About the Analyst
Mark Smith
Mark is responsible for the overall direction of Ventana Research and drives the global research agenda covering both business and technology areas. He defined the blueprint for Information Management and Performance Management as the linking together of people, processes, information and technology across organizations to drive effective results. Mark is an expert in technology for business from Performance Management, Business Intelligence, Analytics to Information Management across finance, operations and IT. Mark has held CMO, product development and research roles at companies such as SAP, META Group, Oracle and IRI Software. He has experience across major industries including banking, consumer products, food and beverage, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and retail and consumer services.
Customer analytics have never been more important, but effectively creating and managing them is not easy. The data that’s required to achieve visibility into all customer activity involves many applications and systems and it’s a challenge to ensure the data used is accurate and consistent. Even once data is assembled, organizations often struggle to apply analytics to create the metrics that best represent an understanding of the past and, more importantly, the path to the future.
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Topics:
Customer Experience,
Voice of the Customer,
embedded analytics,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Collaboration,
Data Governance,
Data Lake,
Data Preparation,
Information Management,
Contact Center,
Data,
Digital Technology,
Digital Commerce,
blockchain,
natural language processing,
Intelligent CX,
Conversational Computing,
collaborative computing,
Subscription Management,
agent management,
extended reality,
AI and Machine Learning
Ensuring that the sales organization contributes as fully as possible to the success of the organization — to revenue, growth, prof itability and the overall customer experience — requires not only dedication but effective strategy and planning. A well-developed strategy and plan to utilize current and future sales talent is essential for the best possible sales performance. To carry out this mission, organizations need a set of coordinated sales-related activities, processes and systems that...
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Topics:
Sales,
Customer Experience,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Contact Center,
Data,
Sales Performance Management,
Financial Performance Management,
Digital Technology,
Digital Commerce,
Predictive Planning,
Conversational Computing,
collaborative computing,
mobile computing,
Subscription Management,
agent management,
intelligent sales,
AI and Machine Learning
Today’s intense competition requires that companies know as much as they can about their customers in order to anticipate their needs and deliver a superior customer experience. However, many organizations struggle to do this well. Implementing initiatives to improve customer value across any department or process involving customers requires both in-depth visibility into current operations and excellent metrics.
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Topics:
Customer Experience,
Voice of the Customer,
business intelligence,
embedded analytics,
Analytics,
Collaboration,
Data Governance,
Data Preparation,
Internet of Things,
Contact Center,
Data,
Digital Commerce,
blockchain,
natural language processing,
data lakes,
Intelligent CX,
Conversational Computing,
collaborative computing,
mobile computing,
Subscription Management,
agent management,
extended reality,
AI and Machine Learning
Managing sales processes and resources without careful planning is a recipe for failure. Effectiveness in sales starts with planning that involves the full range of stakeholders. This planning should involve a systematic process, incorporate all relevant information and be supported by capable software designed for this purpose. Furthermore, everyone who participates in sales-related activities, including those dealing with quotas, territories and resources, should be providing input for the...
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Topics:
Sales,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management,
Digital Commerce,
Subscription Management,
intelligent sales
Having effective analytics enables businesses to understand far better than ever before the data they’re collecting, and to do so in greater volumes and more forms. These new capabilities are especially relevant to sales organizations. When applied to sales data, analytics can help sales teams achieve quotas and forecast more consistently, as well as understand the impacts of incentives and maximize the potential of territories, all of which help improve sales performance. These benefits...
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Topics:
Customer Experience,
Voice of the Customer,
business intelligence,
embedded analytics,
Analytics,
Collaboration,
Data Governance,
Data Preparation,
Information Management,
Internet of Things,
Contact Center,
Data,
Digital Technology,
Digital Commerce,
blockchain,
natural language processing,
data lakes,
Intelligent CX,
Subscription Management,
agent management,
AI and Machine Learning
I am happy to share some insight on AWS drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We evaluated AWS...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on 8x8 drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We evaluated 8x8...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on IFS-mplsystems drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on Altitude drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We evaluated ...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on Five9 drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We evaluated ...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on RingCentral drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on Content Guru drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on NewVoiceMedia drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
NewVoicemedia,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Value Index,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on Serenova drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We evaluated ...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on Genesys drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We evaluated ...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on BroadSoft drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We evaluated
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on Aspect Software drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
I am happy to share some insight on NICE inContact drawn from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact centers in the cloud. We...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
Dreamforce has become the largest enterprise software event for businesses in the United States, and it is evident why when looking at it this year. With over 170,000 business and IT professionals attending, Salesforce came to show off upcoming product announcements and innovations. This year's biggest focus was on Einstein Voice (a personalized and intelligent conversational assistant), integration with other platforms, and Salesforce Customer 360. The last of these is the start of an answer...
