Sample Research from ForresterForrester helps businesses thrive on technology change. The listed research is available to all registered clients and guests.Case Study: EDS Uses Actual Results To Calibrate Estimates- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 3, 2008: Systems integrators live and die by the accuracy of their project estimates. To improve ad hoc estimation methods that were producing inaccurate results, EDS began capturing actual project data in a central repository and trained estimators to consult the repository as a standard part of the estimating process. Sixty-five percent of projects now come in within an exemplary 10% of both effort and duration estimates. EDS's repository holds data on over 10,000 projects and provides...http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45712&src=RSS New Uses For Brand Monitoring- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 4, 2008: J.D. Power and Associates acquired brand monitoring firm Umbria, combining industry-focused consumer satisfaction and rankings with consumer-generated media (CGM) insights. The deal highlights the use of brand monitoring as a key input to formulating marketing, brand, and product strategy. Interactive marketers and social media strategists interested in using brand monitoring must choose a tool based on business objectives, recognizing that the market now addresses three distinct...http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45824&src=RSS Tech Investments In India: Foresight Or Folly- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 3, 2008: Judging by the enthusiasm demonstrated by attendees of the fifth annual Harvard Business School India Conference, the Indian economy is no longer the global laggard that it was in the 1980s, when India's IT services export sector was born. Successive economic reforms introduced since 1991 have turned India into one of the world's fastest-growing regions; it is expanding at a breakneck pace of 8% annually. As whole swathes of the red-hot Indian economy — from retail to...http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45727&src=RSS Investors Don't Understand The Importance Of Online Advice Tools- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 3, 2008: With many financial services firms looking to build online advice tools, it's important to understand consumer appetite for them. To help eBusiness professionals, we asked online investors in seven European countries which online investment tools or features they consider important — and which ones they currently use. When it comes to online retirement and investment planning advice tools, it is clear that consumers don't understand their value. eBusiness executives need..http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45664&src=RSS Required Registration Lowers Online Conversion Rates- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 3, 2008: To understand the impact of required registration on conversion rates, Forrester asked US online shoppers what they did last time they were required to register before making a purchase online. The survey revealed that almost one-quarter leave the site without registering or purchasing, taking millions of dollars in potential revenue with them. What can companies do to encourage registration Make it optional, and clearly explain the benefits customers will get if they do sign up....http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45179&src=RSS Topic Overview: Identity And Access Management- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 2, 2008: Identity and access management (IAM) is the entire aspect of maintaining a person's complete set of information, spanning multiple identities and establishing the relationship among these various identities with the goal of improving data consistency, data accuracy, and data systems security in an efficient manner. IAM helps extend business services, improve efficiency and effectiveness, and allow for better governance and accountability.http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45550&src=RSS Topic Overview: IT Consolidation- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 2, 2008: The majority of IT infrastructure and operations professionals today are rationalizing IT to some degree. This leads to IT consolidation projects for most large organizations, as the finite resources must do more and as nearly everyone faces space, power, or budget limitations. Server consolidation dominates the activities in this space, but IT consolidation encompasses data center, storage, network, and even client systems rationalization efforts. New technologies, including...http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44963&src=RSS Helping Your VARs And SIs To Do Marketing- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Apr 6, 2008: Lead generation for tech vendors is an expensive, inefficient process. Tech marketers who want their value-added reseller (VAR) and systems integrator (SI) partners to shoulder some of this burden will find that these partners rarely understand the value of marketing, are reluctant to invest in marketing programs, and generally require a lot of handholding when performing marketing activities. To boost partner marketing effectiveness in the short term, tech marketers should work...http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=45090&src=RSS Mobile Social Computing Adds Trust To Marketing- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Jan 4, 2008: Gen Yers spend as much time on their mobiles as on the Web for personal reasons. Most of this time is spent sending and receiving text and picture messages, but with more than half also using social networking sites, the likes of Facebook and MySpace have now launched mobile social computing sites, and new mobile networks like Zingku are popping up.http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=44726&src=RSS |