SaaS adoption is up 13 points over last year, to 60 percent, despite lingering concerns about features and functionality, according to a survey. More than one-quarter of survey respondents say the applications they have delivered as services are mission critical, down from 34 percent. Meanwhile, start-ups and niche SaaS providers are going up against established vendors like Microsoft, Google and Salesforce.com, giving smaller businesses opportunities to take advantage of the burgeoning technology.
Other findings:
-- SaaS use among companies surveyed jumped to 60 percent from 47 percent last year.
-- Speed to implement, capex savings and opex savings are the biggest drivers behind the move to a SaaS model.
-- Top reasons 40 percent of companies don't use SaaS: lack of business requirement, concerns over security and concerns over data ownership.
-- SaaS satisfaction levels dipped 11 points, to 74 percent; still, only 14 percent say their app services don't meet expectations.
-- Twenty-six percent of respondents rate their SaaS-delivered apps "mission-critical," down from 34 percent a year ago; they rate 61 percent "important," vs. 51 percent last year.
-- CRM (44 percent), Web presence (38 percent) and email (35 percent) are the most common SaaS apps, followed closely by HR/recruiting (33 percent) and sales (32 percent).
-- Microsoft (34 percent, up 8 points), Salesforce.com (30 percent, down 11 points) and Google (26 percent, down 2 points) still garner the bulk of the market, but ADP (18 percent, up 15 points), IBM (16 percent, up 14 points) and EMC (15 percent, up 7 points) have gained ground, and smaller companies abound. Oracle dropped 11 points, to 15 percent.
-- The split between companies using customized SaaS apps and those using standard SaaS apps: 50/50.
Comment from Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Analytics: It's getting harder for SaaS vendors to maintain quality levels, because they have to provide both standard and custom services for different companies. Most IT pros tell us they're happy to outsource apps so they have time to focus on content development and other projects, but they still work closely with the vendors to manage service contracts and processes--they don't just relinquish control for reliability and security, for instance.
About the survey: InformationWeek Analytics's report, SaaS 2011, explores the state of software as a service, a technology being adopted at unprecedented rates. The 275 respondents to this exclusive survey are business technology decision-makers involved in their companies' enterprise applications strategies. Report author, Michael Biddick, is president and CTO of Fusion PPT.
Contact: http://www.informationweek.com/
Showing posts with label SaaS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SaaS. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
$14.4 Billion Federal Cloud Savings Opportunity
Federal IT managers are bullish on savings potential -- projecting $14.4 billion in year one from cloud implementations -- with e-mail slated as the first application for migration: 42 percent of IT managers are considering "clouding" their e-mail systems, according to a study.
Sixty-four percent of federal CIOs expect that cloud computing will reduce costs and improve service. Feds currently spend $35.7 billion annually supporting legacy applications, and feds project they can save $14.4 billion from steady-state budgets in the first year of private cloud implementation. Further, most feds believe cloud will support other priority federal initiatives: 64 percent of CIOs think cloud expands mandated telework and mobility options.
The study provides the first community feedback on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) new "Cloud First" policy, announced in December 2010. On February 8, 2011, OMB provided additional direction, via its federal Cloud Strategy, to accelerate the safe and secure adoption of cloud computing. Cloud First requires agencies to choose a cloud solution, if one exists, before initiating new IT program build. Further, it requires agencies move one service to the cloud within 12 months and two additional services to the cloud within 18 months. Sixty-four percent of federal CIOs say they plan to move to Cloud First in the next two years. That said, 79 percent say their agencies are not using the mandated Cloud First policy today. As to agencies' cloud status, most are still in discovery or planning stages. Only 17 percent are maintaining Infrastructure as a Service; 15 percent Software as a Service; and 13 percent Platform as a Service.
Considering the path forward, most IT managers say the deadline to move existing applications to the cloud is aggressive. Half anticipate meeting goals -- 52 percent indicate plans to move one service to the cloud in the next 12 months, and 48 percent say they will move two additional services to the cloud in the next 18 months.
Feds cite budget, security, and mission-specific requirements as top challenges. Seventy-nine percent of CIOs say budget constraints are a top obstacle to implementing cloud computing, and 71 percent of CIOs say security concerns are preventing cloud adoption. Though the General Services Administration (GSA) launched FedRAMP in November 2010 to provide a consolidated point for government-wide security authorization and related risk-management activities for cloud computing systems, 56 percent of CIOs say FedRAMP will not aid and speed federal cloud adoption, and 67 percent say that FedRAMP will not make federal cloud computing more secure.
Comment from said Aileen Black, vice president, government sales, VMware: Cloud computing in its many forms truly has the potential to transform government. We applaud the federal government's leadership and dedication to IT innovation, and critically, its recognition of the cloud's immense savings potential, whether private, public, or hybrid.
Comment from Steve O'Keeffe, founder, MeriTalk: Fed IT decision makers hear the business benefits cloud and clear. Why are Cloud First and FedRAMP falling on deaf ears?
About the report: MeriTalk's "Federal Cloud Weather Report" report provides a status on federal cloud computing migration, explores agencies' cloud challenges, and delivers insight on the road ahead. Underwritten by VMware, the report is based on an online survey of 167 federal government CIOs and IT managers in January 2011.
Contact: http://www.meritalk.com/fedcloudweatherreport
Sixty-four percent of federal CIOs expect that cloud computing will reduce costs and improve service. Feds currently spend $35.7 billion annually supporting legacy applications, and feds project they can save $14.4 billion from steady-state budgets in the first year of private cloud implementation. Further, most feds believe cloud will support other priority federal initiatives: 64 percent of CIOs think cloud expands mandated telework and mobility options.
The study provides the first community feedback on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) new "Cloud First" policy, announced in December 2010. On February 8, 2011, OMB provided additional direction, via its federal Cloud Strategy, to accelerate the safe and secure adoption of cloud computing. Cloud First requires agencies to choose a cloud solution, if one exists, before initiating new IT program build. Further, it requires agencies move one service to the cloud within 12 months and two additional services to the cloud within 18 months. Sixty-four percent of federal CIOs say they plan to move to Cloud First in the next two years. That said, 79 percent say their agencies are not using the mandated Cloud First policy today. As to agencies' cloud status, most are still in discovery or planning stages. Only 17 percent are maintaining Infrastructure as a Service; 15 percent Software as a Service; and 13 percent Platform as a Service.
Considering the path forward, most IT managers say the deadline to move existing applications to the cloud is aggressive. Half anticipate meeting goals -- 52 percent indicate plans to move one service to the cloud in the next 12 months, and 48 percent say they will move two additional services to the cloud in the next 18 months.
Feds cite budget, security, and mission-specific requirements as top challenges. Seventy-nine percent of CIOs say budget constraints are a top obstacle to implementing cloud computing, and 71 percent of CIOs say security concerns are preventing cloud adoption. Though the General Services Administration (GSA) launched FedRAMP in November 2010 to provide a consolidated point for government-wide security authorization and related risk-management activities for cloud computing systems, 56 percent of CIOs say FedRAMP will not aid and speed federal cloud adoption, and 67 percent say that FedRAMP will not make federal cloud computing more secure.
Comment from said Aileen Black, vice president, government sales, VMware: Cloud computing in its many forms truly has the potential to transform government. We applaud the federal government's leadership and dedication to IT innovation, and critically, its recognition of the cloud's immense savings potential, whether private, public, or hybrid.
Comment from Steve O'Keeffe, founder, MeriTalk: Fed IT decision makers hear the business benefits cloud and clear. Why are Cloud First and FedRAMP falling on deaf ears?
About the report: MeriTalk's "Federal Cloud Weather Report" report provides a status on federal cloud computing migration, explores agencies' cloud challenges, and delivers insight on the road ahead. Underwritten by VMware, the report is based on an online survey of 167 federal government CIOs and IT managers in January 2011.
Contact: http://www.meritalk.com/fedcloudweatherreport
Software Company CEOs, CFOs Expect Cloud Computing To Drive Industry Growth In 2011
Cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will drive the largest amount of spending in the software industry over the next 12 months, according to a survey of software company CEOs and CFOs. The majority of respondents expect their company's business will grow by at least 20 percent in 2011 and that hiring will increase significantly.
The software industry continues to pull itself out of the recession. While many industries continue to struggle, the CEOs and CFOs are optimistic about the industry as a whole and extremely bullish on the outlook for their own companies. Well over three-quarters of the respondents noted that their company had already returned to pre-recession growth levels or would reach those levels in 2011. In addition, nearly two-thirds of the respondents expect their company to grow by at least 20 percent, including more than one quarter of the respondents who expect their growth rate to top 50 percent this year.