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Topics:
Salesforce.com,
Customer Experience,
Machine Learning,
Marketing,
Voice of the Customer,
CRM,
Dreamforce,
Sales Performance Management,
SPM,
Digital Technology,
Digital Marketing,
Robotic Process Automation,
AI,
natural language processing
I am happy to share some insights gleaned from our latest research. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud in 2018 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. Drawing on our benchmark research, we utilize a structured research methodology with evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal to vendors in contact centers in the cloud. Using this...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
An intensified focus on the customer is driving the trend toward enabling omnichannel support in contact centers, our benchmark research on contact centers in the cloud has found. In my last analyst perspective I highlighted some key benefits of a contact center in the cloud. In this perspective, I want to elaborate on the finding that only about one-third (35%) of organizations participating in our benchmark research said their customers are satisfied with the way interactions are handled. Far...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
To remain competitive, organizations must deliver the best possible customer experience through all channels of engagement. One technological approach to accomplish this is to enable a contact center to handle all the channels through which customer interactions with the organization are routed and acted upon. The contact center continues to need to handle telephony, of course, as this remains a channel that carries a significant portion of interactions. But new channels continue to be added to...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Contact Center,
Workforce Optimization
We now are well beyond the year depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey, a cinematic perspective on the future of artificial intelligence in which HAL 9000, a computer, is able to simulate human behavior and control machines. Anyone reviewing the past two years of marketing around AI in the business technology industry can be forgiven for believing that we have arrived at the futuristic state Stanley Kubrick imagined. We have not.
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Mobile,
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Machine Learning,
Mobile Technology,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Data Governance,
Data Integration,
Data Preparation,
Internet of Things,
Contact Center,
Information Optimization,
Digital Technology,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
Cybersecurity,
Billing and Recurring Revenue,
Workforce Optimization,
collaboration for business
We are have arrived at the May 25, 2018 date when the European Union’s General Data Privacy Regulations (GDPR) become enforceable, following what has been a two-year transition period. Companies were given this time to put in place reasonable measures and the systems necessary to support the legislation’s wide-ranging personal data privacy requirements, which apply to any organization with more than 250 employees that serves EU citizens. While this regulation will apply in the EU, it has...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Mobile,
Sales,
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Marketing,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Data Governance,
Data Integration,
Data Preparation,
Internet of Things,
Contact Center,
Digital Technology,
Digital Marketing,
Digital Commerce,
Cybersecurity,
Billing and Recurring Revenue,
collaboration for business,
mobile marketing
Advancing the potential of any business requires continuous improvement in the processes and technology that support it. Many companies have embraced attempts at a digital transformation, and it’s become a goal to which organizational resources and budgets have been dedicated around the globe.
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Mobile,
Sales,
Customer Analytics,
Customer Engagement,
Customer Experience,
Human Capital Management,
Machine Learning,
Marketing,
Marketing Performance Management,
Mobile Technology,
Office of Finance,
Wearable Computing,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer Service,
Data Governance,
Data Integration,
Data Preparation,
Internet of Things,
Contact Center,
Information Optimization,
Product Information Management,
Digital Technology,
Digital Marketing,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
Pricing and Promotion Management,
Cybersecurity,
Billing and Recurring Revenue,
Workforce Optimization,
collaboration for business,
mobile marketing
If we look at the focus of technology vendors for analytics and business intelligence or business applications providers deploying these capabilities in the last five years, we see that they have elevated the importance on the value of visualization and dashboards. These promotions might be understandable, but will they make business and the people using them more intelligent?
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Mobile,
Machine Learning,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Information Optimization,
Digital Technology,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing
More than a year ago I wrote from personal experience about the challenges our firm encountered with Salesforce’s cloud computing systems and customer service and if we can trust them for business in the cloud. That perspective covered a range of issues that the behemoth cloud computing applications and platform company is facing regarding its service and technology. While Salesforce has shifted its customers like us and others to a different cloud computing environment, as it did in moving us...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management,
Digital Commerce,
Sales and Operations Planning,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
Sales Enablement and Execution,
Machine Learning Digital Technology,
Sales Planning and Analytics
Compensation and the processes and systems to support it are at the center of success in every organization, as I have noted recently.In our view, an investment in total compensation management software is a strategic step toward advancing human capital management. Our benchmark research on this topic found some progress in attitudes about modernizing compensation practices. Almost three-fourths (72%) of organizations said that it is important or very important to have a total compensation...
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Topics:
Human Capital Management,
Office of Finance,
Learning Management,
HRMS,
Workforce Management,
Work and Resource Management,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
Payroll Optimization
Our firm regularly explores the impacts of new technologies on business. Analytics is foremost among recently emerging technologies, which our benchmark research consistently confirms. In our research on next-generation sales analytics, fourth-fifths (82%) of participating organizations cited analytics as the most important technology trend for sales; however, several other technologies also are adding power and flexibility to the use of sales analytics.
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales,
Mobile Technology,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management,
Digital Commerce,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
Sales Enablement and Execution,
Machine Learning Digital Technology,
Sales Planning and Analytics
The importance of analytics for sales organizations is clear and, as I pointed out in my recent analyst perspective on the next generation of sales analytics, these capabilities optimize revenue potential. However, utilizing sales analytics requires a set of data skills that most organizations still find challenging and are thus not fully prepared to support. The efficient access and preparation of data underlies any analytics processes, which must meet demanding needs that are not always...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales,
Machine Learning,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management,
Digital Technology,
Digital Commerce,
Sales and Operations Planning,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
Sales Enablement and Execution,
Sales Planning and Analytics
Compensation management is essential for any organization that values engaging and retaining its employees. It is a fundamental component of a range of personnel-related activities – recruiting and hiring, assessing performance, and career and succession planning. Determining and providing appropriate compensation, which may involve base pay, merit pay, variable pay and incentives or bonuses, is equally important for all members of the workforce – full- or part-time employees, contingent or...
