ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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