Other findings from the survey include:
-- Cloud Computing and SaaS are Key Growth Drivers - The survey reveals that the resounding majority of respondents feel cloud computing and SaaS/on-demand will be the two most frequent types of software projects driving business spending over the next 12 months. More than 50 percent of the respondents stated the biggest influence driving software spending would be the need to increase efficiencies and reduce costs.
-- Hiring Trends Perking Up - Approximately 90 percent of the companies surveyed expect their headcount to increase in 2011, with more than half of those companies expecting their headcount to increase "significantly" this year.
-- Industry Growth Outlook Remains Strong - The survey revealed that more than 90 percent of the software executives responding have a positive opinion regarding the industry outlook. In addition, nearly three-quarters of the executives expect the software industry will perform better than in 2010.
-- The Cloud Model Dominates - The survey indicates software vendors have increased their use of cloud deployment options over the past year and decreased their use of on-premises options. In addition, a clear majority (72 percent) of the surveyed executives stated that multi-tenant SaaS solutions via a subscription license is the type of offering that will be most desirable for new customers during the next 12 months.
About the survey: The Sand Hill Group survey (Software CEO/CFO Outlook 2011), underwritten by Adaptive Planning and Intacct, comprised interviews with 100 software company CEOs and CFOs.
Contact: http://www.sandhill.com
Contact: http://www.adaptiveplanning.com
Contact: http://www.intacct.com
The software industry continues to pull itself out of the recession. While many industries continue to struggle, the CEOs and CFOs are optimistic about the industry as a whole and extremely bullish on the outlook for their own companies. Well over three-quarters of the respondents noted that their company had already returned to pre-recession growth levels or would reach those levels in 2011. In addition, nearly two-thirds of the respondents expect their company to grow by at least 20 percent, including more than one quarter of the respondents who expect their growth rate to top 50 percent this year.
Other findings from the survey include:
-- Cloud Computing and SaaS are Key Growth Drivers - The survey reveals that the resounding majority of respondents feel cloud computing and SaaS/on-demand will be the two most frequent types of software projects driving business spending over the next 12 months. More than 50 percent of the respondents stated the biggest influence driving software spending would be the need to increase efficiencies and reduce costs.
-- Hiring Trends Perking Up - Approximately 90 percent of the companies surveyed expect their headcount to increase in 2011, with more than half of those companies expecting their headcount to increase "significantly" this year.
-- Industry Growth Outlook Remains Strong - The survey revealed that more than 90 percent of the software executives responding have a positive opinion regarding the industry outlook. In addition, nearly three-quarters of the executives expect the software industry will perform better than in 2010.
-- The Cloud Model Dominates - The survey indicates software vendors have increased their use of cloud deployment options over the past year and decreased their use of on-premises options. In addition, a clear majority (72 percent) of the surveyed executives stated that multi-tenant SaaS solutions via a subscription license is the type of offering that will be most desirable for new customers during the next 12 months.
About the survey: The Sand Hill Group survey (Software CEO/CFO Outlook 2011), underwritten by Adaptive Planning and Intacct, comprised interviews with 100 software company CEOs and CFOs.
Contact: http://www.sandhill.com
Contact: http://www.adaptiveplanning.com
Contact: http://www.intacct.com
Monday, April 11, 2011
SaaS Revenue To Grow Significantly Through 2015
Worldwide SaaS revenue will grow dramatically over the next few years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent from 2010 to 2015, according to a market report. In addition, the overall managed security services market, including CPE, SaaS, and cloud services, will reach just under $17 billion by 2015.
Other key findings:
-- Together, SaaS and cloud-based security services are expected to make up close to half of the overall managed security services market opportunity by 2015
-- While managed security services are popular in North America and EMEA, there is opportunity around the globe, as cloud-based services, and SaaS in particular, are location independent
-- Asia Pacific and Central and Latin America (CALA) are expected to account for a growing portion of the managed security services market in coming years
Comment from Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research: 2010 was a good year for managed security services, which, for the most part, met our expectations for buyer uptake and provider innovations. Revenue grew 12 percent in 2010 and will grow 62 percent over the next 5 years, driven by cloud-based services and SaaS. There was no decrease in fundamental demand for managed security in 2010, just a sluggish global economy.
About the report: The Infonetics Research report Managed Security Services and SaaS with Service Provider Scorecards report analyzes and forecasts the market for SaaS, CPE-, and cloud-based security services managed by service providers for small, medium, and large businesses, including managed firewalls, content security, intrusion detection and prevention solutions (IDS/IPS), and other security services.
Contact: http://www.infonetics.com
Other key findings:
-- Together, SaaS and cloud-based security services are expected to make up close to half of the overall managed security services market opportunity by 2015
-- While managed security services are popular in North America and EMEA, there is opportunity around the globe, as cloud-based services, and SaaS in particular, are location independent
-- Asia Pacific and Central and Latin America (CALA) are expected to account for a growing portion of the managed security services market in coming years
Comment from Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research: 2010 was a good year for managed security services, which, for the most part, met our expectations for buyer uptake and provider innovations. Revenue grew 12 percent in 2010 and will grow 62 percent over the next 5 years, driven by cloud-based services and SaaS. There was no decrease in fundamental demand for managed security in 2010, just a sluggish global economy.
About the report: The Infonetics Research report Managed Security Services and SaaS with Service Provider Scorecards report analyzes and forecasts the market for SaaS, CPE-, and cloud-based security services managed by service providers for small, medium, and large businesses, including managed firewalls, content security, intrusion detection and prevention solutions (IDS/IPS), and other security services.
Contact: http://www.infonetics.com
Few Mission-Critical Apps Moved To The Cloud
While many companies are deploying software as a service (SaaS) applications and have selectively deployed enterprise applications in private clouds, very few have moved mission-critical applications to the public cloud, a survey has found. In fact, only seven percent of respondents have moved compliance-relevant applications to the public cloud; security and compliance issues were the primary inhibitors to cloud adoption.
Comment from Darran Rolls, CTO of SailPoint: Organizations face too many unknowns related to compliance and security in cloud environments to consider moving mission-critical IT assets there. Yet, many business units are already deploying SaaS applications without engaging the IT organization, creating major gaps in the visibility and control over potentially sensitive data. In order to safely adopt cloud computing, companies need to govern identity and access data deployed in the cloud in the same manner that they govern applications in the datacenter.
About the survey: SailPoint conducted the survey among the Global 1000.
Contact: http://www.sailpoint.com
Comment from Darran Rolls, CTO of SailPoint: Organizations face too many unknowns related to compliance and security in cloud environments to consider moving mission-critical IT assets there. Yet, many business units are already deploying SaaS applications without engaging the IT organization, creating major gaps in the visibility and control over potentially sensitive data. In order to safely adopt cloud computing, companies need to govern identity and access data deployed in the cloud in the same manner that they govern applications in the datacenter.
About the survey: SailPoint conducted the survey among the Global 1000.
Contact: http://www.sailpoint.com
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Cloud Computing Has Become A Significant IT Cost Containment Priority
A report that finds continued stabilization in IT spending -- with a majority of survey respondents planning to increase spending over 2010 levels -- also finds increased use of server virtualization, managing data growth, information security, major application deployments and upgrades, and improving data backup and recovery are the top five strategic IT initiatives for their organizations over the next 12-18 months.
The most significant change in the IT priorities of respondents is the increased importance attached to cloud computing services. Compared to 2010 survey results, the use of cloud infrastructure has increased from number 22 to number 12 on respondents' list of relative IT priorities, and the increased use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for application delivery has risen from number 24 to number 14.
Comment from John McKnight, vice president of research at Enterprise Strategy Group: One key finding of this year's research is the ongoing emergence of cloud computing as a viable cost containment strategy for IT groups. ESG has witnessed a steady three-year increase in organizations looking to increase their use of cloud computing as a more cost-effective alternative to traditional IT delivery methods. Indeed, companies looking to reduce IT costs are now more likely to be considering cloud services than they are to be reducing IT headcount, a complete reversal of organizational priorities from just two years ago, when shedding staff was one of the first places CIOs looked to trim costs.
About the survey: The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), an IT industry analyst and business strategy firm, issued the report (2011 IT Spending Intentions Survey), based upon data gathered from 611 North American and Western European senior IT professionals from midmarket (100 to 999 employees) and enterprise-class (1,000 employees or more) organizations.
Contact: http://www.esg-global.com
The most significant change in the IT priorities of respondents is the increased importance attached to cloud computing services. Compared to 2010 survey results, the use of cloud infrastructure has increased from number 22 to number 12 on respondents' list of relative IT priorities, and the increased use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for application delivery has risen from number 24 to number 14.