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Topics:
Human Capital Management,
Office of Finance,
Learning Management,
HRMS,
Workforce Management,
Work and Resource Management,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
Payroll Optimization
I have been following advances in sales analytics since the 1990s. Over the last five years, however, I have seen evolution, not innovation. In most cases the information that analytics provides is too complicated and not contextualized enough for sales people who are not analytics experts to understand, let alone take action on. As I pointed out in my 2017 research agenda on sales, analytics is essential for planning that improves the impacts of sales efforts and meets the goals of the...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales,
Mobile Technology,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management,
Digital Commerce,
Sales and Operations Planning,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
Sales Enablement and Execution,
Machine Learning Digital Technology,
Sales Planning and Analytics
Cloudera provides database and enabling technology for the big data market and overall for data and information management. As my colleague David Menninger has written, the big data and information management technology markets are changing rapidly and require vendors to adapt to them. Cloudera has grown significantly over the last decade and now has approximately 1,000 customers and provides support and services in countries around the world. Its product and technology strategy is to provide a...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Machine Learning,
business intelligence,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Data Governance,
Data Integration,
Data Preparation,
Internet of Things,
Cognitive Computing,
Information Optimization,
Digital Technology
I am happy to provide my personal perspective on the potential of sales organizations, processes and technology to supercharge business activity in 2017. The sales processes of organizations – whether they involve digital commerce or direct or indirect physical selling – should be part of continuous optimization efforts to reach maximum results. To do this, the people leading and running sales processes must be able to use technology that supports their responsibilities and analyzes the crucial...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales,
Machine Learning,
Mobile Technology,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management,
Digital Technology,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Sales and Operations Planning,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
Sales Enablement and Execution,
Sales Planning and Analytics
Workforce management is a key topic of expertise for Ventana Research. We define workforce management as the set of activities and processes organizations use to manage their hourly and salaried workforce for maximum productivity. It involves not only scheduling, tracking and paying for time worked but also aligning that work to the tasks and objectives of the organization. Workforce management is a critical component of every company’s operations, human resources and overall human capital...
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Topics:
Human Capital Management,
Office of Finance,
Learning Management,
HRMS,
Workforce Management,
Work and Resource Management,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
Payroll Optimization
Human capital management (HCM) offers a prime opportunity for organizations and their human resource professionals to make employee-related processes effective in engaging and retaining the workforce. Manual administrative processes often hampered HR in focusing on the workplace experience and employee satisfaction. Modern HCM applications can help them manage members of the workforce as critical assets and make continuous investment in people-related processes, deriving insights on issue such...
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Topics:
Human Capital Management,
Office of Finance,
Learning Management,
HRMS,
Workforce Management,
Work and Resource Management,
ERP and Continuous Accounting
Today’s rapid changes in technology have left many companies behind in the digital transformation that is shaping the future of marketing, sales, commerce and client engagement. At Ventana Research we have seen this change coming, having been close observers and analysts of technological shifts for almost 15 years, providing continuous research and guidance to the technology industry. Now the leading edge is the digital point of engagement with customers through websites and social media....
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Topics:
Customer Experience,
Marketing,
Marketing Performance Management,
Mobile Technology,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Digital Technology,
Digital Marketing
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a software category that includes an array of business applications that includes human resources and finance. Workday is a vendor at the center of a new generation of ERP. My colleague Robert Kugel recently covered that company’s advances in finance using cloud computing to operate its platform. And I recently attended Workday’s technology analyst summit, where I got a deeper view of the technology under its applications and its efforts to perfect its...
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Topics:
HCM,
Human Capital Management,
Uncategorized,
HR,
Talent Management
Stibo Systems has been providing product information management (PIM) software for decades. Its work has helped many organizations worldwide take control of their product information by developing a master definition that can be published across many channels from Web to digital to print. We recognized its work with customers Delta Faucet and Masco Corp. in our 2015 Ventana Research Leadership Award in Information Management. In 2014 Stibo Systems customer Brady Corp. won a similar award for...
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Topics:
Master Data Management,
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Customer Experience,
MDM,
Mobile Technology,
PIM,
Stibo Systems,
Customer Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Financial Performance,
Information Management,
Business Performance Management (BPM),
Financial Performance Management (FPM),
Information Optimization,
Product Information Management
Over the last four years Domo, a new brand in cloud-based data and analytics software, has worked to enable its customers to understand, collaborate and act on data to achieve business results. Led by its founder and CEO, Josh James, the company has worked to deliver software that provides both a good user experience and business value. Recently, at its 2015 customer conference Domopalooza, the company presented itself and its products to the general public. I had a chance to meet with company...
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Human Capital,
Mobile Technology,
Operational Performance Management (OPM),
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Domo,
Risk & Compliance (GRC),
SAB Miller
This has been a dramatic year for Informatica, a major provider of data integration software. In August it was acquired and taken private by Permira funds and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for about US$5.3 billion. This change was accompanied by shifts in its management. CEO Sohaib Abbasi became chairman and now has left, and many executives were replaced while Anil Chakravathy became CEO from being the Chief Product Officer. The new owners appear to have shifted the company’s strategic...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Quality,
Master Data Management,
MDM,
Operational Performance Management (OPM),
Cloud Computing,
Data Integration,
Data Management,
Data Preparation,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Informatica,
Information Management,
Business Performance Management (BPM),
Information Optimization,
Risk & Compliance (GRC)
The need for businesses to process and analyze data has grown in intensity along with the volumes of data they are amassing. Our benchmark research consistently shows that preparing data is the most widespread impediment to analytic and operational efficiency. In our recent research on data and analytics in the cloud, more than half (55%) of organizations said that preparing data for analysis is a major impediment, followed by other preparatory tasks: reviewing data for quality and consistency...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Human Capital,
Marketing,
Monarch,
Operational Performance Management (OPM),
Customer Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Data Preparation,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Management,
Uncategorized,
Business Performance Management (BPM),
Datawatch,
Information Optimization,
Risk & Compliance (GRC)
Historically workforce management has been centered on tracking time and attendance, absences and leaves. Organizations view the time and attendance system as the top priority to integrate with the payroll system; in our payroll management benchmark research half (51%) of organizations called it very important. However, only one in five have integrated the two to streamline processes. So limited an administrative and operational focus does not contribute to improving worker productivity or...
