ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives | Operational Performance (33)

Planview Does Initiative-Based Planning

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010

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

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

Microsoft Hopes for a Miracle with Windows Phone 7

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

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

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

Merced Systems’ European Event Showcases Best Practices and Customer Insights

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

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

Oracle Expands Its Playbook at OpenWorld

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

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

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

Teradata Advances Personalized Marketing Using Analytics

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

Topics: Marketing, Operational Performance, Analytics, CRM

Cicero Has Smart Agent Desktop for Contact Centers

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

Topics: Operational Performance, Analytics, Contact Center

SAS Supports Marketing through Customer Intelligence

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

Topics: Customer Experience, Customer Intelligence, Operational Performance

IBM Business Analytics Workshop Illuminates Performance Management

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010

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

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

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

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

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

Joining the Ventana Research Team and Community

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

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

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

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

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

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

IBM Opens a Page for GRC

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010

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

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

ActuateOne Advances Information Platform with Analytics and Business Intelligence

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

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

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

SAP Unveils Next Generation of Business Analytics

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

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

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

The Buzz Is about Salesforce.com Chatter

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

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

Looking forward to Oracle OpenWorld

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 November 2010

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

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

Oracle Hopes Mark Hurd Brings New Herd of Business

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

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

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

Contact Center Analytics Help Reduce Average Call-Handling Time

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

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

KnoahSoft Harmonizes Agent Performance Management

Posted by ISG Research on 28 November 2010

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

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

Clarabridge’s Text Analytics Improve Customer Experience

Posted by ISG Research on 27 November 2010

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

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