Comment from John McKnight, vice president of research at Enterprise Strategy Group: One key finding of this year's research is the ongoing emergence of cloud computing as a viable cost containment strategy for IT groups. ESG has witnessed a steady three-year increase in organizations looking to increase their use of cloud computing as a more cost-effective alternative to traditional IT delivery methods. Indeed, companies looking to reduce IT costs are now more likely to be considering cloud services than they are to be reducing IT headcount, a complete reversal of organizational priorities from just two years ago, when shedding staff was one of the first places CIOs looked to trim costs.
About the survey: The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), an IT industry analyst and business strategy firm, issued the report (2011 IT Spending Intentions Survey), based upon data gathered from 611 North American and Western European senior IT professionals from midmarket (100 to 999 employees) and enterprise-class (1,000 employees or more) organizations.
Contact: http://www.esg-global.com
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Governance, Risk Management And Compliance In The Cloud: A Major Trend
The cloud-based movement has acceclerated over the past several years, but it's still a relatively new phenomenon in governance, risk management and compliance (GRC), predicts a provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for enterprise governance, risk management and compliance (eGRC).
As the industry matures, buyers are increasingly seeking GRC systems that are interconnected with leading providers of legal and regulatory content, to create a single, unified solution.
Cloud-based systems are ideally suited to providing freedom of choice to the legal and regulatory content appropriate for each organization.
The cloud will also be increasingly used to streamline processes and reduce overhead by integrating additional services and providing access for third-party auditors. 2011 will see a significant rise in organizations managing their GRC functions in the cloud as they seek these benefits.
About the predictions: Compliance 360, a provider of software-as-a-aervice (SaaS) solutions for enterprise governance, risk management and compliance (eGRC), offered the forecasts for 2011. Topping the list, corporate boards will shift their focus from survivability to implementing and enhancing corporate risk management programs. With the brunt of the economic storm currently abated, corporate boards are revisiting enterprise risk management (ERM) initiatives and validating those improvements with quantifiable measures.
Contact: http://www.compliance360.com
As the industry matures, buyers are increasingly seeking GRC systems that are interconnected with leading providers of legal and regulatory content, to create a single, unified solution.
Cloud-based systems are ideally suited to providing freedom of choice to the legal and regulatory content appropriate for each organization.
The cloud will also be increasingly used to streamline processes and reduce overhead by integrating additional services and providing access for third-party auditors. 2011 will see a significant rise in organizations managing their GRC functions in the cloud as they seek these benefits.
About the predictions: Compliance 360, a provider of software-as-a-aervice (SaaS) solutions for enterprise governance, risk management and compliance (eGRC), offered the forecasts for 2011. Topping the list, corporate boards will shift their focus from survivability to implementing and enhancing corporate risk management programs. With the brunt of the economic storm currently abated, corporate boards are revisiting enterprise risk management (ERM) initiatives and validating those improvements with quantifiable measures.
Contact: http://www.compliance360.com
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Cloud Computing Found To Be Top Technology Priority For CIOs In 2011
CIOs must re-imagine IT to support growth and competitive advantage, according to a survey that also found that organizations are emphasizing growth, in addition to continued vigilance on cost and operational efficiencies.
CIOs' IT budget projections for 2011 are globally flat, with a weighted average budget increase of 1 percent. While CIOs do not report IT budgets returning to their 2008 (pre-recession) levels, the number of those experiencing budget increases in 2011 outnumbered those reporting a cut by almost three-to-one.
CIOs expect to adopt new cloud services much faster than originally expected. Currently, 3 percent of CIOs have the majority of IT running in the cloud or on SaaS technologies, but over the next four years CIOs expect this number to increase to 43 percent.
In a further positive development revealed in the survey, CIOs may be able to reallocate IT budget savings, rather than simply returning them to the organization in 2011. CIOs anticipate the ability to fund infrastructure changes and new projects by reallocating resources within that budget. This approach to funding will become a standard operating procedure since Gartner does not see CIO IT budgets recovering to their 2008 peak until 2014.
CIOs report that their organizations are emphasizing growth, in addition to continued vigilance on cost and operational efficiencies. This emphasis is consistent with emerging signs of economic recovery and increasing competition to attract and retain customers.
A ranking of business strategies reported by CIOs indicates that growth is a core expectation for 2011 and beyond. The move to growth appears to be more of a change in emphasis than a restructuring of business strategies and business expectations for IT, as prior top concerns for reducing enterprise costs and improving business processes remain important.
Until recently, the average IT organization dedicated 66 percent of its budget to day-to-day operations leaving little room for transformation of business strategy. CIOs see the introduction of Internet service-based technologies as changing that equation and releasing between 35 to 50 percent of infrastructure and operational resources for innovation and growth. This is creating a new CIO success cycle, one based on creating and realizing new sources of value, in addition to cost-effective IT operations.
Comment from Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research for Gartner Executive Programs: CIOs and IT have been boxed in between modest budget growth and growing legacy requirements. New lighter-weight technologies -- such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), and social networks -and IT models enable the CIO to redefine IT, giving it a greater focus on growth and strategic impact. These are two things that are missing from many organizations. The resource realities indicated in the 2011 CIO Agenda Survey raise the urgency and importance of adopting new infrastructure and operations technologies, such as cloud services and virtualization. These technologies were selected by CIOs the most often and are the top-two technologies for 2011 and are well-suited for this budget reality, as they offer similar service levels at lower budget costs. Over the next five years, CIOs expect dramatic changes in IT as they adopt new technologies and raise their contribution to competitive advantage. Leaders will implement new infrastructure technologies to achieve increased efficiency and to redirect IT resources to create greater business impact. Pursuit of that leadership agenda will raise complex issues ranging from re-imaging IT's role in their organization to the creative destruction necessary to break old practices and redeploy resources to new initiatives.
The survey included results from more than 100 companies in China. There is some indication that Chinese companies will "leapfrog" some technologies (for example, by moving more-directly to mobility- and services-type models). Gartner believes that this means technology companies seeking success in China will grow based on the reach of their channel, rather than expanding with existing customers.
About the survey: The worldwide CIO survey was conducted by Gartner EXP from September to December 2010 and represents CIO budget plans reported at that time. The survey includes responses from 2,014 CIOs representing over $160 billion in corporate and public-sector IT spending across 50 countries and 38 industries. The Gartner Executive Programs report "Reimagining IT: The 2011 CIO Agenda" is a comprehensive examination of business priorities and CIO strategies. Additional information on the 2011 CIO Agenda is available on Gartner's website.
Contact: http://www.gartner.com/exp
CIOs' IT budget projections for 2011 are globally flat, with a weighted average budget increase of 1 percent. While CIOs do not report IT budgets returning to their 2008 (pre-recession) levels, the number of those experiencing budget increases in 2011 outnumbered those reporting a cut by almost three-to-one.
CIOs expect to adopt new cloud services much faster than originally expected. Currently, 3 percent of CIOs have the majority of IT running in the cloud or on SaaS technologies, but over the next four years CIOs expect this number to increase to 43 percent.
In a further positive development revealed in the survey, CIOs may be able to reallocate IT budget savings, rather than simply returning them to the organization in 2011. CIOs anticipate the ability to fund infrastructure changes and new projects by reallocating resources within that budget. This approach to funding will become a standard operating procedure since Gartner does not see CIO IT budgets recovering to their 2008 peak until 2014.
CIOs report that their organizations are emphasizing growth, in addition to continued vigilance on cost and operational efficiencies. This emphasis is consistent with emerging signs of economic recovery and increasing competition to attract and retain customers.
A ranking of business strategies reported by CIOs indicates that growth is a core expectation for 2011 and beyond. The move to growth appears to be more of a change in emphasis than a restructuring of business strategies and business expectations for IT, as prior top concerns for reducing enterprise costs and improving business processes remain important.
Until recently, the average IT organization dedicated 66 percent of its budget to day-to-day operations leaving little room for transformation of business strategy. CIOs see the introduction of Internet service-based technologies as changing that equation and releasing between 35 to 50 percent of infrastructure and operational resources for innovation and growth. This is creating a new CIO success cycle, one based on creating and realizing new sources of value, in addition to cost-effective IT operations.
Comment from Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research for Gartner Executive Programs: CIOs and IT have been boxed in between modest budget growth and growing legacy requirements. New lighter-weight technologies -- such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), and social networks -and IT models enable the CIO to redefine IT, giving it a greater focus on growth and strategic impact. These are two things that are missing from many organizations. The resource realities indicated in the 2011 CIO Agenda Survey raise the urgency and importance of adopting new infrastructure and operations technologies, such as cloud services and virtualization. These technologies were selected by CIOs the most often and are the top-two technologies for 2011 and are well-suited for this budget reality, as they offer similar service levels at lower budget costs. Over the next five years, CIOs expect dramatic changes in IT as they adopt new technologies and raise their contribution to competitive advantage. Leaders will implement new infrastructure technologies to achieve increased efficiency and to redirect IT resources to create greater business impact. Pursuit of that leadership agenda will raise complex issues ranging from re-imaging IT's role in their organization to the creative destruction necessary to break old practices and redeploy resources to new initiatives.
