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NICE Systems Ventures into the Agent Back Office

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Most people involved with contact centers know of NICE Systems and its SmartCenter suite of workforce optimization products that support key contact center management capabilities such as call recording, quality monitoring, workforce management, customer feedback management and a variety of performance management and analytics tools. NICE recently received the top ranked Hot Vendor rating in the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, NICE Systems, Customer Relationship Management, Operational Performance, Customer Service, Call Center, Contact Center, CRM

inContact Provides Contact Center in the Cloud

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
All the buzz in the contact center market these days is about the “contact center in the cloud.” I have written on the subject, in particular “Is a Contact Center in the Cloud a Reality?” and “Will Cloud Computing Finally Bring Innovation to the Contact Center?”. In considering this issue my thinking focuses on what goes into a contact center and then what vendors offer these systems in the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Customer Relationship Management, InContact, Operational Performance, Cloud Computing, Customer Service, Call Center, Contact Center, CRM

XBRL Filing Errors Point to Need for Automation through Technology

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) “Interactive Data” initiative continues to progress forward. Thus far, some 1,500 corporations have filed their financial information using XBRL tags to facilitate review and analysis, of which almost 400 have had done detailed tagging of their footnotes. By June 2011 all public companies will have to provide an XBRL-tagged, interactive version of... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, XBRL, IT Performance, Business Performance, Business Technology, Financial Performance, CFO, Corporate Finance, Financial Performance Management

LiveOps Enhances Contact Center in the Cloud

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
I have written a couple of pieces this year about the exciting news that a few vendors are now able to provide companies with a call center they can access in the Internet cloud – Will Cloud Computing Finally Bring Innovation to the Contact Center? and Is a “Contact Center in the Cloud” a Reality? There is currently a lot of hype around any kind of cloud-based computing, and the same is true of... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Customer Relationship Management, LiveOps, Operational Performance, Cloud Computing, Customer Service, Call Center, Contact Center Analytics, CRM

Kronos Goes Usability and Mobility in New Releases

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
At its annual user conference in Las Vegas, Kronos unveiled the next stage of its approach to workforce management to its customers and partners, showing an aggressively confident posture after completing its fiscal year 2010 with revenue increased 9 percent to $741 million. Kronos is the largest provider of workforce management systems for time and attendance, scheduling, absence tracking,... Read More

Topics: Human Capital, Human Resources Management, Kronos, Mobile Applications, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Management

Enkata Advances Contact Center Analytics to Improve Customer Experience

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Among the important findings of our latest benchmark research on contact center analytics were these two: 88 percent of companies said they can use analytics to improve the performance of the contact center (41% said they could make significant improvement), and the main issue holding them back from doing that is an excessive reliance on spreadsheets (90% indicated they use spreadsheets on a... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Customer Relationship Management, Enkata, Operational Performance, Cloud Computing, Customer Service, Call Center, Contact Center Analytics, CRM

What is the Value of Your Financial Performance Management Software?

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
Ventana Research has just announced its Value Index for Financial Performance Management (FPM) for 2010. Our value indexes are user-focused assessments of how well software vendors and packages enable companies to improve their execution of core processes. This one is designed to help businesses, especially the finance organization, evaluate the FPM software suites offered by major vendors in the... Read More

Topics: ERP, Office of Finance, Financial Applications, Business Performance, Business Technology, Financial Performance, Business Planning, CFO, finance, Corporate Finance, Financial Performance Management

Planview Does Initiative-Based Planning

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
I’ve written quite a bit about integrated business planning (IBP), which is the process of connecting aspects of the planning function across an organization to improve its internal alignment and financial performance. IBP begins with operational – rather than financial – planning (that is, budgeting) because it’s about running the business and figuring out how to make the financial aspects work... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Project Portfolio Management, IT Performance, Operational Performance, CIO, Financial Performance, Business Planning, CFO, Initiatives Management, Initiatives Planning, Operational Planning

Aurix Powers New Generation of Speech Analytics

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Aurix is not a widely recognized vendor in the speech analytics market even though its technology powers products provided by companies such as CallCopy, KnoahSoft, NewVoiceMedia and OnviSource. In fact its strategy is to provide the engine that these and other partners use in market-facing speech analytics solutions. Its main product, Aurix speech search SDK, is a search engine that searches... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Speech Analytics, Voice of the Customer, Customer Relationship Management, Customer Service, Uncategorized, Call Center, Contact Center Analytics, Voice Analytics

Tableau 6 Combines In-Memory Processing and Visualization

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Tableau Software officially released Version 6 of its product this week. Tableau approaches business intelligence from the end user’s perspective, focusing primarily on delivering tools that allow people to easily interact with data and visualize it. With this release, Tableau has advanced its in-memory processing capabilities significantly. Fundamentally Tableau 6 shifts from the intelligent... Read More

Topics: Data Visualization, Enterprise Data Strategy, Tableau, Analytics, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, In-Memory Computing

Advantages and Challenges of In-Memory Databases and Processing

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Interest in and development of in-memory technologies have increased over the last few years, driven in part by widespread availability of affordable 64-bit hardware and operating systems and the performance advantages in-memory operations provide over disk-based operations. Some software vendors, such as SAP with its High-Performance Analytic Appliance (HANA) project has been advancing with... Read More

Topics: Database, Enterprise Data Strategy, IT Performance, Analytics, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, Complex Event Processing, In-Memory Computing, Information Management, Information Technology

Microsoft Hopes for a Miracle with Windows Phone 7

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
Mobile computing isn’t new anymore. The capabilities of smartphones, among other things, enable businesses to run applications across an enterprise and workers to collaborate across business and social networks. In this endeavor Microsoft was early to market with its Windows CE devices that provided e-mail and Web browsing to phones. For the first years it was a low-level battle among Microsoft,... Read More

Topics: Microsoft, Mobile, Mobile Applications, Mobile Technology, IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Business Technology, CIO, Mobility, Digital Technology

Saba Dedicates Itself to People and Collaboration

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
At its annual user conference in Boston, Saba provided insights to industry analysts on its progress over the last year and its direction for 2011. Best known for its learning management system (LMS), collaboration and more recently its talent management applications, Saba now has more than 19 million users in 1,400 customer organizations that are mostly in the public sector, have 5,000 or more... Read More

Topics: Human Capital, Human Resources Management, Learning, Mobile Applications, Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Saba, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Happy BIRT Day

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
Actuate held its annual customer day in San Francisco amid the happy chaos of the World Series champion Giants’ ticker-tape celebration, and on that day the company’s ticker symbol changed from ACTU to BIRT (a shift, incidentally, botched by NASDAQ). There was a great deal of focus on its ActuateOne platform (which my colleague reviewed here) and the advancements in using open source software... Read More

Topics: Microsoft, Open Source Software, Analytics, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, Information Management, Microsoft Excel, Spreadsheets

