Business Technology Roundtable

Big Data applications have gained new momentum in the marketplace, as the benefits of working with larger and larger data sets enables analysts to spot key business-related trends. International Data Corporation ( IDC ) released a worldwide forecast of Big Data opportunities, noting that the market is expected to grow from $3.2 billion in 2010 to $16.9 billion in 2015. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40 percent -- or about 7 times that of the overall Information and Communications Technology (ICT) market. "The Big Data market is expanding rapidly as large IT companies and start-ups vie for customers and market share," said Dan Vesset, program vice president, Business Analytics Solutions at IDC. IDC believes that for business technology buyers, opportunities exist to use Big Data solutions to improve operational efficiency and to drive innovation. Use cases are already present across industries and geographic regions. "There are also Big D...

Telepresence video communication systems enable groups of people to meet and collaborate in multiple locations worldwide -- while feeling as if they were all in the same room together. Executives can now equate the full positive impact from several tangible benefits of utilizing telepresence systems, according to the results of a new market study commissioned by the Carbon Disclosure Project . U.S. and U.K. businesses that substitute some business travel with telepresence meeting services can cut CO2 emissions by nearly 5.5 million metric tons in total -- the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing more than one million passenger vehicles from the road for one year -- and achieve total economy-wide financial benefits of almost $19 billion, by 2020. Other conclusions of the global market study determined a business with $1 billion or more in annual revenue that utilize four telepresence rooms could: Achieve a financial return on investment in as little as 15 months. Save nearly 900 busin...

According to a recent market study by Datamonitor, the current global economic recession may also prove to be a significant driver for Green Computing . Their market assessment raises lots of questions -- including, is it better for the world, and overall business profitability, if executives cut-back on their IT investments? "The global economic recession has spurred a paradigm shift in the way organizations evaluate, budget for and deploy green IT," says Rhonda Ascierto, senior analyst at Datamonitor . "The downturn has also resulted in green IT trends for datacenters, client devices and asset lifecycle management, as well as re-shaped return on investment (ROI) models." Datamonitor believes green IT that's intended to eliminate the need for capital expenditure -- such as datacenter virtualization, facility design and asset lifecycle management -- has become very important, especially as IT budgets are trimmed. Lean and Green in 2009 Their research uncovered t...

Here are the final three questions from our ten-point Q&A that's designed to help guide your procurement process. Part 1 included the first three managed and hosting service buyer's guide questions and Part 2 had the next four questions. 8. What are the type and scope of management capabilities that you routinely offer? Request a list of capabilities and associated benefits, relative to your needs. Historical reporting is essential, forward-looking insight is valuable. Examples of typical basic management tools include a service desk and management of various activities including assets, configuration, fault, change, release/update, performance, capacity reporting and planning, and trend reporting with recommendations. 9. If required, how will you support existing or acquired IT/networking infrastructure? Service providers may have policies that limit the device types they support. In addition, some providers only support devices they install and configure. If you are lik...

The following are questions four through seven of a ten-point Q&A designed to help guide your managed or hosted service procurement process. Here are the first three buyer questions and service provider answers . 4. What is the depth and breadth of your current managed service portfolio? A service migration path provides the means to adapt to your growth needs. Service providers that are specialists may offer services through their partners. It helps to have a forward-looking view of your needs when selecting a service provider. Sometimes a specialist is preferable to a multi-service provider. Otherwise, try to anticipate future service requirements, and consider giving preference to a provider with those combined skills. 5. How can I be sure you will apply the best people, processes, and tools? Is your company certified by a leading vendor, and are your offerings delivered using industry-leading technologies to meet the highest quality of service? Service providers have data on ho...

Non-profit organizations share many of the same communication challenges as other businesses. Their budgetary pressures can also create some unique situations, especially when you consider the scale of their ongoing outreach. The Greater Illinois Chapter is one of over seventy Alzheimer's Association chapters serving communities across the United States. Currently, the Illinois chapter serves over half a million residents affected by the disease. They're active in more than 60 counties in Illinois. Since 1980, the non-profit organization has provided information and support, as well as family services, for those affected by the disease. Staying connected to their numerous constituents, and the overall community, is essential. Streamlining Communication Processes As the chapter grew, they needed big business telecom functionality -- only on a non-profit budget. In the preparation to move into a new facility, the decision was made to replace their phone system. Managing six offi...

The process of researching, reviewing and selecting a managed or hosted service provider can be a daunting task for those business and technology decision makers that have never performed this task before. Like any other process, there are some best practices. The following candid questions will help you determine if a provider of managed services can meet and exceed your expectations. Also included are examples of specific details that you should seek. How do you select a best-fit service provider? Ask all the right questions. Where do you start the selection process? Focus primarily on how the service offered will help to solve problems or create new opportunities -- not merely what it does (its features and functions). 1. Are you prepared to offer only the features and functions that my business needs, instead of the ones that you include in your one-size-fits-all service bundle? Ask for a list of all the "standard" items included in the base bundle. Request details of all...