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Topics:
Human Capital,
Human Capital Management,
Mobile Technology,
Wearable Computing,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Financial Performance,
HR,
Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Workforce Management
Big data has become a big deal as the technology industry has invested tens of billions of dollars to create the next generation of databases and data processing. After the accompanying flood of new categories and marketing terminology from vendors, most in the IT community are now beginning to understand the potential of big data. Ventana Research thoroughly covered the evolving state of the big data and information optimization sector in 2014 and will continue this research in 2015 and...
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Topics:
Big Data,
MapR,
Predictive Analytics,
Sales Performance,
SAP,
Supply Chain Performance,
Human Capital,
Marketing,
Mulesoft,
Paxata,
SnapLogic,
Splunk,
Customer Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Cloudera,
Financial Performance,
Hortonworks,
IBM,
Informatica,
Information Management,
Operational Intelligence,
Oracle,
Datawatch,
Dell Boomi,
Information Optimization,
Savi,
Sumo Logic,
Tamr,
Trifacta,
Strata+Hadoop
Managing investments in people and their performance is critical to every organization. It also is complicated. To support the various aspects of human capital management (HCM), organizations often use a variety of technology including systems for human resource management, talent management, workforce management and payroll management. Often these separate systems use their own information and are not well connected to each other. Today they are deployed both on-premises and in cloud computing...
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Topics:
Supply Chain Performance,
HCM,
Human Capital,
Human Capital Management,
Operational Performance,
Business Performance,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
HRMS,
Talent Management,
Workforce Management
As organizations look to improve the competency and skills of their workers, learning management system (LMS) technology can help improve their efforts. Our latest benchmark research in next-generation learning management systems finds a range of progress in this regard. Our Performance Index analysis places organizations almost evenly between the two lowest (51%) and the two highest (49%) of four levels of performance. The results differ by size of company as measured by number of employees....
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Topics:
HCM,
Human Capital,
Human Capital Management,
LMS,
Learning Management,
Operational Performance,
Business Performance,
HR,
Talent Management
In recent years line-of-business applications including accounting, human resources, manufacturing, sales and customer service have appeared in the cloud. Cloud -based software as a service (SaaS) has replaced on-premises applications that were previously part of ERP and CRM environments. They have helped companies become more efficient but have also introduced interoperability challenges between business processes. Their advantage is that cloud software can be rented, configured and used...
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
ERP,
Office of Finance,
Order Management,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer Service,
Financial Performance,
CFO,
SFA
Teradata continues to expand its information management and analytics technology for big data to meet growing demand. My analysis last year discussed Teradata’s approach to big data in the context of its distributed computing and data architecture. I recently got an update on the company’s strategy and products at the annual Teradata analyst summit. Our big data analytics research finds that a broad approach to big data is wise: Three-quarters of organizations want analytics to access data from...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Teradata,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
NoSQL,
Workforce Performance,
JSON,
UDA
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Topics:
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Forecast,
Sales Commission,
Sales Compensation,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Financial Performance,
Insights,
Quotas,
Xactly
At the Informatica World 2014 conference, the company known for its data integration software unveiled the Intelligent Data Platform. In the last three years Informatica has expanded beyond data integration and now has a broad software portfolio that facilitates information management within the enterprise and through cloud computing. The Intelligent Data Platform forms a framework for its portfolio. This expression of broad potential is important for Informatica, which has been slow to...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Master Data Management,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Data Integration,
Data Management,
Financial Performance,
Informatica,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Workforce Performance,
Information Optimization,
Product Information Management,
application
I recently attended the 2014 global analyst summit in San Francisco hosted by Pitney Bowes, an old technology company (now in business for 94 years) that has a new focus in its software along with an entirely new executive team. These leaders unveiled a business and technology strategy meant to demonstrate the company’s commitment to software. For many years it has been known mostly for mail services and postage metering, but Pitney Bowes also has made investments in software that can help...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Pitney Bowes,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence
Few sales organizations realize their full potential, partly because they don’t execute well. We urge organizations to move beyond conventional wisdom in how they think about executing sales processes and have placed methods for making improvement to sales execution at the center of our research on sales in 2014. In our recent research on sales forecasting almost half (44%) of sales organizations said they have impediments that are motivating management to consider further investment in sales...
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Topics:
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Salesforce.com,
Qvidian,
Sales Coaching,
Sales Force Automation,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
SFA
Sales forecasting is an essential process for most businesses. It helps guide the efforts not only of the sales function but also of finance, operations, manufacturing and customer service. Our recently released sales forecasting benchmark research reveals significant insights and best practices that can help companies optimize the effectiveness of this process. I recently wrote that most sales organizations need to make significant changes to the way they do sales forecasting. In that analyst...
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Topics:
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Sales Forecasting,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Information Applications,
SFA
Pressure to comply with requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a looming challenge for most organizations today. Many go through numerous manual iterations such as running reports and compiling data into spreadsheets from benefits, payroll and HR systems to calculate whether their employees are eligible. As my colleague Stephan Millard explains in “Is Your Organization Technology Ready for the Affordable Care Act?”, the ACA applies to organizations with 50 or more full-time employees...