IBM Makes InfoSphere Information Server a Force in IT

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
In the weeks leading up to and as part of its Information On Demand Conference that my colleague assessed, IBM introduced version 8.5 of InfoSphere Information Server and several related product updates. As my colleague suggested earlier, IBM has an ambitious agenda to provide comprehensive information management capabilities through a combination of product development and acquisitions. The... Read More

Topics: Enterprise Data Strategy, IT Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, Data Integration, IBM, Information Management, Information Technology

Teradata Advances Analytics across the Board

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
The battle for business analytics rages on. IBM, Oracle, SAP and SAS as billion dollar and larger companies each combine analytic computation and processing in the underlying data but Teradata remains a key player. For its part Teradata used its annual Partners conference to tout the next generation of analytics in its product portfolio and brought along customers to testify to their success in... Read More

Topics: Enterprise Data Strategy, Teradata, IT Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, Information Management, Information Technology

Plateau Brings Mobility to Talent Management and Simplifies Applications

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
At its 2010 user conference in Miami, Plateau Systems reviewed for analysts its progress in the market for talent management software. Plateau has a unified platform and suite of applications that cover learning, compensation, job performance and analytics. The company’s financials have been steadily growing as more customers adopt its platform and show good year-to-year growth in its... Read More

Topics: Learning, Performance, Plateau, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

IBM Brings Business Analytics and Information Management to Center Stage

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
This year IBM joined its annual Information on Demand conference with the new IBM Business Analytics Forum. Some 10,000 attendees came to learn about managing information assets using analytics for business, and the value of integrating business intelligence (BI) with information assets across the enterprise. All these topics are relevant, as large organizations have created thousands of silos... Read More

Topics: Enterprise Data Strategy, IT Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, IBM, Information Management

Corporations Must Manage Taxes More Intelligently

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
For the past couple of years I’ve been asserting that most larger companies (those with 1,000 or employees) need to adopt a new approach to using software to handle their taxes comprehensively, both the direct sort (income taxes) and the indirect variety (sales and use taxes as well as value-added or goods and services taxes). This is a necessary response to an emerging challenge from more... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Enterprise Tax, Tax Software, Business Performance, Financial Performance, CFO, Corporate Finance, Financial Performance Management, International Finance

Cognos 10 Breaks Down Barriers To Business Intelligence and Analytics

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
On October 25, IBM introduced Cognos 10 at its Information on Demand and Business Analytics Forum in Las Vegas that I attended to review the technology closer from my examination at its recent IBM Business Analytics analyst summit in September. According to Rob Ashe, IBM’s general manager of business analytics, Cognos 10 has been developed for over six years. You’re probably aware that in that... Read More

Topics: Enterprise Data Strategy, Performance Management, Planning, IT Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, IBM, Information Management

Think Outside the Box when Investing in Salesforce Chatter

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog discussing salesforce.com (SFDC) Chatter and the buzz the technology is making in which one of my biggest questions was how a non-SFDC customer could justify purchasing Chatter. Well I finally got to speak with someone who has paid at least partially for Chatter. I say partially because this particular customer already has several hundred licenses with SFDC (which... Read More

Topics: Sales, Social Media, Social CRM, Customer Relationship Management, CIO, Collaboration, Operational Intelligence

Merced Systems’ European Event Showcases Best Practices and Customer Insights

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Merced Systems provides software to support performance management in both sales and service. Its products extract data from various systems to produce business-related reports, dashboards, scorecards and analysis that help companies improve performance in these two key functions. To further its efforts, Merced recently invited around 100 partners, customers and prospects to its 360 Degree... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Merced Systems, Operational Performance, Analytics

IBM Acquires Clarity Systems for More Financial Performance Management

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
IBM announced it has acquired Clarity Systems, a Toronto-based vendor of performance management software and consulting. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (My most recent blog and analysis about Clarity Systems can be found here. The acquisition fills an important hole in the IBM Cognos applications portfolio, as Clarity FSR is a leading application for automating and managing the... Read More

Topics: Clarity Systems, Financial Close, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Financial Performance Management

SuccessFactors Takes a Calculator into the Cloud?

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
SuccessFactors is known for applications in performance and talent management but has been working to expand its portfolio more broadly into business. This year the company expanded its focus to workforce analytics with the acquisition of Inform, which I assessed. I have assessed that Inform needed to improve the usability of its tools to compete better which is now more easily possible with a... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, SuccessFactors, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management

Qlik Here for My View of QlikView 10

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
My colleague recently wrote about QlikView, noting its rapid ascent to providing a very robust support of mobile technology platforms among BI vendors and integration with SAP. On the occasion of its release of a major product revision, QlikView 10, I’d like to add my perspective on the company and its most recent release. I first learned of QlikView about five years ago while working on the TM1... Read More

Topics: QlikView, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Information Management, Mobility

iWay Software Connects Salesforce Chatter to the Enterprise

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
It is not easy for businesses to make their operations more efficient, partly because their information systems do not provide notifications of events as they are happening. Most enterprise technology uses batch processing and is designed to move data from one database to another; otherwise it requires people to go and find the data they need. To be more responsive, new technologies capture and... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Salesforce.com, Business Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Information Management

Putting Hadoop To Work

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
If you enjoyed my previous blog, “Hadoop Is the Elephant in the Room,” perhaps you’d be interested in what your organization might do with Hadoop. As I mentioned, the Hadoop World event this week showcased some of the biggest and most mature Hadoop implementations, such as those of eBay, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo. Those of you who need 8,500 processors and 16 petabytes of storage like eBay... Read More

Topics: Business Intelligence, Information Management, Strata+Hadoop

Hadoop Is the Elephant in the Room

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Earlier this week I attended Hadoop World in New York City. Hosted by Cloudera, the one-day event was by almost all accounts a smashing success. Attendance was approximately double that of last year. There were five tracks filled mostly with user presentations. According to Mike Olson, CEO of Cloudera, the conference’s tweet stream (#hw2010) was one of the top 10 trending topics of that morning.... Read More

Topics: Business Intelligence, Information Management, Strata+Hadoop

HR Technology Conference Brings Insight to Opportunity

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
The annual HR Technology conference in Chicago provided a glimpse into the activities of HR organizations and their technology investments. It was a busy event with large attendance and much movement between sessions and the exhibit floor as attendees sought to learn more about the technology and what it can do for them. As always event organizers presented a large number of awards and... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Workforce Performance, HRMS, Talent Management

Longview FXR Automates Close-to-Report Cycle

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
With its FXR offering, Longview Solutions becomes the latest entrant into the market for software that automates the close-to-report cycle. Addressing the steps in the accounting cycle after the books are closed, the product assembles this accounting data, data from other sources (for example, management data such as a business segment breakout of revenues and operating profits or nonaccounting... Read More

Topics: Financial Close, LongView, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Financial Performance Management

Oracle Expands Its Playbook at OpenWorld

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
At its annual conference Oracle OpenWorld this year Oracle flexed its muscles as a technology giant. The company has been steadily growing through acquisitions to expand its database, middleware and applications, and the recent acquisition of Sun Microsystems gives it a way to sell hardware for servers and storage. This momentum is enabling Oracle to develop new streams of revenue, which were on... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, Information Applications, Information Management, Information Technology

Teradata Advances Personalized Marketing Using Analytics

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Most people would describe Teradata as a data warehouse and analytics vendor as my colleague has reviewed its core technology. In addition to that, through its own development and by partnering, the company has branched out into the applications market. One such application is Teradata Relationship Manager (TRM) main purpose is to personalize customer interactions, regardless of channel or type... Read More

Topics: Marketing, Operational Performance, Analytics, CRM

What Is Wrong with Business Intelligence?