The survey included results from more than 100 companies in China. There is some indication that Chinese companies will "leapfrog" some technologies (for example, by moving more-directly to mobility- and services-type models). Gartner believes that this means technology companies seeking success in China will grow based on the reach of their channel, rather than expanding with existing customers.
About the survey: The worldwide CIO survey was conducted by Gartner EXP from September to December 2010 and represents CIO budget plans reported at that time. The survey includes responses from 2,014 CIOs representing over $160 billion in corporate and public-sector IT spending across 50 countries and 38 industries. The Gartner Executive Programs report "Reimagining IT: The 2011 CIO Agenda" is a comprehensive examination of business priorities and CIO strategies. Additional information on the 2011 CIO Agenda is available on Gartner's website.
Contact: http://www.gartner.com/exp
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Antiquated IT Safeguards And Access Policies Leave Employees Frustrated, Enterprises Vulnerable
Despite new security risks posed by a rapidly evolving technology environment, most companies continue to rely on the traditional username and password sign-on to verify a user's identity, according to a study. Those organizations are unnecessarily leaving themselves open to unauthorized access by hackers and e-criminals.
Some important findings:
-- IT environments are pushing beyond traditional corporate boundaries, a trend that is exposing enterprises to more risks. More than half of companies surveyed (54 percent) reported a data breach in the previous year. As IT managers increase their reliance on cloud-based and SaaS solutions, collaboration tools, and enabling users to access their networks with mobile devices and personal computers, the number of security breaches is on the rise.
-- Malware attacks are employing password vulnerability in enterprises. Hackers are moving from conspicuous attacks like malware and phishing to more insidious attacks using stolen passwords to penetrate an organization and go undetected.
-- Password issues are the top access problem in the enterprise. To prevent unauthorized access, password policies have grown more cumbersome and error-prone. Such factors as password composition requirements, duration before password expiration, and multiple passwords to access corporate resources have inundated users. Additionally, 87 percent of users are expected to remember two or more passwords to access corporate resources. Meanwhile, password reset is the most common help desk call, in many companies accounting for between 30 and 50 percent of all help desk calls.
-- Strong, or two-factor, authentication technology is more convenient and cost effective than ever before thanks to the cloud-based model. Strong authentication is difficult for hackers to fool because it requires users to provide two simultaneous but independent methods of authentication: something they know (their password) and something they have (a one-time security code generated by a strong authentication credential). Unlike early-generation, on-premise solutions, today's strong authentication offerings are far more cost effective due to technology advances like cloud-based authentication and use of mobile phones to generate one-time passwords.
-- Lack of strong authentication between enterprises and partners leave corporate networks vulnerable. A full 67 percent of companies do not require strong authentication from their partners to access corporate networks. The lack of strong authentication reduces security within an enterprise and creates a weak link when accessing the network.
Recommendations for IT security executives:
-- Move toward implementing strong authentication now, and throughout the enterprise -- not just for select applications.
-- Ensure that open enterprise initiatives like SaaS access and partner access are protected at the same level as inside their organization.
-- Reassess strong authentication technologies to understand how today's solutions, with mobile device apps that serve as low- or no-cost credentials, fit within their security environment and budget. The cloud-based model drastically reduces the cost of ownership while increases adoption.
-- Align strong authentication with their open enterprise landscapes, shoring up protections across cloud computing, SaaS, collaboration tools and mobile access initiatives.
Comment from Atri Chatterjee, vice president of User Authentication at Symantec: The IT landscape is changing so dramatically and so rapidly that one in four organizations are requiring users to remember six or more passwords to access corporate networks and applications -- and as this Forrester study shows, that approach to authentication is collapsing under its own weight. Today's strong authentication offers a way to easily manage and control access to enterprise applications and networks via both computers and mobile devices -- and it achieves this with a cost-effective, SaaS delivery model that solves the old shortcomings of costly, premise-based solutions. As enterprises continue to open up, strong authentication can help keep the bad guys out.
About the study: "Enhancing Authentication To Secure The Open Enterprise" was conducted in December 2010 by Forrester Consulting, which surveyed 306 enterprises with 1,000 to 20,000+ employees on behalf of Symantec Corp.
Contact: http://www.symantec.com
Some important findings:
-- IT environments are pushing beyond traditional corporate boundaries, a trend that is exposing enterprises to more risks. More than half of companies surveyed (54 percent) reported a data breach in the previous year. As IT managers increase their reliance on cloud-based and SaaS solutions, collaboration tools, and enabling users to access their networks with mobile devices and personal computers, the number of security breaches is on the rise.
-- Malware attacks are employing password vulnerability in enterprises. Hackers are moving from conspicuous attacks like malware and phishing to more insidious attacks using stolen passwords to penetrate an organization and go undetected.
-- Password issues are the top access problem in the enterprise. To prevent unauthorized access, password policies have grown more cumbersome and error-prone. Such factors as password composition requirements, duration before password expiration, and multiple passwords to access corporate resources have inundated users. Additionally, 87 percent of users are expected to remember two or more passwords to access corporate resources. Meanwhile, password reset is the most common help desk call, in many companies accounting for between 30 and 50 percent of all help desk calls.
-- Strong, or two-factor, authentication technology is more convenient and cost effective than ever before thanks to the cloud-based model. Strong authentication is difficult for hackers to fool because it requires users to provide two simultaneous but independent methods of authentication: something they know (their password) and something they have (a one-time security code generated by a strong authentication credential). Unlike early-generation, on-premise solutions, today's strong authentication offerings are far more cost effective due to technology advances like cloud-based authentication and use of mobile phones to generate one-time passwords.
-- Lack of strong authentication between enterprises and partners leave corporate networks vulnerable. A full 67 percent of companies do not require strong authentication from their partners to access corporate networks. The lack of strong authentication reduces security within an enterprise and creates a weak link when accessing the network.
Recommendations for IT security executives:
-- Move toward implementing strong authentication now, and throughout the enterprise -- not just for select applications.
-- Ensure that open enterprise initiatives like SaaS access and partner access are protected at the same level as inside their organization.
-- Reassess strong authentication technologies to understand how today's solutions, with mobile device apps that serve as low- or no-cost credentials, fit within their security environment and budget. The cloud-based model drastically reduces the cost of ownership while increases adoption.
-- Align strong authentication with their open enterprise landscapes, shoring up protections across cloud computing, SaaS, collaboration tools and mobile access initiatives.
Comment from Atri Chatterjee, vice president of User Authentication at Symantec: The IT landscape is changing so dramatically and so rapidly that one in four organizations are requiring users to remember six or more passwords to access corporate networks and applications -- and as this Forrester study shows, that approach to authentication is collapsing under its own weight. Today's strong authentication offers a way to easily manage and control access to enterprise applications and networks via both computers and mobile devices -- and it achieves this with a cost-effective, SaaS delivery model that solves the old shortcomings of costly, premise-based solutions. As enterprises continue to open up, strong authentication can help keep the bad guys out.
About the study: "Enhancing Authentication To Secure The Open Enterprise" was conducted in December 2010 by Forrester Consulting, which surveyed 306 enterprises with 1,000 to 20,000+ employees on behalf of Symantec Corp.
Contact: http://www.symantec.com
SaaS Spending Among India SMBs Will Grow 40 percent In 2011
Small and medium business (SMB) spending in India on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), a key component of cloud computing, is anticipated to rise by a sizable 43 percent in 2011, according to a study. More than 10 percent of Internet-owning India SMBs have shown interest in adopting cloud computing in the next year. Medium businesses (organizations with 100-999 full-time employees) have displayed significantly higher interest than their smaller counterparts.
Other enablers of cloud adoption have also reached significant usage levels within India Internet SMBs.
The study also notes that infrastructure is gradually falling into place to support greater cloud growth within India SMBs. The availability of affordable and quality broadband services (thanks to the efforts of key ISPs) is a major driver not only for cloud computing but all Internet-based technology adoption. The development of virtualization is another key booster. Moreover, implementation of cloud-based solutions reduces the organization's need and dependability on skilled IT personnel.