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Topics:
Equifax,
Human Capital Analytics,
Office of Finance,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Workforce Performance
Our latest benchmark research into the market for location analytics software finds significant demand for location-related technology that can improve business outcomes and generate relevant information for various types of users. (Location analytics is an extension of business analytics that can enhance the sophistication of data and processes by adding a geographic context.) My last analyst perspective on this topic discussed the business value of insights based on geography and what...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
GIS,
Location Analytics,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Data
I had the pleasure of attending Cloudera’s recent analyst summit. Presenters reviewed the work the company has done since its founding six years ago and outlined its plans to use Hadoop to further empower big data technology to support what I call information optimization. Cloudera’s executive team has the co-founders of Hadoop who worked at Facebook, Oracle and Yahoo when they developed and used Hadoop. Last year they brought in CEO Tom Reilly, who led successful organizations at ArcSight, HP...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Teradata,
Zoomdata,
IT Performance,
Business Intelligence,
Cloudera,
Hortonworks,
IBM,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Oracle,
Hive,
Impala,
Strata+Hadoop
At Oracle’s recent cloud computing analyst summit in sunny Palm Springs, the company’s executive team insisted that it sees clear skies for its efforts in cloud computing. The summit was led by senior executive Thomas Kurian, who runs the entire product organization and reports directly to CEO Larry Ellison. He affirmed that Oracle intends to offer the full range of cloud computing – public, private and hybrid models – to its customers and partners. As one of the world’s largest software...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Database,
Microsoft,
SaaS,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Software as a Service,
Supply Chain Performance,
Middleware,
Oracle Cloud,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
IBM,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Oracle,
Workforce Performance,
Database as a Service,
Verizon
Many businesses are close to being overwhelmed by the unceasing growth of data they must process and analyze to find insights that can improve their operations and results. To manage this big data they find a rapidly expanding portfolio of technology products. A significant vendor in this market is SAS Institute. I recently attended the company’s annual analyst summit, Inside Intelligence 2014 (Twitter Hashtag #SASSB). SAS reported more than $3 billion in software revenue for 2013 and is known...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Predictive Analytics,
SAS,
Event Stream,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Customer & Contact Center,
Data Management,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Discovery
Adding geographic and location context to business information enables organizations to develop fuller understanding and optimize the activities of people that use the information. We call this location intelligence, and to achieve it requires location analytics, which focus on that context where the processing and presentation of geography and spatial aspects of data are utilized. Analysis of geographic information can provide business insights that help organizations make better business...
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Customer Analytics,
GIS,
Location Analytics,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Workforce Performance
In today’s highly competitive sales environment, where success depends on meeting the specific needs of buyers, an accurate and timely sales forecast is a critical tool for optimizing business outcomes. I discussed this as part of our 2014 research agenda for sales, noting that linking the forecast to commissions, quotas and territories is a requirement for success. We recently completed new benchmark research on sales forecasting to ascertain the state of the processes and technology sales...
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Topics:
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Sales Forecasting,
Sales Operations,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
SFA
In the near future, technology will be something we wear or attach comfortably to our bodies. Wearable computers have been evolving for some time, and while that might seem futuristic to the uninformed, in the technology industry it is rapidly becoming real. This trend is important for businesses to note, as our business technology innovation research shows that it is very important to more than half (56%) of organizations to find methods to use technology innovation to support both business...
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
HCM,
Human Capital Management,
Wearable Computing,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Operational Intelligence,
Workforce Performance,
Talent Management
At Oracle’s first-ever HCM World conference, the technology company demonstrated its commitment to human resources customers, explaining its strategy for Modern HR in the Cloud, which is focused on meeting the needs of employees in a large, dispersed workforce. The conference was insightful both intellectually and practically in its discussions of how workforces are changing. Oracle also showed its commitment by having both President Mark Hurd and CEO Larry Ellison present keynotes. This was...
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Human Capital Analytics,
Human Capital Management,
Recruiting,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Applications,
Oracle,
Workforce Performance,
HR,
Talent Management,
Workforce Management
At its recent MicroStrategy World 2014 conference, the enterprise software company introduced a portfolio of products to make it easier to perform analytics and make them easier to access through the cloud and mobile forms of computing. These announcements accelerate MicroStrategy’s transition to approaching corporate business users of analytics from its past focus on business intelligence, which typically is purchased by IT. This is a subtle but strategic shift that recognizes where growth...
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Topics:
MicroStrategy,
Mobile,
Social Media,
Customer Engagement,
Smart Phones,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Information Applications,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Tablets
It should be no surprise for those who work in sales that increasing outcomes collectively is not always easy. Sales teams and individuals work under pressure to perform at high levels, selling more than they did in the previous period or more than the person who previously had responsibility for a territory. Today’s economic and competitive environments demand that everyone work not just faster but smarter in their sales efforts. To excel in this environment requires not just wise use of time...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Compensation,
Sales Performance Management,
SFA
Businesses are always looking for ways to grow and to streamline their operations. These two goals can come into conflict because as organizations become larger it becomes more complicated to be agile and efficient. To help them understand and modify their processes, businesses can derive insights from analytics applied to their data. Today that data is available not only in the enterprise and cloud computing environments but also from the Internet. To collect, process and analyze it all is a...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Workforce Performance,
Information Optimization
With much fanfare and a rarely seen introduction by CEO Ginni Rometty, IBM launched IBM Watson as a new business unit focused on cognitive computing technology and solutions, now being led by Senior Vice President Mike Rhodin. The announcement is summarized here:. Until now IBM Watson was important but had neither this stature in IBM’s organizational structure nor enough investment to support what the company proclaims is the third phase of computing. As IBM tells it, computing paradigms began...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Workforce Performance,
Cognitive Computing,
Discovery,
Exploration,
IBM Watson
Greetings, everyone, and best wishes for a great start to 2014. In this new year, utilizing best practices and skills learned in 2013 will be critical for optimizing the use of efforts to support both business and IT. In 2013 many organizations made progress in balancing technology decisions across business and IT as the lines of business continued to take leading roles in investment and prioritization. Major investments were made in business applications using software as a service, business...
