For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Segment Social Media Behaviors To Improve Tech Vendor Marketing Plans

by Peter O'Neill, July 27, 2010

Forrester's Social Technographics® survey, now in its second year, depicts the social media behaviors of more than 1,000 tech buyers from around the world. Tech marketers can use this data to plan marketing programs, campaigns, and collateral, each of . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

B2B Tech Vendor Partner Program Expectation Gaps That Matter

Comparing Vendor And Partner Prioritizations Reveals Misunderstandings

by Peter O'Neill, July 8, 2010

Changes in technological platforms and business models require technology partners both to re-assess their existing partnerships and to explore new partnership initiatives. Forrester's partner program assessment (PPA) tool, originally introduced in 2008, . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

B2B Tech Marketers Must Tune Their Social Media Campaigns For Europe

B2B Social Technographics® Shows That Europeans Use Social Media, But For Various Reasons

by Peter O'Neill, April 29, 2010

Forrester has now completed its annual North American And European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey, Q1 2010. The detailed regional breakdown for European tech buyers shows that their adoption of social media in the tech buying cycle has accelerated . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Should B2B Tech Vendors Continue To Outsource Their Channel Marketing?

Channel Success Will Require Something New And Some Things Different

by Peter O'Neill, March 30, 2010

In Forrester's Q4 2009 North American Global B2B Marketing Organizations Online Survey, tech marketers indicated that channel enablement and management is low on the budget list, just above PR. Yet channel dynamics are becoming a major driver of industry . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Best Practices Of IT Management Software Vendor Positioning

Positioning Is Influenced By The Web Site But Extends Through Social Media

by Peter O'Neill, February 18, 2010

Two years after Forrester first published it, our vendor positioning review (VPR) methodology has become a proven strategy tool; Forrester analysts have applied it in multiple advisory engagements, and marketing professionals actively leverage it as a . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

B2B Tech Field Marketers Must Adapt To Remain Relevant

New Challenges Emerge As Field And Marketing Definitions Change

by Peter O'Neill, February 8, 2010

Field marketers in the technology industry are challenged as their corporate colleagues introduce more marketing automation and increasingly leverage the digital marketing opportunity for business-to-business (B2B) communications. The more traditional . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Microsoft Applies Vista Lessons To Upgrade Windows 7 Launch For Partners

Windows Release Program Demonstrates Lessons Learned

by Peter O'Neill, December 16, 2009

The success of many technology vendors, hardware or software, often depends on an associated ecosystem of partners who have developed and sell business solutions on the vendor’s platform products. When the vendor improves or upgrades its technology and . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Best Practices In B2B Tech Partner Portfolio Management

Enact A Vibrant Partner Portfolio To Prepare For The Upturn

by Peter O'Neill, November 25, 2009

In the murky, maturing technology industry, vendor partner programs are in a state of constant flux and are difficult to control and align with corporate strategy. Only now are vendors beginning to take control of their programs and manage them strategically . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: IT Management Software Market, H1 2009

Vendors Are Missing The Cloud And Virtualization Waves

by Peter O'Neill, November 5, 2009

Forrester's market momentum overview assists vendor strategy professionals in tracking the evolution of the IT management software (ITMS) market and in gathering intelligence about the major activities. In the first half of 2009, we tracked 165 different . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

B2B Channel Incentive Programs In The Technology Industry

A Benchmark Of 11 Technology Vendors' Programs And Operations

by Peter O'Neill, Tim Harmon, October 13, 2009

One of the most important business processes for technology industry (TI) vendors is to manage an indirect sales channel, which some vendors see as only an augmentation to their direct sales efforts. Forrester interviewed 11 leading TI vendors about their . . .

