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Does SAP HANA Change Your Database Strategy for SAP Apps? May, 2012 HANA is SAP's new in-memory database management system. As such, it reflects SAP’s future direction and next-generation approach to applications architecture. Consequently, many SAP customers are asking whether they should now incorporate HANA into their SAP business intelligence systems or replace the underlying RDBMS in other SAP applications with HANA. This report from Constellation Research describes the role HANA will play for use with SAP's Business Suite, business analytics, and future SAP applications. It describes SAP's vision for HANA and in-memory computing and how this vision puts SAP in conflict with its key database partners. It also analyzes the SAP applications where HANA is most suitable today. The report concludes with recommendations for SAP customers in evaluating HANA for use within their applications portfolios. (2 figs., 11 pgs.) [Research Byte] IT Management and Administration Staffing Ratios April, 2012 Having an appropriate number of managers is essential for a smooth-running IT department. A top-heavy organization can become bureaucratic, while an organization with too few managers can become chaotic and unable to focus on long-term objectives. To benchmark IT management, we report IT managers as a percentage of the IT staff and the number of users per IT manager. We provide metrics for small, midsize, and large organizations. To provide further perspective, we consider the five-year trend in IT managers as an average percentage of the IT staff. We also report metrics for IT finance (including vendor management and procurement) staff and for clerical staff. (18 pp., 10 figs.) [Research Byte] Choosing Between Cloud and Hosted ERP, and Why It Matters April, 2012 Cloud-based applications are storming the last fortress of on-premises applications—ERP—and some traditional ERP vendors are responding to this threat with hosted versions of their on-premises systems. While hosted ERP delivers some of the same benefits, potential customers need to appreciate the significant differences with cloud ERP systems. This report aids enterprises in understanding the differences so that they can choose the best option. It explores the five essential characteristics of cloud computing, the emerging benefits of ERP in the cloud, and market acceptance of cloud ERP. It concludes with practical recommendations for buyers considering cloud or hosted ERP. [Research Byte] Comparative Analysis of IT Spending in the Life Sciences April, 2012 As with many high-tech enterprises, life science companies make considerable investments in information technology. In this study, we look at IT spending and staffing in the life science sector by comparing key, high-level metrics against a broad sample of organizations. For the comparative analysis, we use three measures of IT intensity: IT spending a percentage of revenue, IT spending per user, and application spending per user. To determine where spending differs, we break down IT spending into five functional areas: IT management, applications, data center, network, and end-user support. We also examine IT staff headcount by those same functional areas. We conclude with our assessment of where life science organizations should focus their efforts to improve IT performance. (13 pp., 6 figs.) [Research Byte] Desktop Support Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience April, 2012 Companies can reduce costs through outsourcing the desktop support function, but caution is advised as service received by IT users can decline as well. In this study, we assess desktop support outsourcing activity with four measures: frequency, level, net growth trend, and volatility. We also assess the customer experience as determined by our cost-success and service-success ratings. The report examines the five-year trend in desktop support outsourcing frequency and level and provides recommendations on desktop support outsourcing. (19 pp., 12 figs.) [Research Byte] Best Practices and Benchmarks in the Data Center--Management and Operations March, 2012 Computer Economics is offering for sale this comprehensive source of data center benchmark statistics, by one of the leading experts in data center management. For over 20 years Mark Levin has been collecting survey data on the performance of thousands of data centers. In this book, he now presents current metrics, ratios, and costs for a wide range of data center processes. He also outlines the best practices that leading organizations are adopting in order to improve performance, reduce cost, and decrease risk. Hardcopy only. (134 pp., 115 figs.) [Read the full abstract of this book] Project Management Office (PMO) Adoption and Best Practices March, 2012 Much of the work in IT organizations is project-based, and the project management office (PMO) has emerged as a best practice in formalizing project management disciplines. In this study, we examine the trend toward adoption of PMOs. The study examines the extent to which IT organizations have deployed PMOs and measures the level of an organization’s engagement in the practice. We also look at how adoption of this IT management best practice differs by organization size and sector. Finally, we provide recommendations for monitoring the success of the PMO. (10 pp., 5 figs.) [Research Byte] Project Manager Staffing Ratios March, 2012 Much of the work in an IT group is project based, which means project management should be a core competency. But how many project managers are truly required? In this study, we present five benchmarks: project managers as a percentage of the IT staff, users per project manager, application developers per project manager, applications per project manager, and capital budget per project manager. All of these ratios are presented by organization size. In addition, we look at the influence of sector on project management staffing. We conclude with recommendations on assessing the performance of the project management function. (19 pp., 10 figs.) [Research Byte] Application Development Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience March, 2012 As IT organizations renew capital spending, IT managers again will be faced with deciding whether to build internal development