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
I attended the IBM Business Analytics Analyst Summit in Ottawa and while I can’t tell you much about what was discussed there due to confidentiality restrictions that will be released shortly, I can share with you some of my own observations regarding the state of BI, particularly what’s wrong with it. By “wrong,” I mean why aren’t adoption rates higher? Why aren’t users more satisfied? Our... Read More

Topics: Business Intelligence, Information Management

Cicero Has Smart Agent Desktop for Contact Centers

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
My research over seven years persistently shows that the two main business objectives in a contact center are to reduce average call-handling time (AHT) and improve customer satisfaction. It doesn't seem unreasonable to ask why after all this time most companies haven't come up with solutions to these challenges. To find the answer, I think you have to look at the causes. I believe the big two... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Analytics, Contact Center

SAS Supports Marketing through Customer Intelligence

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
SAS is a presence in analytics of virtually every kind and my colleague the broader value of SAS earlier this year. Only a couple of months back I wrote briefly about one of its newest offerings, Social Media Analytics. Since then I have had a chance to see this product in action. While the current version isn’t what I would describe as on the leading edge, it provides capabilities companies need... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Customer Intelligence, Operational Performance

IBM Business Analytics Workshop Illuminates Performance Management

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
As part of its recent IBM Business Analytics Industry Analyst Summit, I participated in a demonstration of IBM Business Analytics Workshop, a simulation that the company uses to demonstrate the capabilities of its performance management software. Rather than offering a canned demo or a Microsoft PowerPoint deck, the workshop gives a team of individuals from a company a reasonably realistic... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Sales Performance, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Information Management, Workforce Performance

Perillon Takes Sustainability to the Next Level

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
Ecology and economy are two words with the same root. Similarly, the focus on sustainability in business has two sorts of "green" impacts: on the environment and (if you do it right) on the bottom line. Perillon has an on-demand and cloud computing-based solution for companies that want to manage their double-green sustainability efforts more effectively. Perillon Workspace Suite offers... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Performance, Sustainability, Perillon, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Financial Performance Management

It’s Alive!: A Look at Why the Software Ecosystem Matters to You.

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
With the ongoing spate of mergers and acquisitions in the software industry, I’d like to offer some perspective on what these acquisitions mean to software-purchasing organizations. Think of the software industry as a thriving ecosystem, with large software companies at the top of the food chain. Small companies are formed and, if they have an interesting idea and some good marketing, they grow.... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, Information Technology

Joining the Ventana Research Team and Community

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Here’s a big shout-out to the Ventana Research community. I’m happy to be here. I think it would be appropriate to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about why I’m here and what I hope to accomplish as a member of the Ventana Research team. For more than 20 years I’ve been analyzing end-user requirements, competitive landscapes and new trends in the IT industry for some of the world’s... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, Information Technology

Sneak Preview and Analysis: Oracle Fusion Applications for Financial Management

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
Oracle unveiled its Fusion Financials applications at its latest OpenWorld confab as part of its broader Fusion Applications announcement. The software will be generally available shortly. Beyond it being the approach to bringing together the disparate ERP/Financial applications the company owns (E-Business Suite/Oracle Applications, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards), Oracle Fusion Financials rethinks... Read More

Topics: Financial Close, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Oracle, Financial Performance Management

Sneak Preview and Analysis: Oracle Fusion Applications for CRM and Sales Organizations

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
At Oracle OpenWorld this week the company announced its next generation of business applications call Oracle Fusion Application , , which Larry Ellison touted in his closing day keynote at last year's conference, as I noted then. I attended the conference partly to learn what Oracle is doing in providing applications for sales organizations. In the late 1990s Siebel Systems introduced customer... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Sales Operations, Operational Performance, CRM, Sales Performance Management

Sneak Preview and Analysis: Oracle Fusion Applications for Human Capital Management

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
At Oracle OpenWorld this week the company announced its next generation of business applications call Oracle Fusion Applications , which Larry Ellison touted in his closing day keynote at last year's conference, as I noted then. Oracle's head of strategy, Gretchen Alarcon, and head of development, Clive Swan, presented the introduction to one of the seven Fusion families, Human Capital... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management, Workforce Performance Management

IBM Makes Major Buy in Analytics Market with Netezza

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
IBM has announced its intention to acquire Netezza, one of the world’s fastest-growing providers of data appliances, for approximately $1.7 billion. Founded only 10 years ago, Netezza has over 500 employees and 350 clients including brand names Burlington Coat Factory, Con-way Freight, Estee Lauder, Marriott and Nationwide Insurance. IBM has been investing in analytics software for five years and... Read More

Topics: Data Warehousing, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Information Management, Netezza

Talent Management Market Contracts Further as SumTotal Acquires Softscape

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
The market for talent management software continues to consolidate as SumTotal will acquire Softscape to bring together a combination of customers, people and products that reaches more than 25 million users and 1,800 customers globally. This purchase follows three other recent ones: ADP acquiring Workscape, Kenexa acquiring salary.com and Taleo acquiring Learn.com. The result is fewer but... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Softscape, Business Performance, Workforce Performance, HRMS, SumTotal Systems, Talent Management

Actuate’s Xenos Enterprise Server Dishes Out Mounds of Content

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
For the past couple of decades Xenos' distinctive competence has been the transformation of print streams into content used to assemble documents. Its focus these days is in addressing the needs of organizations that have to handle high volume transactional output (HVTO) and all forms of enterprise content. The company, which was acquired by Actuate earlier this year, recently released their... Read More

Topics: Information Management, Content Management

IBM Opens a Page for GRC

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
IBM has announced its intention to acquire OpenPages, a privately held, Massachusetts-based software company focused on governance, risk and compliance (GRC). I noted that after the deal finishes, the business will reside within IBM’s analytics group rather than in document management; this arrangement signals IBM’s intention to integrate its collaboration and communications around performance... Read More

Topics: GRC, Open Pages, Operational Management, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Financial Management

ActuateOne Advances Information Platform with Analytics and Business Intelligence

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
Actuate has announced a major new version of its software called ActuateOne. Its technology is integrated in a single platform and set of tools for performance management, analytics, business intelligence (BI) and information applications; the product can be managed on-premises or in the cloud and is accessible via mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone and iPad. Actuate has been in the BI... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Analytics, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Information Management