For 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 Vendor Strategy Professionals

Key Takeaways For IT Asset Life-Cycle Management

The Recent Forrester Wave™ Separates IT Asset Life-Cycle Management Vendors In A Cloud From The Rest

by Peter O'Neill, August 19, 2009

We published a Forrester Wave&trade on IT asset life-cycle management (ITALM) in April 2009. It has generated a lot of interest in the topic among users and some interest among vendors. Users are downloading the Wave tool and adjusting the criteria . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The IT Management Software Megavendors

SWOT Analysis For BMC Software, CA, HP Software, And IBM Tivoli, Q3 2009

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, Peter O'Neill, August 12, 2009

The current recession and credit crunch deeply affected IT spending in the last quarter of 2008 and into 2009. Despite this bleak overall picture, Forrester forecasts 4% growth in nonapplication software products (e.g., storage management, middleware), . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Analysis Of IT Management Software Sales Deals

The Megavendors Are Missing Out On Smaller Deals

by Peter O'Neill, Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., August 3, 2009

IT management software (ITMS) is one of the most dynamic and complex IT markets, with more than 300 vendors competing for market share. Vendor strategists are increasingly looking for greater insights into the dynamics behind pure revenue by category, . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Overview: Business Service Management

Introducing The BSM "Class Of 2009"

by Peter O'Neill, June 11, 2009

Enterprises continue to invest in business service management (BSM) projects, even with the economy going into recession. As a technology, BSM is founded on the ability to map business services to infrastructure components, providing visibility into IT . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Who's Hot In Business Service Management

An Overview Of Vendors Offering BSM Solutions

by Peter O'Neill, Evelyn Hubbert, June 11, 2009

Enterprises continue to invest in business service management (BSM) projects, even with the economy going into recession, and BSM has been the battle cry of IT management software vendors for several years now. As a technology, it is founded on the ability . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

What Vendors Need To Know About IT Management Software In SMBs

Overview Of Market Sizing, Buying Trends, And Preferences

by Peter O'Neill, May 28, 2009

IT management needs vary according to company-size segment, and distribution of the IT management software market is 77% to enterprises and 23% to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in 2009. While the greatest difference in buying drivers is between . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Overview: IT Financial Management Software

The Time Is Right For More Cost Transparency In IT

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., Peter O'Neill, May 7, 2009

As IT continues to morph into business technology, it increasingly gets the same treatment and is subject to the same expectations as any other business operation. Some of the most pressing needs in this respect are clearly measured, continuous process . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Forrester's Partner-Type Taxonomy: Lingua Franca For A New Era

Simplifying The Partner Dance Card So Everybody Is On The Same Page

by Peter O'Neill, April 22, 2009

Compared with other industries, outsiders perceive information technology (IT) to be relatively young &mdash influenced in its youthfulness more by technology than business trends and driven by technology experts with only occasional business-savvy. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Momentum: IT Management Software Market, H2 2008

Are Vendors Promoting Themselves Enough?

by Peter O'Neill, March 27, 2009

Forrester's market momentum overview assists vendor strategy professionals in tracking the evolution of the IT management software market and in gathering intelligence about the major activities. In the second half of 2008, we tracked 177 different activities . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Overview: The IT Management Software Market In 2009

The Current Economy Is A Catalyst For Change

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, Peter O'Neill, March 13, 2009

In 2009, IT faces the problem of cutting costs without affecting the productivity of business users. Ideally, enterprises will look at solutions that increase IT ops' productivity, reduce the time needed to correct problems, and eliminate wasted time: . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IT Management Software Positioning Benchmark, Q4 2008

A Review Of IT Management Software Marketing Practices With A Self-Assessment Tool

by Peter O'Neill, February 12, 2009

Forrester used its vendor positioning review methodology to re-evaluate the four leading IT management software vendors across 14 criteria and three product domains and determine where they are now positioning themselves on the continuum between information . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

IT Operations Financial Management Helps The Business Control Its Service Consumption

Case Study: Service Management Financials At Nationwide Mutual Insurance

by Peter O'Neill, January 21, 2009

A new and urgent imperative is emerging in IT operations. As business users' expectations of IT continue to rise, many IT operations groups lack the business maturity to effectively demonstrate the business value of IT investments. Business users are . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

What's After BSM? Understanding The Financials

Enterprises That Reach BSM Maturity Extend Their Projects To Financial Management

by Peter O'Neill, January 6, 2009

Enterprises with mature business service management (BSM) systems are able to measure and report quality of service at the business level; they can also assign sensible, business-centric prioritization to service performance events and other incidents. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The Spread Of Remarketed Software Could Be A European Response To The Economic Crisis

German Enterprises Have Paved The Way In Trading Used Software Licenses

by Peter O'Neill, December 22, 2008

The software industry continues to immerse itself in restrictive business practices, as vendors: fiercely defend their output as intellectual property; boldly charge for product maintenance, including fixing product defects; and restrictively control . . .