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Market Research,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Workforce Performance,
CFO,
COO,
Technology
The 2013 Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco was unique in several ways. Against the background of the America’s Cup yacht races on the bay, which Team Oracle won in an amazing comeback, this was the first year in which OpenWorld dedicated a separate track to the full aspects of human capital management (HCM). This emphasis helped to demonstrate Oracle’s increased commitment to HCM. That and several important innovations in the company’s Oracle HCM Cloud product suite led us to select Oracle as...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Gamifiacation,
HCM,
OpenWorld,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Oracle,
Workforce Performance
The need to be effective in the marketing, selling, manufacturing, distributing, and sourcing products requires more consistent and higher quality product information. This is where product information management (PIM) has great potential, and as I have attested is the responsibility of business to lead the process and technology improvements. Of course for PIM to be efficient IT needs to support business leadership to improve PIM and ensure access and integration of data and applications. One...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Operational Performance,
Customer & Contact Center,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Commerce,
Product Information Management,
Supply Chain
In the realm of technology that matters for business and IT, our firm as part of our responsibility continually assesses the latest technology and how it can impact organizations’ efficiency and effectiveness. Our benchmark research in technology innovation found that 87% of participants indicated the importance of increasing the organization’s value through technology innovation. Every year we take our knowledge from research and technology briefings to focus on our Technology Innovation Awards
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Topics:
Big Data,
Datameer,
Mobile,
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Sustainability,
Customer,
ESRI,
Globoforce,
GRC,
HCM,
Kronos,
Kyriba,
Location Analytics,
Marketing,
NetBase,
Office of Finance,
Overall Operational Leadership,
Peoplefluent,
Planview,
SQLstream,
VMWare,
VPI,
IT Analytics & Performance,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Mobility,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Hortonworks,
IBM,
Informatica,
Information Applications,
Information Builders,
Information Management,
Information Technology,
KXEN,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Oracle,
Workforce Performance,
Contact Center,
Datawatch,
Financial Management,
Information Optimization,
Johnson Controls Panoptix,
Roambi,
Service & Supply Chain,
Upstream Works,
Vertex,
Xactly
It has become evident from the advancements we’ve seen in the business analytics market that the use of visualization is now becoming mainstream. In my analysis of the market last year I wrote about the pathetic state of dashboards, where the assumption in the business intelligence software industry is that placing four to six charts or tables of data in a screen and publishing to business users can create business intelligence. That assumption has yet to be proven and is completely irrational,...
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Topics:
IT Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Visualization
Cisco Systems has announced its intent to acquire Composite Software, which provides data virtualization to help IT departments interconnect data and systems; the purchase is scheduled to complete in early August. Cisco of course is known for its ability to interconnect just about anything with its networking technology; this acquisition will help it connect data better across networks. Over the last decade Composite had been refining the science of virtualizing data but had reached the peak of...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Networking,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Data Management,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Cisco,
Composite Software,
Data,
Data Virtualization,
Information Optimization,
Internet of Everything,
Strata+Hadoop
Business analytics can help organizations use data to find insights that lead to new opportunities and address issues unrecognized before. One player in this market is Datawatch, known for its tools for information optimization and harvesting value from big data including content and documents. I assessed the company earlier this year, and recently our firm recognized its customers’ achievements with 2013 Ventana Research Leadership Awards for Information Optimization with Phelps County...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
SAP,
Supply Chain Performance,
GRC,
Office of Finance,
Panopticon,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Operational Intelligence,
CEP,
Datawatch,
Discovery,
Information Optimization,
SAP HANA
Information management is important to every line of business that seeks to improve its business processes and decision-making. In response to pressure from those departments, CIOs and IT organizations must examine whether they have focused enough on the I for information and not just the T for technology, and if they have not, commit to taking this responsibility more seriously than in the past. Informatica is one vendor that realizes the potential of its information beyond just data...
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Topics:
Data Quality,
Master Data Management,
PowerCenter,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Data Integration,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Information Optimization,
Vibe
Anaplan’s software is designed to help organizations across finance, sales and operations improve accuracy, timeliness and collaboration in their business analytics and planning. I recently attended the company’s first user conference, Hub 2013, in San Francisco, which featured customer success stories and latest on product information. Anaplan has built its business on the subtleties of modeling and planning that are shared between sales, operations and finance departments, and it enables them...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Planning,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
FP&A,
Modeling,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Workforce Performance,
CFO,
finance,
Sales Planning
Sales organizations and individuals strive to reach their quotas and get paid the maximum commissions for their performance. In support of these goals, software vendor Xactly offers a suite of applications for sales performance management that operates in the cloud computing environment. An example of its success is receiving our recent 2013 Leadership Award in sales excellence for work by its customer Zuora. This achievement builds on its 2012 Leadership Award with customer GlobalEnglish. My...
