ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives (48)

Zendesk Advances a Suite for CX

Posted by Keith Dawson on 15 June 2021

The outlines of a post-pandemic customer experience (CX) landscape are emerging, and it appears that the market dynamic is bringing companies from different segments into heightened competition with one another. Over the past few years, there has been a change in software-buying preferences from niche point solutions to packaged software suites. Organizations and buyers now want more capability... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center, agent management

Revenue Performance Management: Leadership and Operations for Optimal Outcomes

Posted by Stephen Hurrell on 14 June 2021

As laid out in my recent Analyst Perspective, Revenue Management: The Opportunity for Innovation and Optimization, revenue management is a new way look at generating and managing the top line. It unifies multiple sources: the traditional focus on new customers to existing customers as well as all types of revenue from new, additional channels. This could include customer retention, upsell and... Read More

Topics: Sales, Analytics, Sales Performance Management (SPM), Price and Revenue Management, Digital Commerce, Subscription Management, AI and Machine Learning

Talkdesk is Exemplary in the Contact Center in the Cloud Value Index

Posted by Keith Dawson on 14 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about Talkdesk drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. It is an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings will address... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

NICE inContact is Exemplary and Overall Value Index Leader in Contact Center in the Cloud

Posted by Keith Dawson on 11 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about NICE drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. It is an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings will address buyers’... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Domo Rated Exemplary and Collaborative Leader in 2021 Value Index on Analytics and Data

Posted by David Menninger on 10 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about Domo drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Analytics and Data 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. We then developed three additional Value Indexes on analytics and business... Read More

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning

The Value Index for Contact Center in the Cloud: Classification and Rating of 14 Vendors

Posted by Keith Dawson on 10 June 2021

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Value Index research, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud 2021 is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, Product Information Management, Digital Commerce, Subscription Management, agent management

Oracle Earns Innovative Vendor Rating in 2021 Analytics and Data Value Index

Posted by David Menninger on 09 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about Oracle Analytics Cloud drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Analytics and Data 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. We then developed three additional Value Indexes on analytics... Read More

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, AI and Machine Learning

The Market for Contact Center in the Cloud Software

Posted by Keith Dawson on 09 June 2021

Having just completed the 2021 Ventana Research Value Index for Contact Center in the Cloud, I want to share some of my observations about how the market has advanced since our assessment three years ago. The trend towards cloud deployment for contact center infrastructure has accelerated, partly (but not exclusively) due to the urgency of the 2020 pandemic. CCaaS has been generally accepted as a... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, Product Information Management, Digital Commerce, Subscription Management, agent management

Qlik is Exemplary and Value Index Leader in Customer Experience for 2021 Value Index for Analytics and Data

Posted by David Menninger on 08 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about Qlik drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Analytics and Data 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. We then developed three additional Value Indexes on analytics and business... Read More

Topics: business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Data, Information Management (IM), natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning

TIBCO Information Builders is Named an Innovative Vendor in 2021 Value Index

Posted by David Menninger on 04 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about Information Builders’ WebFOCUS Business Intelligence and Analytics Platform drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Analytics and Data 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. We then... Read More

Topics: business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning

MicroStrategy Earns Value Index Rating of Exemplary in Analytics and Data

Posted by David Menninger on 03 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about MicroStrategy drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Analytics and Data 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. We then developed three additional Value Indexes on analytics and... Read More

Topics: business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning

IBM is Exemplary and Leader in Analytics and Data Value Index

Posted by David Menninger on 02 June 2021

We are happy to share some insights about IBM drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Analytics and Data 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. We then developed three additional Value Indexes on analytics and business... Read More

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Information Management, natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning

Digital Process Reengineering Improves Business Performance

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 May 2021

Business process reengineering (BPR) was a consulting fashion in the early 1990s that spurred many companies to purchase their first ERP systems. BPR proposes a fundamental redesign of core business processes to achieve substantial improvements in market and customer responsiveness, productivity, cycle times and quality. Those early ERP systems provided a platform to manage cross-functional... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, Financial Performance Management, ERP and Continuous Accounting, robotic finance, Predictive Planning, lease and tax accounting

Customer Service and Support: Expanded Role and Need for Software

Posted by Keith Dawson on 27 May 2021

Customer service and support (CSS) is a term with two meanings. Most generally, it refers to the functions of a contact center in handling post-sales customer inquiries that require some effort or action on the part of the business. More specifically, it refers to the elements of the software stack that facilitate those operations, primarily case tracking and trouble ticketing. These functions... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Analytics, Contact Center, agent management, AI and Machine Learning

Reduce Risk and Improve Departmental Effectiveness with Intercompany Financial Management

Posted by Robert Kugel on 24 May 2021

Ventana Research defines intercompany financial management as a discipline for structuring and handling transactions within a corporation and between its legal entities. IFM is designed to maximize staff efficiency and accounting accuracy while optimizing tax exposure, minimizing tax leakage and ensuring consistent tax and regulatory compliance. Today, IFM is an obscure topic, but I assert that... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, Financial Performance Management, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Revenue, robotic finance, lease and tax accounting

Integrated Business Planning Uses Zero-Based Budgeting to Improve Performance

Posted by Robert Kugel on 21 May 2021

The objectives of zero-based budgeting are well aligned with what I call integrated business planning, a technology-enabled approach to managing the forward-looking activities of a corporation including forecasting, planning and budgeting. IBP enables every business unit to plan their business in a way that makes sense to them but also makes the numbers in those plans available for company-wide... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, Financial Performance Management, robotic finance, Predictive Planning

Subscription Pricing Changing for Sustained Customer Growth

Posted by Stephen Hurrell on 20 May 2021

Subscription pricing models are no longer new. Many companies have experience with this pricing model even if there has not been complete adoption across their entire product and service offerings. Companies that use this model, or have spent time looking at the approach, understand the approach of a recurring revenue stream based on a repeating flat fee. By 2025, over one-fifth of organizations... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Sales, Customer Experience, Marketing, Office of Finance, Financial Performance Management, Price and Revenue Management, Digital Commerce, Predictive Planning, Subscription Management

Alation Helps Organizations Get More Value From Data

Posted by David Menninger on 20 May 2021

Alation recently announced the release of its 2021.1 version, introducing new data governance capabilities, enhancements in search and discovery through data domains, and extended connector and query coverage for data sources. Alation’s new federated authentication enables users to query cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Snowflake, Tableau and more, using a single sign-on. The release... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Preparation, Data, Information Management (IM), AI and Machine Learning

Unit4 Democratizes Agile, Data-Driven Decision-Making

Posted by Robert Kugel on 17 May 2021

Unit4’s Financial Planning and Analysis (formerly Prevero) is a planning and budgeting application designed for the requirements of midsize corporations and the public sector. These organizations are challenged in buying software because they have almost all the requirements of larger enterprises but have a smaller budget and limited technical resources. Unit4 recently announced it has added... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Planning, Financial Performance Management, Price and Revenue Management, Digital Technology, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Predictive Planning, collaborative computing, AI and Machine Learning

Consolidation Software Builds Staff Effectiveness in Midsize Companies

Posted by Robert Kugel on 14 May 2021

Financial consolidation software assists companies in executing their accounting close process - especially those that use multiple ERP systems or have multiple legal entities - and with other characteristics that can complicate the process such as keeping books in multiple currencies. Not every midsize company needs consolidation software because many find their ERP (or financial management)... Read More

Topics: Financial Performance Management, ERP and Continuous Accounting