In today's changing volatile economy, companies find the predictable monthly service charges of a managed service provider (MSP) highly attractive. They can deploy technology, confident that they're not pouring money down a black hole. The problem is, scads of technology providers are now trying to recast themselves as MSPs. How can you tell which ones are qualified? That's Charles Weaver’s job. He's CEO of the 8,000-member International Association of Managed Service Providers . His nine-year-old group offers an accreditation program for managed service providers, and it's closer to a bar exam than a pro forma blessing. No MSP has ever received a perfect score, and it can take as many as three tries before a company passes. (For more on MSP accreditation, see When Selecting Qualified MSPs, Assume Nothing .) Part Technology, All Business The Managed Services Accreditation Program (MSAP) has two parts: a written exam and a physical inspection. The written exam is onl...

All business has become global. Companies of any size can now market products and services worldwide over the Internet. At the same time, competition has intensified because customers can investigate global competitors with ease. To compete effectively in the global networked economy, companies need new capabilities: Global procurement and sales 24 hours a day. Integrated internal and external business processes. Up-to-the-minute access to sales, order processing, production, and other business critical information required for informed decision making. Flexible processes that can adapt dynamically to changes in the business climate. The application of Business Technology is now a primary enabler of strategic advantage. However, chief executives have become impatient, as their companies have failed to keep pace with these advances. There are alternatives, for those who choose to act. The managed services model can be applied to accelerate this much needed change. Review the following ...

As industry analyst forecasts mount predicting the rapid growth of managed services, an increasing proportion of IT and business decision-makers are taking a closer look at how these alternatives can impact their operations. The challenge is effectively measuring the costs and benefits of these options. Gartner kicked off 2008 predicting, "By 2011, early technology adopters will forgo capital expenditures and instead purchase 40 per cent of their IT infrastructure as a service." And with today's unprecedented economy crisis, THINKstrategies believes the shift to managed services will be faster and more pronounced than predicted. As a consequence, every responsible IT and business decision-maker is obligated to carefully reassess their current operations and thoroughly evaluate all of the available alternatives to better manage their IT environments so they can better support their business objectives. Substantive Cost Comparisons However, many of the current methods...

At first glance, some small businesses are caught in a technology paradox: They need modern technologies to drive revenue higher. But they don't have enough cash to acquire that technology. A recent American Express survey found that more than half of today's U.S. small business owners are experiencing cash flow problems, reports StartupSpark.com . As a result, the top priority for most small businesses is maintaining current sources of revenue -- rather than building new ones. Have Your Cake and Eat it Too I say: Why not pursue both goals? Fact is, you don't need very deep pockets to leverage modern technology. What you really need is a predictable cost structure -- a way to know exactly how you're going to continue innovating without suffering from surprise IT costs. By now, you likely know where I'm heading: Predictable managed services contracts can help many of those worried small business owners get a handle on their IT costs. Our company, for instance, pays ...

Somewhere between the economic panic and the managed services craze their resides a simple truth: Now is the time for all small businesses to carefully consider their IT strategies for 2009. I'm tired of reading wild statements that say managed services and Software as a Service (SaaS) are immune to the economic turmoil. It's far more accurate to say we've reached an inflection point of sorts, where small businesses need to review what they spent on IT in 2007 and 2008 to help their planning in 2009. Traditionally, many small businesses acquired IT assets -- PCs, servers, networks, applications and other infrastructure that they ran internally. But those acquisitions required big lump-sum capital investments. During the current economic turmoil, we're seeing a shift in the market. Smart small businesses increasingly depend on IT services. Much in the same way that they pay flat monthly fees for broadband and cellular services, small businesses are embracing managed ser...

I've heard many excuses, during my years as an ITIL consultant, as to why a client did not want to start IT Financial Management -- the business is not ready, we don't have the tools, we don't know where to start, etc. However, in these troubling economic times, it is imperative that IT adopts IT Financial Management in order to respond to the increasing pressure to reduce costs. IT can reduce costs through service-based cost transparency and charge-backs. This method does not mean IT is a profit-center; it just means that IT is educating the business on the cost to provide the services. With this knowledge, the business can adjust their consumption to better manage their budget and ensure spending is aligned with the value of the service they are receiving. Contrast this with a nebulous IT overhead charge which does not incent the business to use scarce IT resources wisely. A Roadmap to IT Financial Management The secret to successfully starting IT Financial Management is...

I was interviewed today by a journalist from one of the CIO-oriented pubs who surprised me by asking a series of questions which came back to many of the same fundamental misconceptions about Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) which I thought I had dispelled in a BusinessWeek commentary I published in 2006. The first misconception the journalist had was that SaaS solutions are not robust enough to satisfy large-scale enterprises, as well as small- and mid-size businesses (SMBs). I pointed out to him that large-scale enterprises have been leveraging SaaS solutions for a long time, but have only recently begun to talk about their successful experiences. One of the most recent announcements of a major deployment of SaaS by a large-scale enterprises was by Flextronics who is adopting Workday's on-demand human resource management (HRM) solution to support its 200,000 employees. Real Total Cost of Ownership The second misconception the journalist revealed was the old "buy vs. lease...