Comment from Kalyan Banga, Senior Research Analyst at AMI-India: Mobility, telecommuting, notebooks, smart phones -- all are playing an important role in cloud adoption. Hence, it is becoming increasingly evident that the entire ecosystem and the players within it are steadily gearing up for cloud adoption.Among India Internet SMBs, almost half have a mobile workforce and over one fifth provide telecommuting options to their employees. The need for anytime, anywhere data access is a key driver of cloud computing in India. There are other factors at play as well that are triggering interest in cloud computing in India. In the aftermath of the economic downturn, cost-conscious India SMBs are tightening their purse strings. Cloud computing is appealing as it requires less of a financial burden through zero CAPEX and minimal OPEX. The development of an appropriate ecosystem is another crucial factor that is boosting Cloud Computing deployment. This is true since major ecosystem players such as Telco/ISPs, ISVs, SIs, aggregators, web developers, content providers, etc., have been developing their capabilities and technical infrastructure to be able to provide better and robust cloud computing services to end-users. Other than creating awareness, the partner community has a vital role in acting as the connecting link between cloud vendors and end-users. The success of cloud computing will depend on the last mile connectivity. Since India SMBs are geographically dispersed, heterogeneous in nature and challenging to tap, the role of the Channel Partner is particularly vital in the India SMB space. Choosing the right cloud partner is a critical component for ensuring a successful and long-term partnership. It is necessary to ensure that the cloud provider is ready to support the India SMB and share in both its challenges and achievements.
About the study: AMI's 2010-2011 Worldwide SMB Cloud Service studies examine the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preference for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences.The recently completed AMI study, "2010-2011 India SMB State of the Cloud Market Overview," was conducted across major as well as Tier II cities. These studies also provide comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices. These studies will provide a roadmap for successful Cloud go-to-market strategies and tactics.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Other enablers of cloud adoption have also reached significant usage levels within India Internet SMBs.
The study also notes that infrastructure is gradually falling into place to support greater cloud growth within India SMBs. The availability of affordable and quality broadband services (thanks to the efforts of key ISPs) is a major driver not only for cloud computing but all Internet-based technology adoption. The development of virtualization is another key booster. Moreover, implementation of cloud-based solutions reduces the organization's need and dependability on skilled IT personnel.
Comment from Kalyan Banga, Senior Research Analyst at AMI-India: Mobility, telecommuting, notebooks, smart phones -- all are playing an important role in cloud adoption. Hence, it is becoming increasingly evident that the entire ecosystem and the players within it are steadily gearing up for cloud adoption.Among India Internet SMBs, almost half have a mobile workforce and over one fifth provide telecommuting options to their employees. The need for anytime, anywhere data access is a key driver of cloud computing in India. There are other factors at play as well that are triggering interest in cloud computing in India. In the aftermath of the economic downturn, cost-conscious India SMBs are tightening their purse strings. Cloud computing is appealing as it requires less of a financial burden through zero CAPEX and minimal OPEX. The development of an appropriate ecosystem is another crucial factor that is boosting Cloud Computing deployment. This is true since major ecosystem players such as Telco/ISPs, ISVs, SIs, aggregators, web developers, content providers, etc., have been developing their capabilities and technical infrastructure to be able to provide better and robust cloud computing services to end-users. Other than creating awareness, the partner community has a vital role in acting as the connecting link between cloud vendors and end-users. The success of cloud computing will depend on the last mile connectivity. Since India SMBs are geographically dispersed, heterogeneous in nature and challenging to tap, the role of the Channel Partner is particularly vital in the India SMB space. Choosing the right cloud partner is a critical component for ensuring a successful and long-term partnership. It is necessary to ensure that the cloud provider is ready to support the India SMB and share in both its challenges and achievements.
About the study: AMI's 2010-2011 Worldwide SMB Cloud Service studies examine the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preference for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences.The recently completed AMI study, "2010-2011 India SMB State of the Cloud Market Overview," was conducted across major as well as Tier II cities. These studies also provide comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices. These studies will provide a roadmap for successful Cloud go-to-market strategies and tactics.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Service Providers Top The List As Cloud-Computing Providers
Service providers have an opportunity to differentiate themselves and add new revenue-generating services by providing public cloud-computing services, a survey has found.
Nearly 12 percent of enterprise workloads will run in the public cloud by the end of 2013. Furthermore, the study found that desktop applications, email, collaboration, and enterprise resources planning are most likely to shift to the cloud. This, in turn, will yield a market for public, cloud-computing services of approximately US$44 billion.
Key facts/highlights
-- Enterprises across many sectors -- including manufacturing, financial services, retail, healthcare, and professional services systems integrators, IT service outsourcers, technical consulting, and public sector organizations -- are seriously considering cloud computing.
-- Cloud-migration decisions are being made at the application level. Most decision makers envision a staged migration to cloud-computing services, beginning with noncritical applications. Enterprise executives believe that no applications should be automatically excluded from migration to cloud.
-- For enterprises, the decision about moving to a private or public cloud is not binary. It hinges on executives' perceptions around security and control, data-center overcapacity and scale, and access to skilled IT personnel. Enterprises will potentially use private and public cloud-computing to manage their IT resources.
-- The study identified a set of target applications for cloud that spans various verticals. Targets for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) include application development and testing, disaster recovery, simulations, data warehousing, and analysis. Targets for software-as-a-service (SaaS) are customer-relationship management (CRM), email, unified communications, web applications and desktop environments.
-- An organizational convergence is taking place across the IT and networking departments within enterprises. A total of 80 percent of the enterprises surveyed have converged, or are in the process of converging, these departments into one organizational structure.
About the study: The study, conducted by Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), investigates the "public cloud" and the desire of enterprises to use external, on-demand infrastructure and applications. Cisco IBSG conducted in-depth, one-on-one interviews with more than 80 enterprise information technology (IT) decision makers from 43 enterprises and public-sector organizations in the United States, the European Union, and India. Additionally, Cisco IBSG interviewed 20 subject matter experts.
Contact: The complete white paper ("Network Service Providers as Cloud Providers: Survey Shows Cloud Provision Is a Bright Option") can be downloaded here.
Contact: http://www.cisco.com
Nearly 12 percent of enterprise workloads will run in the public cloud by the end of 2013. Furthermore, the study found that desktop applications, email, collaboration, and enterprise resources planning are most likely to shift to the cloud. This, in turn, will yield a market for public, cloud-computing services of approximately US$44 billion.
Key facts/highlights
-- Enterprises across many sectors -- including manufacturing, financial services, retail, healthcare, and professional services systems integrators, IT service outsourcers, technical consulting, and public sector organizations -- are seriously considering cloud computing.
-- Cloud-migration decisions are being made at the application level. Most decision makers envision a staged migration to cloud-computing services, beginning with noncritical applications. Enterprise executives believe that no applications should be automatically excluded from migration to cloud.
-- For enterprises, the decision about moving to a private or public cloud is not binary. It hinges on executives' perceptions around security and control, data-center overcapacity and scale, and access to skilled IT personnel. Enterprises will potentially use private and public cloud-computing to manage their IT resources.
-- The study identified a set of target applications for cloud that spans various verticals. Targets for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) include application development and testing, disaster recovery, simulations, data warehousing, and analysis. Targets for software-as-a-service (SaaS) are customer-relationship management (CRM), email, unified communications, web applications and desktop environments.
-- An organizational convergence is taking place across the IT and networking departments within enterprises. A total of 80 percent of the enterprises surveyed have converged, or are in the process of converging, these departments into one organizational structure.
About the study: The study, conducted by Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), investigates the "public cloud" and the desire of enterprises to use external, on-demand infrastructure and applications. Cisco IBSG conducted in-depth, one-on-one interviews with more than 80 enterprise information technology (IT) decision makers from 43 enterprises and public-sector organizations in the United States, the European Union, and India. Additionally, Cisco IBSG interviewed 20 subject matter experts.
Contact: The complete white paper ("Network Service Providers as Cloud Providers: Survey Shows Cloud Provision Is a Bright Option") can be downloaded here.
Contact: http://www.cisco.com
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
B2B Integration And Collaboration For SMEs Are Critical
Seventy-five percent of small to midsized companies say that B2B integration and collaboration are strategic initiatives in their company, a survey has found.
Connectivity between buyers and sellers is similar to social networking solutions. Collaborative networks can be instrumental in launching an average company into best-in-class status, able to compete with even larger businesses. Cloud computing SaaS solutions clearly provide a competitive advantage by reducing customer service demand and managing the complexity of today's business environment.
Comment from Aberdeen's Nari Viswanathan: Thirty-seven percent of SMEs indicate having the ability to collaborate with a network of key customers versus 56 percent of best-in-class companies. Companies should segment their customer base according to revenue and identify the top customers with whom to set up a trading community network. Key process areas should be identified such as order management collaboration, inventory management collaboration, and forecast collaboration. Once identified, these collaborative processes should be implemented.