SAP Unveils Next Generation of Business Analytics

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
On Tuesday in Silicon Valley, SAP introduced its latest business software: business analytics applications for specific vertical industries. The event was kicked off by SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott, who demonstrated the simplicity of the applications on an Apple iPad, which has become the demonstration system of choice for SAP as well as a tool it provides for its sales force. Bill and EVP of... Read More

Topics: SAP, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Information Management

The Buzz Is about Salesforce.com Chatter

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
On Wednesday, September 9, 2010 the massive marketing machine called salesforce.com rolled into London to stage its 2010 Cloudforce event at the Royal Festival Hall. The clout of CEO Mark Benioff and his team in the IT industry was evident in the fact that at short notice they could postpone the event by a day and still get about 3,000 attendees, stage a massive partner show and put on a keynote... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Social Media, Operational Performance, Business Collaboration, Business Performance, Customer Service, CRM

Looking forward to Oracle OpenWorld

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
Looking forward to Oracle OpenWorld, I was recalling that about 20 years ago, when I started covering the software industry as a Wall St. analyst, I paid a visit to the company. There were many fewer database-shaped glass buildings there in Redwood Shores then but the lack of corporate focus on business applications and users remains unchanged. Right after that first visit, I told another... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Supply Chain Performance, IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, Financial Performance, Information Management, Information Technology, Oracle, Workforce Performance

Informatica Cloud Asserts Its Strength

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Recently I wrote a blog outlining a relatively new offering, Informatica Cloud. I questioned how many companies understood the need for data management and whether they would turn to a cloud-based solution to meet their needs. It seems that my doubts have been addressed with the rapid adoption of it in 2010. At salesforce.com’s recent Cloudforce event in London, I learned that Informatica Cloud... Read More

Topics: Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Data Integration, Informatica, Information Management

Oracle Hopes Mark Hurd Brings New Herd of Business

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
At the eye of the tornado of accusations, rumors and gossip in Silicon Valley that began with CEO Mark Hurd’s departure from Hewlett-Packard are the internal politics and lack of management procedures and oversight at the company. I have pointed out a connection not discussed elsewhere to issues around the enterprise software efforts at HP (See: “HP Scandal Reflects on Enterprise Software... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, Information Technology, Oracle

Contact Center Analytics Help Reduce Average Call-Handling Time

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
My research continues to show that the most important key performance indicator (KPI) for call centers is average call-handling time (AHT). Furthermore, second in importance only to improving customer satisfaction is the challenge of reducing operating costs, which invariably involves trying to reduce AHT, which contact centers need to do without negatively impacting customer satisfaction. An... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Analytics, Call Center, Contact Center, CRM

ADP Acquires Workscape to Consolidate Talent Management Market

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
Consolidation activity increased in the market for applications in talent management or what I call workforce performance management as ADP announced and now has closed the acquisition of Workscape. ADP is a $9 billion outsourcing provider that is well known for providing employer and payroll services; the company has been expanding its breadth of services for employers by responding to demand... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Kenexa, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management

KnoahSoft Harmonizes Agent Performance Management

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010
Over the last decade in my research into contact center operations has revolved around the four operational challenges faced by center managers: to reduce average call-handling time, increase agent utilization, increase customer satisfaction and one recently gaining in importance, to increase first-contact-resolution rates. The first two clearly relate to the core issue of reducing operational... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, KnoahSoft, Operational Performance, Call Center

Host Analytics Performance Management is Sweet in the Cloud

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010
Most large corporations have embraced some form of “performance management” software – perhaps even multiple forms – including business analytics to help create key performance indicators, reporting systems for graphically presenting information in a useful context (such as dashboards, scorecards or a recurring performance report) as well as planning systems to create budgets and forecasts or... Read More

Topics: Financial Close, Host Analytics, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Financial Performance Management

Kenexa Advances in Talent Management and Saves Salary.com

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010
Today was another inflection point for the talent management market and buyers of HR applications with the announcement that Kenexa is acquiring salary.com (NASDAQ: SLRY) pending shareholder and SEC approval. Kenexa is offering a cash-per-share agreement that should work to complete the transaction. More complicated will be figuring out how to retain the talent at salary.com; that company has... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Kenexa, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management

Clarabridge’s Text Analytics Improve Customer Experience

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
I have been doing research into customer relationship management (CRM), contact centers and analytics for seven years. Throughout that time some customer-related themes have remained constant: Companies say their top driver is to improve customer satisfaction; customer experience management (CEM) has overtaken CRM as a top priority; and companies still search for a 360-degree view of the customer... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Clarabridge, IT Performance, Operational Performance, Information Management, Text Analytics

Infopia Launches Retail Analytics for E-Business

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
The rapid evolution of business on the Internet has dramatically changed many organizations’ strategies for growth and profitability, especially those in the retail sector. I have written about the importance of analytics overall and in retail, but many companies are maturing slowly in using them to analyze electronic business and commerce. Data derived from analytics can enable them to manage... Read More

Topics: Retail Analytics, Operational Performance, Commerce, InfoPia

Dashboards for Continuously Improving the Close

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 November 2010
Accelerating the completion of the accounting cycle remains an important objective for Finance organizations. Research shows that about half of the midsize and larger companies take more than five business days to close their books on a monthly or quarterly basis; some much longer. A fast, accurate close is important if only because it enables companies to provide financial feedback to executives... Read More

Topics: Financial Close, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Financial Performance Management

Operational Intelligence Gets Boost from eg solutions

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
The market for operational intelligence (OI) has grown as organizations realize the importance of having information in real time and in the right context. To accomplish this requires that operational data is processed as it happens, commonly by being packaged into what are called events and made available through technologies for complex event processing or event monitoring. Operational... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Complex Event Processing, Operational Intelligence, eg Solutions

Maxager Figures What it Costs for Improved Profitability

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 November 2010
Activity Based Costing (ABC) is one several popular techniques to apply marginal cost analysis to arrive at a more accurate measure of a product’s true economic cost. It became popular in the United States starting in the 1980s (earlier in Germany) as it became clear to many that traditional cost accounting techniques do not reflect the true, economic cost of production in complex, multi-product... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Performance, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Cost Management, Maxager, Profitability

Vitria Adds Operational Intelligence to Customer Experience Management

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
In my writing and speaking, I try to avoid “market babble,” which numbs ordinary readers with technology buzzwords and three-letter acronyms. Lately I have been accused of overusing the phrase “interaction-handling processes,” which some people have taken as an instance of market-speak. So I’ll explain what I mean by it. It has to do with contact center agents – or customer service... Read More

Topics: Vitria, Operational Performance, Complex Event Processing, Operational Intelligence

