ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

Cisco to Acquire Splunk: An Enterprise SWOT Assessment

Posted by Jeff Orr on 28 September 2023

The acquisition of Splunk by Cisco marks a significant milestone in the digital security industry. This strategic move combines the strengths of two industry leaders, offering a suite of products and services underpinned by artificial intelligence technologies. However, like any major business decision, it comes with challenges and potential risks. Ventana Research presents an analysis of the... Read More

Generative AI Boosts Value Creation with Outcome-Led Data Integration

Posted by Matt Aslett on 27 September 2023

Despite a focus on being data-driven, many organizations find that data and analytics projects fail to deliver on expectations. These initiatives can underwhelm for many reasons, because success requires a delicate balance of people, processes, information and technology. Small deviations from perfection in any of those factors can send projects off the rails. For data projects, placing too much... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Management, Data, Digital Technology, data operations, AI and Machine Learning

Future of CRM has Sales Engagement Potential

Posted by Stephen Hurrell on 26 September 2023

Customer relationship management systems have been around since Tom Siebel created one while working at Oracle in the late ‘80s and then monetized it founding Siebel Systems that eventually was bought by Oracle. When Salesforce launched its “No Software” slogan in the early 2000s, CRM moved to the cloud, but the concept was still based on a object model centered around an opportunity that... Read More

Topics: Office of Revenue

ServiceNow Brings Process Optimization to Human Capital Management

Posted by ISG Research on 21 September 2023

In the realm of business process and workflow management, few names stand as tall as ServiceNow. After gaining traction for its cloud-based platform designed to help organizations manage and track IT service requests, the brand has grown into a behemoth, offering a wide range of services aimed at automating and optimizing business processes. Yet, in recent years, there’s been a notable and... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Workforce Management, employee experience

Altair Accelerates Data Analytics with RapidMiner

Posted by David Menninger on 21 September 2023

Organizations are continuously combining data from diverse and siloed sources for analytical, artificial intelligence and machine learning projects. As the volume of data grows, it becomes challenging for organizations to manage and keep current to extract valuable insights in a timely manner. Businesses also face challenges such as a lack of required skills and a shortage of data science... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, AI and Machine Learning

Microsoft Fabric Stitches Together Data and Analytics

Posted by Matt Aslett on 20 September 2023

I have written before about the rising popularity of the data fabric approach for managing and governing data spread across distributed environments comprised of multiple data centers, systems and applications. I assert that by 2025, more than 6 in 10 organizations will adopt data fabric technologies to facilitate the management and processing of data across multiple data platforms and cloud... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Data Governance, Data Management, Data, Digital Technology, analytic data platforms, Analytics and Data, AI and Machine Learning

The Software Bill of Materials Secures the Software Supply Chain

Posted by Jeff Orr on 20 September 2023

Software supply chain digital security is a hot topic, especially after cyberattacks on SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline and Kaseya. These attacks have exposed the vulnerabilities and risks that exist in the software products and services that organizations rely on for their daily operations. How can organizations protect themselves from these threats and ensure the quality and integrity of software... Read More

Reversing the ETL Process Improves Data Operations

Posted by David Menninger on 19 September 2023

At one point, analytics and business intelligence were considered non-mission critical activities. One of the primary concerns in designing analytics systems was to ensure they didn’t interfere with or draw computing resources away from operational systems. But today, analytical systems are integral to many aspects of operations. More than 9 in 10 participants in our Analytics and Data Benchmark... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Management, Data, Digital Technology, data operations, Analytics and Data

The Buyers Guide for Contact Centers Classifies and Rates Vendors

Posted by Keith Dawson on 19 September 2023

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Ventana Research 2023 Contact Centers Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories that reflect the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center

Contact Centers Buyers Guide: Market Observations

Posted by Keith Dawson on 18 September 2023

The 2023 Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Contact Centers research enables me to provide observations about how the market has advanced. In this modern, digital age of customer experience, the journey of engagement across every channel and device must be orchestrated effectively. Organizations, no matter the industry, have inbound and outbound interactions and rely on contact centers to fulfill... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center

The Buyers Guide for Agent Management Classifies and Rates Vendors

Posted by Keith Dawson on 15 September 2023

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Ventana Research 2023 Agent Management Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories that reflect the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, agent management

Agent Management Buyers Guide: Market Observations

Posted by Keith Dawson on 14 September 2023

The 2023 Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Agent Management research enables me to provide observations about how the market has advanced. Agents are the foundation of the contact center processes that impact every customer experience. These processes, and the customer service function, must be able to operate from any location, at any time, and agents must be able to respond to customers via any... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, agent management

The Buyers Guide for Contact Center Suites Classifies and Rates Vendors

Posted by Keith Dawson on 13 September 2023

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Ventana Research 2023 Contact Center Suites Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories that reflect the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center

AI for Working Capital Management

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 September 2023

In accounting terms, working capital includes current assets (short-term items such as cash, money due from customers and inventory) and current liabilities (typically payments due to suppliers and loan amounts that must be repaid within one year). Working capital management is a prime function of the finance organization, designed to balance often-conflicting objectives related to revenue,... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, CFO, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Accounts Payable, Treasury, Accounts Receivable, Working Capital

Market Observations from the Contact Center Suites Buyers Guide

Posted by Keith Dawson on 12 September 2023

The 2023 Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Contact Center Suites research enables me to share some of my observations about how the market has advanced. In this modern, digital age of customer experience, the journey of engagement across every channel and device must be orchestrated effectively. Organizations, no matter the industry, have inbound and outbound interactions and rely on contact... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center

Incorta Empowers Data Delivery and Analysis for Business

Posted by Matt Aslett on 07 September 2023

Organizations today have an ever-increasing appetite for platforms that improve the speed and efficiency of data analytics and business intelligence (BI). The ability to quickly process data enables organizations to make well-informed decisions in real time. This agile approach to data processing is crucial for staying ahead in today's competitive landscape. With the rising need for data-driven... Read More

Topics: Data Management, Data, data operations, analytic data platforms

Confluent’s Streaming Analytics Expands Stream Processing Use Cases

Posted by Matt Aslett on 05 September 2023

I recently wrote about the various technologies used by organizations to process and analyze data in real time. I explained that while the terms streaming data and events and streaming analytics are often used interchangeably, they are separate disciplines that make use of common underlying concepts and technologies such as events, event brokers and event-driven architecture. Confluent’s... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Cloud Computing, Data Governance, Data, Digital Technology, Streaming Analytics, Streaming Data Events

Cohesity Provides Digital Security to Ensure Business Continuity

Posted by Jeff Orr on 01 September 2023

Data is one of the most valuable assets an organization owns, and a robust data backup and recovery system is foundational to protecting it. Weak data protection efforts jeopardize resilience and business continuity. With data residing in multiple places – including on-premises servers and public and private cloud environments – it is difficult to ensure that all data is backed up and recoverable... Read More

Topics: Business Continuity, Cloud Computing