About the report: Aberdeen benchmarked the involvement of 62 small to mid-size enterprises (SME) regarding B2B integration and collaboration initiatives with a specific emphasis on their trading partner recruitment, enablement, ongoing maintenance, and performance measurement related activities.
Contact: http://www.aberdeen.com
Connectivity between buyers and sellers is similar to social networking solutions. Collaborative networks can be instrumental in launching an average company into best-in-class status, able to compete with even larger businesses. Cloud computing SaaS solutions clearly provide a competitive advantage by reducing customer service demand and managing the complexity of today's business environment.
Comment from Aberdeen's Nari Viswanathan: Thirty-seven percent of SMEs indicate having the ability to collaborate with a network of key customers versus 56 percent of best-in-class companies. Companies should segment their customer base according to revenue and identify the top customers with whom to set up a trading community network. Key process areas should be identified such as order management collaboration, inventory management collaboration, and forecast collaboration. Once identified, these collaborative processes should be implemented.
About the report: Aberdeen benchmarked the involvement of 62 small to mid-size enterprises (SME) regarding B2B integration and collaboration initiatives with a specific emphasis on their trading partner recruitment, enablement, ongoing maintenance, and performance measurement related activities.
Contact: http://www.aberdeen.com
Friday, November 12, 2010
Investment In Cloud Computing Is Rising; Resistance To SaaS ERP Declining
Thirty-nine percent of respondents to a survey are willing to consider Software as a Service (SaaS) as a deployment option for their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations. This is a 61 percent increase in the willingness to consider SaaS from 2009 to 2010. Not only do we see a significant increase in willingness to consider SaaS or on-demand as a deployment method, but also notable is the decreased willingness to consider the traditional licensed on-premise option, which dropped by almost 18 percent.
Seventy-nine percent of survey respondents are considering SaaS because of the lower total cost of ownership. They are also considering it because it reduces the cost of upgrades and because they have limited IT resources and no interest in building IT staff. Because of this, 2010 could very well be the year in which SaaS ERP really gains strength in the marketplace.
Comment from Cindy Jutras, vice president research fellow and group director, Aberdeen: Since 2007 Aberdeen has been keeping watch on deployment models of ERP. In July 2007, we characterized ERP as the Last Bastion of Resistance to Software as a Service (SaaS). In June 2008 we revisited the topic and found SaaS ERP had not kept pace with the hype-cycle of other SaaS enterprise applications. Eighteen months later (at the end of 2009), in spite of the surge in interest in cloud computing and virtualization and the availability of SaaS ERP options from an increasing number of solution providers, SaaS ERP had yet to "take off." Finally in mid-2010 we are seeing an overall 61 percent jump in willingness to consider SaaS ERP. Will 2010 finally be the year when those walls of resistance come tumbling down? Or will they just fade away and leave us at the dawn of 2011 wondering what the fuss was all about?
About the report: SaaS ERP: Trends & Observations 2010 from Aberdeen Group is available at the Web site.
Contact: http://www.aberdeen.com
Seventy-nine percent of survey respondents are considering SaaS because of the lower total cost of ownership. They are also considering it because it reduces the cost of upgrades and because they have limited IT resources and no interest in building IT staff. Because of this, 2010 could very well be the year in which SaaS ERP really gains strength in the marketplace.
Comment from Cindy Jutras, vice president research fellow and group director, Aberdeen: Since 2007 Aberdeen has been keeping watch on deployment models of ERP. In July 2007, we characterized ERP as the Last Bastion of Resistance to Software as a Service (SaaS). In June 2008 we revisited the topic and found SaaS ERP had not kept pace with the hype-cycle of other SaaS enterprise applications. Eighteen months later (at the end of 2009), in spite of the surge in interest in cloud computing and virtualization and the availability of SaaS ERP options from an increasing number of solution providers, SaaS ERP had yet to "take off." Finally in mid-2010 we are seeing an overall 61 percent jump in willingness to consider SaaS ERP. Will 2010 finally be the year when those walls of resistance come tumbling down? Or will they just fade away and leave us at the dawn of 2011 wondering what the fuss was all about?
About the report: SaaS ERP: Trends & Observations 2010 from Aberdeen Group is available at the Web site.
Contact: http://www.aberdeen.com
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Majority Of Organizations Still Receive Paper Invoices
More than 70 percent of organizations receive over three quarters of their invoices in paper form, according to a recent survey. While automating invoice processing can reduce costs by 75 to 90 percent, more than half of the 100 respondents cited the perceived cost and resources required with on-premise software as barriers to automation.
Comment from Toby Bell, research vice president at Gartner: Many factors are prompting businesses to focus on enterprise content management (ECM) as part of a shift toward a SaaS or cloud model. The attractions for applications like invoice processing are obvious as it brings with it fewer costs for infrastructure hardware, software and management, and less complexity in the applications layer.
Comment from Roger Bottum, vice president of marketing, SpringCM: The impact on SG&A and risk reduction are obvious to most organizations. On-premise delivery models have been a barrier. But now with cloud solutions, automating the invoice process can be easy, fast and affordable to address.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by SpringCM, a specialist in cloud enterprise content management.
Contact: http://www.springcm.com
Comment from Toby Bell, research vice president at Gartner: Many factors are prompting businesses to focus on enterprise content management (ECM) as part of a shift toward a SaaS or cloud model. The attractions for applications like invoice processing are obvious as it brings with it fewer costs for infrastructure hardware, software and management, and less complexity in the applications layer.
Comment from Roger Bottum, vice president of marketing, SpringCM: The impact on SG&A and risk reduction are obvious to most organizations. On-premise delivery models have been a barrier. But now with cloud solutions, automating the invoice process can be easy, fast and affordable to address.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by SpringCM, a specialist in cloud enterprise content management.
Contact: http://www.springcm.com
Friday, November 5, 2010
Three Critical Areas For SMB Cloud Application Adoption Success
An industry researcher suggests that small and medium businesses (SMBs) prioritize planning and management of the following areas to realize benefits from cloud-based applications:
-- Organizational: Organizational issues and people continue to provide the majority of obstacles to successful SaaS implementations. Training beyond simple "how to" instruction will aid adoption.
-- Technology: In most cases SaaS solutions need to link with existing business systems. Effective management of internal IT resources and/or external implementation partners is critical.
-- Operational Skills: While the need for software development and upgrading skills will lessen, more systems integration knowledge will likely be required. Also, a shift from capital to operational expenditures when deploying SaaS applications requires financial management adjustments.
Comment from Robert McNeill, Saugatuck Technology vice president: Our 2010 survey research indicates that CRM is one of the top five cloud-based applications being adopted by SMBs today, and is expected to lead SaaS adoption and deployment for SMBs through year-end 2012.
About the publication: Sage North America says that a white paper it sponsored "Software-as-a-Service: Managing Benefits for SMBs," by Saugatuck Technology, is available here.
Contact: http://www.sagenorthamerica.com
-- Organizational: Organizational issues and people continue to provide the majority of obstacles to successful SaaS implementations. Training beyond simple "how to" instruction will aid adoption.
-- Technology: In most cases SaaS solutions need to link with existing business systems. Effective management of internal IT resources and/or external implementation partners is critical.
-- Operational Skills: While the need for software development and upgrading skills will lessen, more systems integration knowledge will likely be required. Also, a shift from capital to operational expenditures when deploying SaaS applications requires financial management adjustments.
Comment from Robert McNeill, Saugatuck Technology vice president: Our 2010 survey research indicates that CRM is one of the top five cloud-based applications being adopted by SMBs today, and is expected to lead SaaS adoption and deployment for SMBs through year-end 2012.
About the publication: Sage North America says that a white paper it sponsored "Software-as-a-Service: Managing Benefits for SMBs," by Saugatuck Technology, is available here.
Contact: http://www.sagenorthamerica.com
Cloud, SaaS Are Preferred Deployment Schemes For Project Management
According to a project management software provider, cloud and SaaS-based solutions continue to be the preferred deployment choices for project management.
The industry shift to cloud computing and IT services will continue to gain momentum in 2011.
In fact, Gartner expects large enterprises to have a dynamic sourcing team in place by 2012 responsible for ongoing cloud sourcing decisions and management. The benefits of "cloud economics," which include large upfront capital expenses being exchanged for lower regular operational expenses and simpler accountability for services delivered, will drive cloud adoption as CIOs and IT leaders try to deliver the most value from constrained budgets.