Workforce Analytics is Easy and Simple with Accero

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
To utilize a workforce effectively requires information about it and the ability to analyze that in the context of the business’s needs. Yet it has long been the case that the use of analytics and business intelligence (BI) is least advanced in the human resources function. It remains so even as organizations introduce talent management applications to supplement or replace legacy human resource... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Agent Performance Management Is Important to the Customer Experience

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
My research into Customer Experience Management shows that four of the top five factors that influence a customer’s experience in dealing with a contact center relate to agents: their attitudes, understanding of the customer’s issue, ability to resolve issues the first time and general knowledge (third on the list was average queue times). The research also shows that the largest volumes of... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Operational Performance, Analytics

Australia Adopts XBRL for "Standard Business Reporting"

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 November 2010
In July, Australia adopted what it calls "Standard Business Reporting" (SBR), which is designed to reduce the reporting burden imposed on businesses by the country's federal and state governments by streamlining the information submission ("lodging" for the Oz) process. In essence, the country is on its way to a file-once-use-many approach whereby companies provide data using a single secure... Read More

Topics: XBRL, Business Performance, Financial Performance, finance, SEC

IBM Antes Up for Marketing Applications by Acquiring Unica

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
In a second move indicating its seriousness about competing in the market for marketing software, IBM announced its offer to acquire publicly traded Unica Corp. Unica is one of the larger providers in this space, with more than $100 million in annual revenue and 1,500 customers worldwide. Its success in very large marketing organizations, including brand-name customers Best Buy, Marriott and IBM... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Marketing Automation, Operational Performance, CRM, Unica

Integrating Strategic Planning With Jonova

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 November 2010
I’ve focused attention of integrated business planning for the past several years as our benchmark research on business planning and other related topics consistently finds companies are not getting enough of a return on the considerable amount of time and effort they spend on budgeting and planning. Moreover, the current economic climate makes substantive contingency planning more important than... Read More

Topics: Jonova, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Financial Performance Management, Integrated Business Planning

HP Scandal Reflects on Enterprise Software Issue

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
The recent turmoil at Hewlett-Packard that went public with news of the resignation of CEO Mark Hurd is only superficially about the facts of the scandal or the question of who will be the new CEO, sexy as those issues may be. What it really shines a light on is the performance of the company itself. I wrote earlier this year (See: “HP Takes Technology Portfolio to the Clouds with New Growth... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, HP, Information Management, Information Technology

Knowlagent Increases Agent Effectiveness

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
My benchmark research into agent performance management (APM) found that the number-one objective of companies trying to improve the handling of customer interactions was to utilize agents more effectively; this also was their top objective in creating agents’ work schedules. In the latter case, the research uncovered a primary reason for difficulties in achieving this objective: Only 36 percent... Read More

Topics: Knowlagent, Operational Performance, Analytics, Call Center

CallCopy Emerges as a Player in Agent Performance Management

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
Last year I carried out research to discover how companies manage their workforces in handling customer interactions; I investigated their best practices, technologies being used and priorities for the future. The findings led me to define agent performance management (APM) as an extension of what other observers call workforce optimization; APM includes call routing, call recording, quality... Read More

Topics: Call Copy, Operational Performance, Analytics, Call Center

Intacct Gives Professional Help

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 November 2010
Intacct, which offers cloud-based accounting software for small and smaller midsize companies is starting to put more emphasis on addressing the needs of project-oriented, professional services businesses. One of the challenges that these companies face is getting their accounting systems to support their business at a functional level. To be sure, any ERP system can account for projects, in the... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Financial Performance, Financial Management

Taleo Brings New Intelligence to Talent Management

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
Today’s intense competitive pressures demand that organizations utilize their human capital more effectively. Taleo has been steadily growing as a provider of talent management by offering its applications and platform through software as a service (SaaS). Now it has advanced into what they call Talent Intelligence that can help organizations gain new insights on their workforce and individual... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management, Taleo

Infor Launches Innovative E-mail Management

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
On August 2, Infor launched its next generation of products for customer relationship management (CRM), which are built on its Interaction Advisor that in May I called “its CEM surprise.” At the time it was clear that Interaction Advisor was a platform on which Infor could build a series of innovative products. I didn’t expect the first of them to be just around the corner. Central to the... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Marketing Automation, Operational Performance, CRM, Infor

Contingency Planning, Now More than Ever

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 November 2010
It turns out that some consumer goods manufacturers and retailers are having a hard time finding space on container ships and even finding containers to ship in. This has driven up the cost of shipping these items and at times resulted in deliveries arriving too late for scheduled promotions or seasonal demand peaks. This, during a time of constrained consumer spending in North America and Europe... Read More

Topics: Planning, Budgeting, IBP, Operational Performance, Financial Performance

Will Cloud Computing Finally Bring Innovation to the Contact Center?

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
I have been associated with the contact center industry for more than 20 years, first as a systems integrator building centers and more recently covering it as an analyst with Ventana Research. From this experience I have distilled three major observations: that centers are dominated by technology, that they change very slowly and that performance is largely judged by the average handling time... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Cloud Computing, Contact Center

Adapting and Planning Your Way Out of the Recession

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 November 2010
Anyone who has had to regularly produce a written business forecast that goes out more than a couple of months understand all too well Yogi Berra’s famous observation: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Certainly the economic events of the past two years have regularly made forecasts obsolete in a very short period of time. Using the wisdom of crowds can help the... Read More

Topics: Big Data, Planning, IBP, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Financial Performance

SAS Helps Companies Make Sense of Social Media Comments

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
I often read and hear today that social media is the new channel for marketing and customer service channel and also that companies must improve customer satisfaction to survive (I agree with the second proposition). Several observers have put the two ideas together and concluded that in the future all marketing and customer service will happen through social media – that I don’t agree with. My... Read More

Topics: Social Media, Operational Performance, Analytics, Business Intelligence, CRM

Infor24 Makes Applications Simpler To Acquire and Integrate

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
The advent of cloud computing and renting of applications has provided another realm of opportunity for applications software vendors. Infor, which already is the third-largest in the world, is taking advantage of it. Infor announced Infor24, an initiative to bring its role-based applications into the cloud. It will use the Infor ION platform that supports other new Infor applications, including... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Performance, Enterprise Applications, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Infor

IBM Innovates in Call-Routing for Agent Performance

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
One often-cited approach to improving the performance of contact centers and customer service agents is skills-based routing. This involves tagging data about the skills of individual agents – for example, languages spoken, training courses passed or the ability to handle well a particular type of call – and using a call-routing system to deliver calls to an extension where an agent with the... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Call Routing, Operational Performance, IBM

Snowfly Motivates Agents To Improve Performance

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
I have often seen evidence that contact center agents’ performance is strongly influenced by the key performance indicators managers use to judge, and often reward, their performance. In one extreme example I found that agents in a high-value-customer service center were rewarded if they kept the average call-handling time below two minutes. This sounded positive until I uncovered the common... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Uncategorized, Call Center, Snowfly

