to evaluate technologies based on three key business drivers: improving business agility; creating cost savings or productivity enhancements; opening up new markets or opportunities for the enterprise. Ziff Davis Enterprise Research conducted the 2010 Emerging Technologies Study from Oct. 28-Nov. 23, 2010. A total of 188 qualified respondents completed the survey, which was conducted online.
And You Thought You Had Data Problems?
The U.S. Government is having a serious problem with its IT data infrastructure. In fact, it loses billions of dollars each year due to its inability to manage data, train employees, and provide workers the information they need to be the most productive in their jobs, according to a study conducted by MeriTalk, an online network for the government IT community. The report, & Uncle Sam's Lost and Found,& was sponsored by Google and DLT Solutions, a value-added reseller of government IT services and solutions. The report is based on an online survey of 300 Federal employees conducted by MeriTalk in July 2010. The study estimates that the U.S. government loses $15.4 billion annually due to what MeriTalk calls & ineffective IT.& Survey respondents site inefficient searches for documents in internal databases, poor cataloging of data, and ad hoc search tools as contributors to the ongoing problem. As with many private enterprises, the government is also faced with budget restrictions that may be hampering the ability to solve these issues. According to the report, only about one fifth of respondents say improving enterprise search functionality is a priority for their agency.
CIOs Who Tweet: How Twitter Can Work for You
When Twitter first started, it was tossed aside by cynics who said the social network did little but allow people to indulge themselves in their own boring lives. The Twitterati would tell the world what they had for lunch that day, critics said, but they wouldn’t provide real value to the rest of the community. Since those early days, Twitter has transitioned from a place to share boring information with others into a place that has become useful for consumers and brands that want to get their products or services into the zeitgeist. It has become a water cooler of sorts where consumers around the world share news, ideas, and, yes, lunch-box contents, with one another. The corporate world is starting to take notice. In fact, savvy companies that are trying to drive business are finding unique ways to leverage the social network for their own gain. But, those efforts are not (and should not) be limited to the function of marketing. Diamond Management Technology Consultants recently polled CIOs about their twitter habits. The 75 respondents, who represent various industries, reveal that Twitter is a powerful professional networking tool. The CIO who tweets is the CIO who will inevitably help drive new business. It’s a valuable tool you can use to help your company, and leverage your own career profile in the process.
Why the Next Six Months Are Looking Up
The past few years have been wreaking havoc on IT budgets across every industry. Because of this, companies have been loath to spend on new technologies and on new hires. A recent CDW survey finds that the future might not be as worrisome as the past has been. Small businesses, large corporations, and government organizations have shifted to a more positive outlook. This means your company could soon be opening up the coffers to invest in at least some of the new technologies that you've been waiting for. CDW’s findings are based on surveys the company conducted with 1,052 IT decision makers between July 26 and August 2, 2010. Here's what they have to say about how the next six months will shape up in terms of spending, employment plans, and IT effectiveness.
Vendors That Deliver, Vendors You Can Trust
Each year, we poll CIOs and other leading IT decision-makers about the value of their IT vendors. This year, nearly 700 qualified respondents participated in our survey, rating the top 40 IT vendors on a range of metrics, including value, reliability and loyalty. After identifying the vendors with which their enterprise has had a business relationship in the past 12 months, respondents were asked to rate those vendors on seven criteria. The ratings are derived for each vendor from the average percent of & good& or & excellent& responses they received for each criterion. In addition, respondents were asked whether, given a choice, they would continue to use each vendor with which they currently work – a telling testament to which companies can boast the best customer loyalty. Check out which vendors were ranked tops in each of these categories. For more, read the complete report, CIO Insight 2010 Vendor Value Ratings.