Comment from Ian Knox, vice president of marketing at Daptiv: Project management has traditionally resided in the IT department of the enterprise but as PPM becomes more strategic, it is emerging as a critical business discipline for prioritizing projects, budgets and resources. Given tepid IT spending projections for the coming year, managers and executives -- as well as IT personnel -- will need greater visibility into project, program and portfolio execution, as well as the ability to measure progress against key business priorities.
About the predictions: Daptiv's predictions for project portfolio management in 2011 are based on emerging industry trends and feedback from Daptiv's more than 500 enterprise customers. A key prediction: Project Management Offices (PMOs) will expand beyond the traditional IT realm and play an increasingly larger role in strategic planning and business execution, especially given anticipated budget and resource restrictions in the year ahead.
Contact: http://www.daptiv.com/
The industry shift to cloud computing and IT services will continue to gain momentum in 2011.
In fact, Gartner expects large enterprises to have a dynamic sourcing team in place by 2012 responsible for ongoing cloud sourcing decisions and management. The benefits of "cloud economics," which include large upfront capital expenses being exchanged for lower regular operational expenses and simpler accountability for services delivered, will drive cloud adoption as CIOs and IT leaders try to deliver the most value from constrained budgets.
Comment from Ian Knox, vice president of marketing at Daptiv: Project management has traditionally resided in the IT department of the enterprise but as PPM becomes more strategic, it is emerging as a critical business discipline for prioritizing projects, budgets and resources. Given tepid IT spending projections for the coming year, managers and executives -- as well as IT personnel -- will need greater visibility into project, program and portfolio execution, as well as the ability to measure progress against key business priorities.
About the predictions: Daptiv's predictions for project portfolio management in 2011 are based on emerging industry trends and feedback from Daptiv's more than 500 enterprise customers. A key prediction: Project Management Offices (PMOs) will expand beyond the traditional IT realm and play an increasingly larger role in strategic planning and business execution, especially given anticipated budget and resource restrictions in the year ahead.
Contact: http://www.daptiv.com/
Thursday, November 4, 2010
As Cloud Technology Moves From Hype to Reality, Management Challenges Loom
Whether it is private or public, Software as a Service (SaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS), an extension of the data center or just virtualization, conversations about the "cloud" are occurring in organizations of all sizes, a survey has found.
While IT professionals understand the need for and benefits of moving to the cloud, many continue to struggle with the challenges of managing this next big wave of computing.
Survey findings:
-- More than 60 percent of the respondents indicated their organizations are either evaluating cloud computing or already investing in the technology.
-- Respondents understood the benefits of a cloud-based approach, citing operational efficiency (28 percent), business flexibility (24 percent) and financial savings (19 percent) as the top three reasons for adopting cloud services.
-- The top cloud services that respondents were evaluating are Software-as-a-Service (40 percent) and Platform-as-a-Service (15 percent).
IT teams are the driving force behind the move to the cloud, but the responses showed that all the hype about the cloud is not outweighing pragmatism.
-- Nearly 40 percent are OK with a "slow but steady" approach to cloud computing.
-- Respondents were asked "When is your target time frame to begin implementation?" and (28 percent) responded that there was, "No target time set," although 16 percent of those respondents are on track to begin within the next six months.
The need to acquire more skills and knowledge was another key theme of respondents. Among the findings in this area:
-- Among their list of top concerns: Security (cited by 73 percent); ability to resolve application issues (55 percent); being blamed when service is down or slow (42 percent).
-- 77 percent feel they either lack the proper training or expect to have to augment their skills and expertise to become proficient in the cloud and to manage the implementation.
-- Nearly one-third perceive that a move to the public cloud creates an increase in their responsibilities and opportunities.
While respondents generally recognize the value of cloud services for the efficiency, flexibility and financial benefits noted above, their concerns indicate that effectively monitoring the availability and performance of the workloads moved to public, private and hybrid cloud environments is critical.
-- With respect to public cloud deployments, it is important for IT organizations to not only have visibility into availability and performance of these workloads, but also similar visibility into the network and infrastructure that connects end-users to these public cloud services. IT teams must ensure that the latency, bandwidth, and traffic prioritization of their networks are proactively managed to ensure responsiveness of services.
-- For IT shops building private cloud services, effective monitoring and management systems are critical to delivering the "on demand" model that end-users expect -- reliability is a critical expectation that can't be overlooked.
Comment from Suku Krishnaraj, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy for SolarWinds: As a company, we make it a priority to stay on top of the challenges that our customers face on a daily basis. More and more, we are hearing about how cloud -- and related trends such as data center consolidation, virtualization and SaaS -- is driving IT organizations to re-think their IT management needs and priorities. In the past, management of the IT environment was often an afterthought. But, this survey indicates that more and more IT organizations are thinking about the need to manage the performance and availability of these cloud-based services as a part of their planning process. As a provider of (private) cloud services, IT orgs need to ensure not just the availability of the compute infrastructure or silo applications, but also optimal performance across the whole IT stack, including application, compute, storage and network.
About the survey: SolarWinds conducted the survey in the fall of 2010 and received responses from nearly 100 IT professionals. The IT professionals were either customers or prospective customers of SolarWinds. As part of the survey, SolarWinds asked each IT professional a series of questions related to their organizations' plans to use cloud computing in their IT environment, the decision drivers for those plans, and the expected impacts of cloud deployments on their IT teams.
Contact: http://www.solarwinds.com
While IT professionals understand the need for and benefits of moving to the cloud, many continue to struggle with the challenges of managing this next big wave of computing.
Survey findings:
-- More than 60 percent of the respondents indicated their organizations are either evaluating cloud computing or already investing in the technology.
-- Respondents understood the benefits of a cloud-based approach, citing operational efficiency (28 percent), business flexibility (24 percent) and financial savings (19 percent) as the top three reasons for adopting cloud services.
-- The top cloud services that respondents were evaluating are Software-as-a-Service (40 percent) and Platform-as-a-Service (15 percent).
IT teams are the driving force behind the move to the cloud, but the responses showed that all the hype about the cloud is not outweighing pragmatism.
-- Nearly 40 percent are OK with a "slow but steady" approach to cloud computing.
-- Respondents were asked "When is your target time frame to begin implementation?" and (28 percent) responded that there was, "No target time set," although 16 percent of those respondents are on track to begin within the next six months.
The need to acquire more skills and knowledge was another key theme of respondents. Among the findings in this area:
-- Among their list of top concerns: Security (cited by 73 percent); ability to resolve application issues (55 percent); being blamed when service is down or slow (42 percent).
-- 77 percent feel they either lack the proper training or expect to have to augment their skills and expertise to become proficient in the cloud and to manage the implementation.
-- Nearly one-third perceive that a move to the public cloud creates an increase in their responsibilities and opportunities.
While respondents generally recognize the value of cloud services for the efficiency, flexibility and financial benefits noted above, their concerns indicate that effectively monitoring the availability and performance of the workloads moved to public, private and hybrid cloud environments is critical.
-- With respect to public cloud deployments, it is important for IT organizations to not only have visibility into availability and performance of these workloads, but also similar visibility into the network and infrastructure that connects end-users to these public cloud services. IT teams must ensure that the latency, bandwidth, and traffic prioritization of their networks are proactively managed to ensure responsiveness of services.
-- For IT shops building private cloud services, effective monitoring and management systems are critical to delivering the "on demand" model that end-users expect -- reliability is a critical expectation that can't be overlooked.
Comment from Suku Krishnaraj, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy for SolarWinds: As a company, we make it a priority to stay on top of the challenges that our customers face on a daily basis. More and more, we are hearing about how cloud -- and related trends such as data center consolidation, virtualization and SaaS -- is driving IT organizations to re-think their IT management needs and priorities. In the past, management of the IT environment was often an afterthought. But, this survey indicates that more and more IT organizations are thinking about the need to manage the performance and availability of these cloud-based services as a part of their planning process. As a provider of (private) cloud services, IT orgs need to ensure not just the availability of the compute infrastructure or silo applications, but also optimal performance across the whole IT stack, including application, compute, storage and network.
About the survey: SolarWinds conducted the survey in the fall of 2010 and received responses from nearly 100 IT professionals. The IT professionals were either customers or prospective customers of SolarWinds. As part of the survey, SolarWinds asked each IT professional a series of questions related to their organizations' plans to use cloud computing in their IT environment, the decision drivers for those plans, and the expected impacts of cloud deployments on their IT teams.
Contact: http://www.solarwinds.com
Friday, October 22, 2010
Exponential Growth Expected For SaaS In The U.S. SMB Market
Small and medium business (SMB) spending in the U.S. on software-as-a-service (SaaS) will increase exponentially over the next five years, eclipsing growth in investments in on-premise software by a significant margin, according to data from AMI-Partners, which forecasts a 25 percent CAGR in hosted business application services spending through 2014.