Hadoop Gets Easier with Cloudera Version 3

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
Managing large volumes of enterprise data continues to challenge IT organizations as they deal with administration and storage of no longer just terabytes but now petabytes of data and costs increase accordingly. This massive size of data complicates the underlying issues of where and how to store it easily in low-cost hardware and manage the data efficiently. One attempt at a solution is Hadoop,... Read More

Topics: Cloudera, Information Management, Data, Strata+Hadoop

Research Finds New Adoption and Interest in Mobile Business Intelligence

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
The demand for access to business information and applications through mobile technologies such as the Apple iPhone and iPad, devices running Google Android or using RIM Blackberry is surging as consumer preferences and behavior spill over into the business workforce. The massive growth of adoption of these technologies around the world as consumers seek instant access to information has many... Read More

Topics: Mobile, IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Mobility, Digital Technology

Kalido Does Data Governance Right

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
The proper management of data is ever more important and complex. Business people must have easy access to data from all over the enterprise, but unguarded access and distribution may enable users to bypass the IT organization’s rules for data management, copy and paste whatever they like into spreadsheets and share it in uncontrolled fashion. Firm control of enterprise data requires policies and... Read More

Topics: Master Data Management, MDM, IT Performance, Data Governance, Information Management, Kalido

IBM’s Advances Business Analytics and Optimization in First Year

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
At its Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO) analyst summit in Washington, D.C., IBM provided direction on the state of its software and services in this category of business technology. This annual event goes back to 2005 when IBM started making BAO-related software acquisitions in earnest. I have written before about IBM’s focus on analytics and optimization (See: “IBM Fuses New Generation... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, IBM

Sales Compensation Easier To Manage with Varicent 7

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
To help sales teams to maximize their value to the company, sales operations and management must find the right balance of compensation and incentives to motivate them to achieve their quotas. To do this requires the ability to design compensation plans that take into consideration products, territories and accounts and of course the number of customers and prospects. Sales managers also need... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Sales Compensation, Operational Performance, Sales Performance Management, Varicent

Information Applications is a New Technology Category Designed for Business and IT

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
In today’s world, without information there is no business. That is, without having the right information and making it available to the right people at the right time, an organization cannot be fully informed, make the right decisions and act on them, and compete effectively enough to survive and prosper. That much is a given. Finding ways to ensure that an organization’s information is... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Business Intelligence, Information Applications, Information Management, Data, Information Availability

Informatica Simplifies Cloud Integration with New Data Plugs

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
Businesses continually need to improve their abilities to utilize data generated by their activities and interactions. Retrieving, cleaning and sharing data are ongoing processes, and along with data within the enterprise, applications in cloud computing are becoming critical sources. Vital data about customers and even employees among many other types is distributed across the cloud and must be... Read More

Topics: Cloud Computing, Data Integration, Informatica, Information Management

Plateau Advances Talent Management in the Cloud

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
The market for talent management continues to grow as organizations realize that they have not invested enough to make their workforces more productive and valuable. Not many human resources organizations have enabled innovation in their workforce processes or taken the next step to work more strategically with finance and operations executives. Now savvy HR organizations have been renting a new... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Plateau, Business Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management

Merced Systems Customer Summit Advances Sales and Customer Service Organizations

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
Many organizations want to improve the performance of their sales and customer service operations but have difficulty increasing efficiency and producing better results. One barrier to improvement is sticking with the status quo of managing sales operations and performance through spreadsheets, as 47 percent of organizations still do, according to Ventana Research’s benchmark research on sales... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Merced Systems, Operational Performance, Analytics, Sales Performance Management

iWay Software Deepens Information Management Expands to Cloud Computing

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
At the Information Builders 2010 conference I spent some time to learn about the latest in its business intelligence (BI) technology and also performance management, which my colleague has analyzed recently (See: “IBI’s Eye Popping New Performance Management Software”). But I focused more on information management, which is becoming a strategic component of the company’s portfolio. Its iWay... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Information Builders, Information Management

Upstream Works Helps Improve Contact Center Performance

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
Anyone involved in running a contact center is aware of the imperatives my research has highlighted: reduce operating costs, transition to multichannel support, raise customer satisfaction levels and increase up-sales. On a daily basis, these demands spur managers to focus on reducing average handling times, increasing first-call-resolution rates, optimizing agent utilization, delivering more... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Call Center, Contact Center, Upstream Works

ResponseTek Underpins Customer Experience Management

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010
Most of all, customer experience management is about a company delivering the optimal experience during an interaction. For example, during a conversation the contact center should ensure that the agent’s responses are appropriate to the context of the overall customer relationship and are personalized. The same should be true for a customer’s visits to the Web site, during chat sessions and in... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, CEM, ResponseTek, Uncategorized

Softscape Demonstrates Leadership in Managing Talent with New Release

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2010
Cliché or not, a business’s most valuable asset is its people, and for 15 years Softscape has been dedicated to providing applications that help human resources organizations handle a range of processes that I call workforce performance management, including what the industry refers to as talent management. Privately held Softscape operates in 156 countries, and its customers range from large... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Softscape, Workforce Performance, Talent Management

Microsoft Hopes for a Miracle with Windows Phone 7

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Mobile computing isn’t new anymore. The capabilities of smartphones, among other things, enable businesses to run applications across an enterprise and workers to collaborate across business and social networks. In this endeavor Microsoft was early to market with its Windows CE devices that provided e-mail and Web browsing to phones. For the first years it was a low-level battle among Microsoft,... Read More

Topics: Microsoft, Mobile, Mobile Applications, Mobile Technology, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Business Technology, CIO, Information Management, Mobility, Digital Technology

Saba Dedicates Itself to People and Collaboration

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At its annual user conference in Boston, Saba provided insights to industry analysts on its progress over the last year and its direction for 2011. Best known for its learning management system (LMS), collaboration and more recently its talent management applications, Saba now has more than 19 million users in 1,400 customer organizations that are mostly in the public sector, have 5,000 or more... Read More

Topics: Human Capital, Human Resources Management, Learning, Mobile Applications, Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Saba, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Teradata Advances Analytics across the Board

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The battle for business analytics rages on. IBM, Oracle, SAP and SAS as billion dollar and larger companies each combine analytic computation and processing in the underlying data but Teradata remains a key player. For its part Teradata used its annual Partners conference to tout the next generation of analytics in its product portfolio and brought along customers to testify to their success in... Read More

Topics: Enterprise Data Strategy, Teradata, IT Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, Information Management, Information Technology

Plateau Brings Mobility to Talent Management and Simplifies Applications

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At its 2010 user conference in Miami, Plateau Systems reviewed for analysts its progress in the market for talent management software. Plateau has a unified platform and suite of applications that cover learning, compensation, job performance and analytics. The company’s financials have been steadily growing as more customers adopt its platform and show good year-to-year growth in its... Read More

Topics: Learning, Performance, Plateau, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

IBM Brings Business Analytics and Information Management to Center Stage

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
This year IBM joined its annual Information on Demand conference with the new IBM Business Analytics Forum. Some 10,000 attendees came to learn about managing information assets using analytics for business, and the value of integrating business intelligence (BI) with information assets across the enterprise. All these topics are relevant, as large organizations have created thousands of silos... Read More

Topics: Enterprise Data Strategy, IT Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, CIO, IBM, Information Management

SuccessFactors Takes a Calculator into the Cloud?