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Topics:
Sales,
Sales Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Performance,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Compensation,
Sales Performance Management
At this year’s annual SAP user conference, SAPPHIRE, the technology giant showed advances in its cloud and in-memory computing efforts. It has completed the migration of its conventional application suite and portfolio of tools to operate on SAP HANA, its in-memory computing platform, and made improvements in its cloud computing environment, SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud. The last time I analyzed SAP HANA was when it won our firm’s 2012 Overall IT Technology Innovation Award. Now HANA has been...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Predictive Analytics,
SAP,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Teradata,
Mobile Technology,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
HP,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Workforce Performance,
CFO,
CMO,
SAP EPM,
SAP HANA,
SAP Lumira,
SAPPHIRE,
Tagetik
Teradata recently gave me a technology update and a peek into the future of its portfolio for big data, information management and business analytics at its annual technology influencer summit. The company continues to innovate and build upon its Teradata 14 releases and its new processing technology. Since my last analysis of Teradata’s big data strategy, it has embraced technologies like Hadoop with its Teradata Aster Appliance, which won our 2012 Technology Innovation Award in Big Data....
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Topics:
Big Data,
MicroStrategy,
SAS,
Tableau,
Teradata,
Customer Excellence,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
In-Memory Computing,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
CMO,
Discovery,
Intelligent Memory,
Teradata Aster,
Strata+Hadoop
Information technology for business is changing rapidly as organizations demand innovation to help them discover insights and facts. Our research into business technology innovation found analytics to be the top priority in 39 percent of organizations. Businesses feel pressure to be better, faster and smarter in operating processes, and understanding their various types of information is a key to success. Businesses are looking to capture value from all types of information both within the...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Event discovery,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Visualization,
Workforce Performance,
Data,
Data Discovery,
Information Discovery
I was recently at Oracle Analyst World which is the vendor’s annual gathering of technology industry analysts. Its executives and others in the products organization deliver the latest news on where the titan is focusing efforts to expand its technology and markets. This year, against the background of the consumer and business markets embracing mobile and cloud computing, Oracle is working to sound like a more friendly supplier that can help remove legacy issues and inefficiencies that plague...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Mobile,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Social Collaboration,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Mobility,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Oracle,
Workforce Performance,
CFO,
COO
When organizations need to optimize their business processes and improve operations and decisions, the often speak of having the right information at the right time, but don’t always make that a priority. This information optimization is often thought to be expensive and time-consuming, especially with advent of big data and disparate data sources across cloud and on-premises environments, as I have articulated. Datawatch can help business get to information of any variety or volume at any time...
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Topics:
Big Data,
MapR,
QlikView,
Cloud Computing,
Information Management,
Uncategorized,
Datawatch,
Information Optimization
Businesses continue to try to increase productivity and simplify tasks in order to use their time smarter. Our recent business technology innovation research found that, when it comes to analytics, 44 percent of organizations spend the most time on data-related tasks. With lack of resources being the largest issue impeding the adoption of technology, IT must operate efficiently while getting business the data it needs on a timely basis. Scribe Solutions has a business-centric data integration...
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Topics:
Microsoft,
Sales Performance,
Marketo,
On24,
SilverPop,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Customer & Contact Center,
Data Integration,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
FinancialForce,
Information Optimization,
Intuit Quicken,
Scribe Software,
Xactly
Organizations succeed through continuous planning to achieve high levels of performance. For most organizations planning is not an easy process to conduct. Planning software is typically designed for only a few people in the process, such as analysts, or organizations might use spreadsheets, which are not designed for business planning across an organization. Most technologies only allow you to examine the past and not plan for the future. For decades organizations have tried to focus planning...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Mobile Technology,
Operations,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Cloudera,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Workforce Performance,
Business Planning,
CFO,
finance,
Tidemark,
Workday
Cloud computing has given business a new way to improve the effectiveness of business processes and ultimately the outcomes of their efforts. In the last five years, business across marketing, customer service, sales, human resources, finance and other areas have embraced the practice of renting access to the applications and technology they need when they need them. Organizations’ use of operational expense budgets helps them get what they need and avoid IT politics or standards that impeded...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Mobile Technology,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Management,
Workforce Performance,
Business Applications
Read More
Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Kapplets,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Customer & Contact Center,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Information Optimization,
Kapow
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Mobile Technology,
Vitria,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Complex Event Processing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence
I recently attended the annual SAS analyst summit to hear the latest company, product and customer growth news from the multi-billion-dollar analytics software provider. This global giant continues to grow its business and solutions to help with fraud prevention, marketing and risk. It lets users apply its analytic and statistical technology in practical applications for business. SAS can meet midsized businesses’ demand with packaging and pricing to ensure it is not seen as only affordable to...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Predictive Analytics,
Sales Performance,
SAS,
Fraud,
GRC,
Operational Performance,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Data Integration,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Operational Intelligence,
Risk
I recently attended the annual Informatica analyst summit to get the latest on that company’s strategy and plans. The data integration provider offers a portfolio of information management software that supports today’s big data and information optimization needs. Informatica is busy making changes in its presentation to the market and its marketing and sales efforts. New executives, including new CMO Marge Breya, are working to communicate what is possible with Informatica’s product portfolio,...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Quality,
Master Data Management,
Salesforce.com,
MDM,
IT Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Data Governance,
Data Integration,
Data Management,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Informatica,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Operational Intelligence,
CEP,
Informatica Cloud,
Strata+Hadoop
Data is a commodity in business. To become useful information, data must be put into a specific business context. Without information, today’s businesses can’t function. Without the right information, available to the right people at the right time, an organization cannot make the right decisions nor take the right actions, nor compete effectively and prosper. Information must be crafted and made available to employees, customers, suppliers, partners and consumers in the forms they want it at...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Analytics,
Business Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
In-Memory Computing,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Information Optimization,
Strata+Hadoop,
Digital Technology
The big-data landscape just got a little more interesting with the release of EMC’s Pivotal HD distribution of Hadoop. Pivotal HD takes Apache Hadoop and extends it with a data loader and command center capabilities to configure, deploy, monitor and manage Hadoop. Pivotal HD, from EMC’s Pivotal Labs division, integrates with Greenplum Database, a massively parallel processing (MPP) database from EMC’s Greenplum division, and uses HDFS as the storage technology. The combination should help sites...