This will come against a modest five percent uptick for all other categories of on-premise software combined. However, this growth will not be uniformly spread across all hosted applications. Mature applications such as ERP, SCM, procurement, finance, and core HR will turn over more slowly than those that are less saturated and have lower switching costs.
Comment from Helen Rosen, a Vice President with AMI-Partners: There is an entire marketplace trained on and running PC-based applications that will not disappear overnight. Much of these investments are in applications that are highly embedded, and would not be cost-effective to replace wholesale. In our opinion, there is immediate potential for vendors to capture incremental revenues from installed products through partial upgrades and add-ons delivered via SaaS. As an interim strategy, this could help vendors -- particularly those with large footprints of legacy applications -- protect their base, allow for an organic migration, and create a platform for an ecosystem of application enhancements to emerge. The cost advantages of SaaS could also have a big impact on how business process outsourcers (BPO) participate in the market opportunity going forward. Our research shows there is real opportunity for lower-cost hybrid models (SaaS + BPO) in which BPO is provisioned as a SaaS service running on a multi-tenant cloud platform. We see this as a game changer and long-term growth engine for outsourced services providers ... SaaS is now a mainstream alternative to on-premise business applications and BPO for a rapidly expanding portion of the small and mid-enterprise market. The multi-tenancy model offers U.S. SMBs comparable performance on a lower-cost basis and the flexibility to scale usage in line with shifting needs of their businesses. This is a value proposition that U.S. SMBs find highly attractive. The intense focus on cost management precipitated by an uncertain economy has also been an important catalyst of demand.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
This will come against a modest five percent uptick for all other categories of on-premise software combined. However, this growth will not be uniformly spread across all hosted applications. Mature applications such as ERP, SCM, procurement, finance, and core HR will turn over more slowly than those that are less saturated and have lower switching costs.
Comment from Helen Rosen, a Vice President with AMI-Partners: There is an entire marketplace trained on and running PC-based applications that will not disappear overnight. Much of these investments are in applications that are highly embedded, and would not be cost-effective to replace wholesale. In our opinion, there is immediate potential for vendors to capture incremental revenues from installed products through partial upgrades and add-ons delivered via SaaS. As an interim strategy, this could help vendors -- particularly those with large footprints of legacy applications -- protect their base, allow for an organic migration, and create a platform for an ecosystem of application enhancements to emerge. The cost advantages of SaaS could also have a big impact on how business process outsourcers (BPO) participate in the market opportunity going forward. Our research shows there is real opportunity for lower-cost hybrid models (SaaS + BPO) in which BPO is provisioned as a SaaS service running on a multi-tenant cloud platform. We see this as a game changer and long-term growth engine for outsourced services providers ... SaaS is now a mainstream alternative to on-premise business applications and BPO for a rapidly expanding portion of the small and mid-enterprise market. The multi-tenancy model offers U.S. SMBs comparable performance on a lower-cost basis and the flexibility to scale usage in line with shifting needs of their businesses. This is a value proposition that U.S. SMBs find highly attractive. The intense focus on cost management precipitated by an uncertain economy has also been an important catalyst of demand.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Demand For Security In The Cloud Continues Unabated
Market demand for security delivered in the cloud continues, especially as part of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model that make it easier for businesses to protect customer, employee and corporate information.
A recent survey of IT decision-makers at small-to-medium sized businesses found that one-third of respondents plan to implement such security services by 2012.
Industry analysts have also projected a continued shift toward security services.
Comment by Chris Christiansen, Program Vice President, Security Products and Services, IDC: We are seeing considerable movement from security software to SaaS, especially for messaging and Web security. Customers demand more flexibility so practically every security vendor will offer a SaaS alternative to hardware-based appliances and software licenses. SaaS will move from its traditional strength in messaging and Web into other markets such as vulnerability and identity management.
In response the the surging demand, Webroot introduced a new version of its Web security service. Updates include new Web activity reports that enable IT administrators to better manage bandwidth usage and prevent "repeat policy offenders" from putting the company's network at risk. Enhancements also include a new reporting infrastructure that provides administrators with instant access to custom data at any level of granularity.
About the survey: The online survey fielded in April 2010 with 505 U.S. Web and email security decision-makers in companies with 10 to 999 seats. The survey was commissioned by Webroot and conducted by e-Rewards.
A recent survey of IT decision-makers at small-to-medium sized businesses found that one-third of respondents plan to implement such security services by 2012.
Industry analysts have also projected a continued shift toward security services.
Comment by Chris Christiansen, Program Vice President, Security Products and Services, IDC: We are seeing considerable movement from security software to SaaS, especially for messaging and Web security. Customers demand more flexibility so practically every security vendor will offer a SaaS alternative to hardware-based appliances and software licenses. SaaS will move from its traditional strength in messaging and Web into other markets such as vulnerability and identity management.
In response the the surging demand, Webroot introduced a new version of its Web security service. Updates include new Web activity reports that enable IT administrators to better manage bandwidth usage and prevent "repeat policy offenders" from putting the company's network at risk. Enhancements also include a new reporting infrastructure that provides administrators with instant access to custom data at any level of granularity.
About the survey: The online survey fielded in April 2010 with 505 U.S. Web and email security decision-makers in companies with 10 to 999 seats. The survey was commissioned by Webroot and conducted by e-Rewards.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Cloud Is A Strategic Direction For Most Companies
More than 60 percent of responders to a recent survey said that moving to the cloud for applications, infrastructure, integration and other solutions is a strategic direction for their organization. Thirty-five percent of cloud strategy decision makers were C-level executives with IT management owning the strategy in 41 percent of the cases.
Most of the companies involved in the survey are already deploying cloud-based solutions. One-third (36 percent) of those surveyed have implemented at least one cloud solution, with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ranking among 70 percent of respondents as the number one cloud platform implemented or planned for implementation. An additional 25 percent said they are considering moving some or all business processes to the cloud, illustrating that more than half of the survey respondents see the value of the cloud.
However, lack of clarity around cloud benefits was the top reason cited by respondents for not currently implementing cloud-based solutions. Despite the growing adoption of cloud-based solutions, companies still struggle to understand what the cloud is and how to use it.
The survey also showed that security, management and scalability are the top considerations for companies when evaluating whether or not to deploy cloud solutions, with 70 percent citing the ability to secure data as their top priority. Other high scoring considerations include the ability to quickly integrate with internal applications and external partner systems as well as a "pay as you go" pricing model.
Comment from Margaret Dawson, vice president of marketing and product management at Hubspan: This research validates what we are seeing in the market, with many IT departments looking to move applications and business processes to the cloud but doing so in a strategic, thoughtful manner. No matter what challenge you are trying to solve, one of the key benefits of the cloud is being able to start small and grow both from a cost and implementation perspective.
About the survey: The survey on cloud computing and "as a service" solutions was conducted by Hubspan Inc., a provider of cloud-based business integration solutions. More than 200 companies completed the cloud survey, ranging in size from under 50 to several thousand employees. Respondents represented a range of industries, with high-tech, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retail and B2B eCommerce accounting for 50 percent of the polls.
Contact: http://www.hubspan.com
Most of the companies involved in the survey are already deploying cloud-based solutions. One-third (36 percent) of those surveyed have implemented at least one cloud solution, with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ranking among 70 percent of respondents as the number one cloud platform implemented or planned for implementation. An additional 25 percent said they are considering moving some or all business processes to the cloud, illustrating that more than half of the survey respondents see the value of the cloud.
However, lack of clarity around cloud benefits was the top reason cited by respondents for not currently implementing cloud-based solutions. Despite the growing adoption of cloud-based solutions, companies still struggle to understand what the cloud is and how to use it.
The survey also showed that security, management and scalability are the top considerations for companies when evaluating whether or not to deploy cloud solutions, with 70 percent citing the ability to secure data as their top priority. Other high scoring considerations include the ability to quickly integrate with internal applications and external partner systems as well as a "pay as you go" pricing model.
Comment from Margaret Dawson, vice president of marketing and product management at Hubspan: This research validates what we are seeing in the market, with many IT departments looking to move applications and business processes to the cloud but doing so in a strategic, thoughtful manner. No matter what challenge you are trying to solve, one of the key benefits of the cloud is being able to start small and grow both from a cost and implementation perspective.
About the survey: The survey on cloud computing and "as a service" solutions was conducted by Hubspan Inc., a provider of cloud-based business integration solutions. More than 200 companies completed the cloud survey, ranging in size from under 50 to several thousand employees. Respondents represented a range of industries, with high-tech, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retail and B2B eCommerce accounting for 50 percent of the polls.
Contact: http://www.hubspan.com
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