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
SuccessFactors is known for applications in performance and talent management but has been working to expand its portfolio more broadly into business. This year the company expanded its focus to workforce analytics with the acquisition of Inform, which I assessed. I have assessed that Inform needed to improve the usability of its tools to compete better which is now more easily possible with a... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, SuccessFactors, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management

iWay Software Connects Salesforce Chatter to the Enterprise

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
It is not easy for businesses to make their operations more efficient, partly because their information systems do not provide notifications of events as they are happening. Most enterprise technology uses batch processing and is designed to move data from one database to another; otherwise it requires people to go and find the data they need. To be more responsive, new technologies capture and... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Salesforce.com, Business Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Customer & Contact Center, Data Integration, Information Management

HR Technology Conference Brings Insight to Opportunity

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The annual HR Technology conference in Chicago provided a glimpse into the activities of HR organizations and their technology investments. It was a busy event with large attendance and much movement between sessions and the exhibit floor as attendees sought to learn more about the technology and what it can do for them. As always event organizers presented a large number of awards and... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Workforce Performance, HRMS, Talent Management

Oracle Expands Its Playbook at OpenWorld

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At its annual conference Oracle OpenWorld this year Oracle flexed its muscles as a technology giant. The company has been steadily growing through acquisitions to expand its database, middleware and applications, and the recent acquisition of Sun Microsystems gives it a way to sell hardware for servers and storage. This momentum is enabling Oracle to develop new streams of revenue, which were on... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, Information Applications, Information Management, Information Technology

Sneak Preview and Analysis: Oracle Fusion Applications for CRM and Sales Organizations

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At Oracle OpenWorld this week the company announced its next generation of business applications call Oracle Fusion Application , , which Larry Ellison touted in his closing day keynote at last year's conference, as I noted then. I attended the conference partly to learn what Oracle is doing in providing applications for sales organizations. In the late 1990s Siebel Systems introduced customer... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Sales Operations, Operational Performance, Customer & Contact Center, CRM, Sales Performance Management

Sneak Preview and Analysis: Oracle Fusion Applications for Human Capital Management

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At Oracle OpenWorld this week the company announced its next generation of business applications call Oracle Fusion Applications , which Larry Ellison touted in his closing day keynote at last year's conference, as I noted then. Oracle's head of strategy, Gretchen Alarcon, and head of development, Clive Swan, presented the introduction to one of the seven Fusion families, Human Capital... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management, Workforce Performance Management

IBM Makes Major Buy in Analytics Market with Netezza

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
IBM has announced its intention to acquire Netezza, one of the world’s fastest-growing providers of data appliances, for approximately $1.7 billion. Founded only 10 years ago, Netezza has over 500 employees and 350 clients including brand names Burlington Coat Factory, Con-way Freight, Estee Lauder, Marriott and Nationwide Insurance. IBM has been investing in analytics software for five years and... Read More

Topics: Data Warehousing, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Information Management, Netezza

Talent Management Market Contracts Further as SumTotal Acquires Softscape

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The market for talent management software continues to consolidate as SumTotal will acquire Softscape to bring together a combination of customers, people and products that reaches more than 25 million users and 1,800 customers globally. This purchase follows three other recent ones: ADP acquiring Workscape, Kenexa acquiring salary.com and Taleo acquiring Learn.com. The result is fewer but... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Softscape, Business Performance, Workforce Performance, HRMS, SumTotal Systems, Talent Management

IBM Opens a Page for GRC

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
IBM has announced its intention to acquire OpenPages, a privately held, Massachusetts-based software company focused on governance, risk and compliance (GRC). I noted that after the deal finishes, the business will reside within IBM’s analytics group rather than in document management; this arrangement signals IBM’s intention to integrate its collaboration and communications around performance... Read More

Topics: GRC, Open Pages, Operational Management, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Financial Management

ActuateOne Advances Information Platform with Analytics and Business Intelligence

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Actuate has announced a major new version of its software called ActuateOne. Its technology is integrated in a single platform and set of tools for performance management, analytics, business intelligence (BI) and information applications; the product can be managed on-premises or in the cloud and is accessible via mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone and iPad. Actuate has been in the BI... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Analytics, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Information Management

SAP Unveils Next Generation of Business Analytics

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
On Tuesday in Silicon Valley, SAP introduced its latest business software: business analytics applications for specific vertical industries. The event was kicked off by SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott, who demonstrated the simplicity of the applications on an Apple iPad, which has become the demonstration system of choice for SAP as well as a tool it provides for its sales force. Bill and EVP of... Read More

Topics: SAP, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Information Management

Informatica Cloud Asserts Its Strength

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Recently I wrote a blog outlining a relatively new offering, Informatica Cloud. I questioned how many companies understood the need for data management and whether they would turn to a cloud-based solution to meet their needs. It seems that my doubts have been addressed with the rapid adoption of it in 2010. At salesforce.com’s recent Cloudforce event in London, I learned that Informatica Cloud... Read More

Topics: Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Data Integration, Informatica, Information Management

Oracle Hopes Mark Hurd Brings New Herd of Business

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At the eye of the tornado of accusations, rumors and gossip in Silicon Valley that began with CEO Mark Hurd’s departure from Hewlett-Packard are the internal politics and lack of management procedures and oversight at the company. I have pointed out a connection not discussed elsewhere to issues around the enterprise software efforts at HP (See: “HP Scandal Reflects on Enterprise Software... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Business Performance, Customer & Contact Center, Enterprise Software, Financial Performance, Information Technology, Oracle

ADP Acquires Workscape to Consolidate Talent Management Market

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Consolidation activity increased in the market for applications in talent management or what I call workforce performance management as ADP announced and now has closed the acquisition of Workscape. ADP is a $9 billion outsourcing provider that is well known for providing employer and payroll services; the company has been expanding its breadth of services for employers by responding to demand... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Kenexa, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management

Kenexa Advances in Talent Management and Saves Salary.com

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Today was another inflection point for the talent management market and buyers of HR applications with the announcement that Kenexa is acquiring salary.com (NASDAQ: SLRY) pending shareholder and SEC approval. Kenexa is offering a cash-per-share agreement that should work to complete the transaction. More complicated will be figuring out how to retain the talent at salary.com; that company has... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Kenexa, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management

Infopia Launches Retail Analytics for E-Business

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The rapid evolution of business on the Internet has dramatically changed many organizations’ strategies for growth and profitability, especially those in the retail sector. I have written about the importance of analytics overall and in retail, but many companies are maturing slowly in using them to analyze electronic business and commerce. Data derived from analytics can enable them to manage... Read More