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Topics:
EMC,
MapR,
HAWQ,
HDFS,
Pivotal HD,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Cloudera,
Hortonworks,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Cirro,
Hive,
Tableau Software,
Strata+Hadoop
Business is starting to realize that taking advantage of big data is not just technically feasible but affordable by organizations of all sizes. However, as outlined in our agenda on big data and information optimization, the technology must be engineered to the information needs of business. HortonWorks has been steadily advancing its big data technology called Hadoop and contributing its developments back to the Apache Software Foundation for a range of projects. The company performs...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Microsoft,
Talend,
Teradata,
Simba,
Business Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Hortonworks,
Informatica,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
HDP,
Hive,
Tez,
Strata+Hadoop
SnapLogic, a provider of data integration in the cloud, this week announced Big Data-as-a-Service to address businesses’ needs to integrate and process data across Hadoop big data environments. As our research agenda for 2013 outlines, dealing with data in the cloud is very important to organizations. At the same time, businesses need to be able to integrate their big data with all their technology assets, as I pointed out recently.
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Topics:
Big Data,
R,
Sales Performance,
Salesforce.com,
SnapLogic,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Cloudera,
Customer & Contact Center,
Data Integration,
Information Applications,
Information Management
Big data involves interplay between different data management approaches and business intelligence and operational systems, which makes it imperative that all sources of business data be integrated efficiently and that organizations be able to easily adapt to new data types and sources. Our recent big data benchmark research confirmed that big data storage technologies continue to follow many approaches, including appliances, Hadoop, and in-memory and specialized DBMSes. With the variety,...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Quality,
Master Data Management,
Business Technology Innovation,
IT Performance,
IT Research,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Data Integration,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Operational Intelligence
LucidWorks addresses the growing volume of information now being stored in the enterprise and in big data with two products aimed at the enterprise with search technology. Though you may not be familiar with LucidWorks (previously known as Lucid Imagination), the company has for many years contributed to Apache Lucene, an open source search project, and commercialized and supported for it for business.
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Topics:
Big Data,
MapR,
Sales Performance,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Cloudera,
Customer & Contact Center,
Hortonworks,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Operational Intelligence,
Search,
Strata+Hadoop
Business intelligence software is supposed to help businesses access and analyze data and communicate analytics and metrics. I have witnessed improvements to BI software over the years, from mobile and collaboration to interactive discovery and visualization, and our Value Index for Business Intelligence finds a mature set of technology vendors and products. But even as these products mature in capabilities, the majority lack features that would make them easy to use. Our recent research on ...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Supply Chain Performance,
Mobile Technology,
Natural Language,
Business Technology Innovation,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Mobility,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Workforce Performance,
Discovery
Business analytics have become mainstream in most organizations. Our latest research in technology innovation found analytics was the top-ranked technology in 39 percent of organizations. To deepen the sophistication of their analytics, businesses can add geographic context and maps to business intelligence applications to create what we call location intelligence. Applications and tools with a geographic and spatial context can help deliver new and deeper insights to business. Information...
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Geographic Information Systems,
GIS,
Location Analytics,
Spatial Data Quality,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence
Managing data efficiently across the enterprise continues to be a large challenge for both business units and IT. Organizations need data supplied in a consistent format and timely manner to help manage their activities and processes, but some do not look beyond conventional approaches to improvement. Today’s large volumes of data make it more difficult to understand the relationships among data and the role of location-related data. Our 2012 benchmark research on information management found...
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Topics:
Master Data Management,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
MDM,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Data Governance,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
DG
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Topics:
Big Data,
Splunk,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Machine data,
Operational Intelligence
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Topics:
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Human Capital Management,
Kenexa,
Learning,
Performance,
Recruiting,
Smarter Analytics,
Smarter Workforce,
Social Business,
Social Collaboration,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
IBM,
Workforce Performance,
Compensation
The proper use of technology enables businesses to be more efficient. Our recent research into technology for business innovation found that 56 percent indicate innovative technology is very important, yet only 9 percent are very satisfied with theirs, showing plenty of room for improvement. As we enter 2013, businesses have more choices than ever for technology to improve business and IT. Our firm has identified six key technologies that give organizations significant competitive advantages:...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Sales Performance,
Social Media,
Supply Chain Performance,
Mobile Technology,
Social Collaboration,
IT Performance,
Operational Performance,
Business Analytics,
Business Collaboration,
Business Intelligence,
Business Performance,
CIO,
Cloud Computing,
Customer & Contact Center,
Financial Performance,
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC),
Information Applications,
Information Management,
Location Intelligence,
Operational Intelligence,
Workforce Performance,
CMO,
COO,
CTO