Topics: Retail Analytics, Operational Performance, Commerce, InfoPia

Operational Intelligence Gets Boost from eg solutions

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The market for operational intelligence (OI) has grown as organizations realize the importance of having information in real time and in the right context. To accomplish this requires that operational data is processed as it happens, commonly by being packaged into what are called events and made available through technologies for complex event processing or event monitoring. Operational... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Complex Event Processing, Operational Intelligence, eg Solutions

Workforce Analytics is Easy and Simple with Accero

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
To utilize a workforce effectively requires information about it and the ability to analyze that in the context of the business’s needs. Yet it has long been the case that the use of analytics and business intelligence (BI) is least advanced in the human resources function. It remains so even as organizations introduce talent management applications to supplement or replace legacy human resource... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

IBM Antes Up for Marketing Applications by Acquiring Unica

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
In a second move indicating its seriousness about competing in the market for marketing software, IBM announced its offer to acquire publicly traded Unica Corp. Unica is one of the larger providers in this space, with more than $100 million in annual revenue and 1,500 customers worldwide. Its success in very large marketing organizations, including brand-name customers Best Buy, Marriott and IBM... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Marketing Automation, Operational Performance, CRM, Unica

HP Scandal Reflects on Enterprise Software Issue

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The recent turmoil at Hewlett-Packard that went public with news of the resignation of CEO Mark Hurd is only superficially about the facts of the scandal or the question of who will be the new CEO, sexy as those issues may be. What it really shines a light on is the performance of the company itself. I wrote earlier this year (See: “HP Takes Technology Portfolio to the Clouds with New Growth... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Operational Performance, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Enterprise Software, HP, Information Management, Information Technology

Taleo Brings New Intelligence to Talent Management

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Today’s intense competitive pressures demand that organizations utilize their human capital more effectively. Taleo has been steadily growing as a provider of talent management by offering its applications and platform through software as a service (SaaS). Now it has advanced into what they call Talent Intelligence that can help organizations gain new insights on their workforce and individual... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management, Taleo

Infor24 Makes Applications Simpler To Acquire and Integrate

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The advent of cloud computing and renting of applications has provided another realm of opportunity for applications software vendors. Infor, which already is the third-largest in the world, is taking advantage of it. Infor announced Infor24, an initiative to bring its role-based applications into the cloud. It will use the Infor ION platform that supports other new Infor applications, including... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Performance, Enterprise Applications, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Infor

Hadoop Gets Easier with Cloudera Version 3

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Managing large volumes of enterprise data continues to challenge IT organizations as they deal with administration and storage of no longer just terabytes but now petabytes of data and costs increase accordingly. This massive size of data complicates the underlying issues of where and how to store it easily in low-cost hardware and manage the data efficiently. One attempt at a solution is Hadoop,... Read More

Topics: Cloudera, Information Management, Data, Strata+Hadoop

Research Finds New Adoption and Interest in Mobile Business Intelligence

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The demand for access to business information and applications through mobile technologies such as the Apple iPhone and iPad, devices running Google Android or using RIM Blackberry is surging as consumer preferences and behavior spill over into the business workforce. The massive growth of adoption of these technologies around the world as consumers seek instant access to information has many... Read More

Topics: Mobile, IT Performance, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Mobility, Operational Intelligence, Digital Technology

Kalido Does Data Governance Right

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The proper management of data is ever more important and complex. Business people must have easy access to data from all over the enterprise, but unguarded access and distribution may enable users to bypass the IT organization’s rules for data management, copy and paste whatever they like into spreadsheets and share it in uncontrolled fashion. Firm control of enterprise data requires policies and... Read More

Topics: Master Data Management, MDM, IT Performance, Data Governance, Information Management, Kalido

IBM’s Advances Business Analytics and Optimization in First Year

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At its Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO) analyst summit in Washington, D.C., IBM provided direction on the state of its software and services in this category of business technology. This annual event goes back to 2005 when IBM started making BAO-related software acquisitions in earnest. I have written before about IBM’s focus on analytics and optimization (See: “IBM Fuses New Generation... Read More

Topics: Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, IBM

Sales Compensation Easier To Manage with Varicent 7

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
To help sales teams to maximize their value to the company, sales operations and management must find the right balance of compensation and incentives to motivate them to achieve their quotas. To do this requires the ability to design compensation plans that take into consideration products, territories and accounts and of course the number of customers and prospects. Sales managers also need... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Sales Compensation, Operational Performance, Sales Performance Management, Varicent

Information Applications is a New Technology Category Designed for Business and IT

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
In today’s world, without information there is no business. That is, without having the right information and making it available to the right people at the right time, an organization cannot be fully informed, make the right decisions and act on them, and compete effectively enough to survive and prosper. That much is a given. Finding ways to ensure that an organization’s information is... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Business Intelligence, Information Applications, Information Management, Data, Information Availability

Informatica Simplifies Cloud Integration with New Data Plugs

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Businesses continually need to improve their abilities to utilize data generated by their activities and interactions. Retrieving, cleaning and sharing data are ongoing processes, and along with data within the enterprise, applications in cloud computing are becoming critical sources. Vital data about customers and even employees among many other types is distributed across the cloud and must be... Read More

Topics: Cloud Computing, Data Integration, Informatica, Information Management

Plateau Advances Talent Management in the Cloud

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
The market for talent management continues to grow as organizations realize that they have not invested enough to make their workforces more productive and valuable. Not many human resources organizations have enabled innovation in their workforce processes or taken the next step to work more strategically with finance and operations executives. Now savvy HR organizations have been renting a new... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Plateau, Business Performance, Workforce Performance, Talent Management

Merced Systems Customer Summit Advances Sales and Customer Service Organizations

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Many organizations want to improve the performance of their sales and customer service operations but have difficulty increasing efficiency and producing better results. One barrier to improvement is sticking with the status quo of managing sales operations and performance through spreadsheets, as 47 percent of organizations still do, according to Ventana Research’s benchmark research on sales... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Merced Systems, Operational Performance, Analytics, Financial Performance, Sales Performance Management

iWay Software Deepens Information Management Expands to Cloud Computing

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
At the Information Builders 2010 conference I spent some time to learn about the latest in its business intelligence (BI) technology and also performance management, which my colleague has analyzed recently (See: “IBI’s Eye Popping New Performance Management Software”). But I focused more on information management, which is becoming a strategic component of the company’s portfolio. Its iWay... Read More

Topics: IT Performance, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Information Builders, Information Management

Softscape Demonstrates Leadership in Managing Talent with New Release

Posted by Mark Smith on 26 November 2010
Cliché or not, a business’s most valuable asset is its people, and for 15 years Softscape has been dedicated to providing applications that help human resources organizations handle a range of processes that I call workforce performance management, including what the industry refers to as talent management. Privately held Softscape operates in 156 countries, and its customers range from large... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Softscape, Workforce Performance, Talent Management

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