capabilities or outsource application development. This report will help IT managers understand how many organizations outsource application development, how much of the workload is typically outsourced, and what the cost and service experience is for companies that outsource this function. The study also assesses outsourcing by organization sector and size and the frequency and level of offshore outsourcing (19 pp., 14 figs.) [Research Byte] Web/E-Commerce Staffing Ratios 2012 February, 2012 No longer the black hole of IT investment, web operations have become a stable part of the IT landscape. In this study, we provide benchmarks for staffing functions related to web and e-commerce operations and development. We benchmark web staffing with two ratios: web/e-commerce staff as a percentage of the IT staff and users per web/e-commerce staff member. For organizations with less division of labor, we also provide benchmarks for all personnel engaged in supporting applications, which we call the application group, and we examine the influence of sector and organization size on web staffing. (18 pp., 10 figs.) [Research Byte] User Satisfaction Surveying Adoption and Best Practices February, 2012 A primary goal of IT organizations is to satisfy the needs of its business users for information systems. How can the CIO know whether users are satisfied with IT services? This study examines the extent to which IT organizations have deployed user satisfaction surveys and measures the level of organizational engagement in the practice. We look at the percentage of organizations that are partially and fully engaged with the practice. We also look at how adoption of this IT management best practice differs by organization size. Finally, we determine which industry sectors are most likely to be engaged in this best practice. (11 pp.,5 figs.) [Research Byte] Application Development and Maintenance Staffing Ratios February, 2012 Application developers make up the single largest job category in the IT organization today. The number of application programmers and systems analysts as a percentage of the typical IT organization has been in decline, however. What is the typical staffing level? This study uses three metrics to make that assessment: application developers as a percentage of the IT staff, users per application developer, and applications per application developer. We provide benchmarks for the composite sample, by organization, and by sector. We also provide benchmarks for the application group, which includes not only programmers but also business analysts, web developers, and data warehouse personnel. (19 pp., 11 figs.) [Research Byte] IT Staffing Ratios: Benchmarking Metrics and Analysis for 14 Key IT Job Functions February, 2012 This special publication bundles the entire collection of our reports on IT staffing ratios. The IT functions covered include IT management, project management, help desk, desktop support, business analysts, server support, network administration, applications development, ERP support, database administration, data warehouse/business intelligence, IT quality assurance, IT security, and web/e-commerce. This special collection is a valuable source of information for IT executives interested in benchmarking their staffing levels with those of similar organizations. (244 pp., 122 figs.) [Full Report Description and Free Sample] Database Administration (DBA) Staffing Ratios February, 2012 Organizations are placing ever-increasing demands on the role of the database administrator (DBA). This study helps IT managers determine whether they are keeping pace with industry standards by providing three benchmarks: DBAs as a percentage of the IT staff, users per DBA, and applications per DBA. We present benchmarks for small, midsize, and large organizations. We also examine the influence of sector on the benchmarks and look at the three-year trend in DBA staffing. (18 pp., 11 figs.) [Research Byte] Application Maintenance Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience January, 2012 Application maintenance is one of the most popular IT functions to turn over to third-party service providers. This study examines application maintenance outsourcing trends and customer experience. We report the percentage of organizations outsourcing application maintenance (frequency), the average amount of work outsourced (level), and the change in the amount of work being outsourced (trend). For customer experience, we show how many IT organizations successfully lower costs or improve service by outsourcing application maintenance. Finally, we look at the popularity of offshore-outsourcing this function. (19 pp., 14 figs.) [Research Byte] 2012 IT Salary Report January, 2012 The Computer Economics 2012 IT Salary Report provides total compensation (base pay plus incentive pay) for 65 specific IT job functions for 20 industry sectors and more than 400 U.S. metro areas. The introductory chapter provides our forecast for pay raises, turnover, and hiring in 2012 based on historical trends and economic conditions. It also provides the pay-relatives by industry sector, guidelines for calculating benefits and employer costs for private sector and government organizations, and incentive pay as percentages of total compensation for manager and staff positions. It concludes with job descriptions for each job function in this study. The salary tables are provided as a downloadable Microsoft Excel workbook, with total salaries reported at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentiles. (30 pp., 7 figs., plus a 30,000+ row multi-tab Excel workbook) [Full Description and Free Executive Summary] Network Support Staffing Ratios December, 2011 As a percentage of the IT staff, network support headcount has been declining over the past four years. This study will help IT managers determine whether their organizations are keeping pace with improvements in network management by comparing their network support staffing against industry benchmarks. We provide three basic metrics: network support staff as a percentage of the IT staff, the number of users per network support staff member, and the number of network devices per network support staff member. We provide benchmarks for the composite sample, by sector, and by organization size. (17 pp., 11 figs.) [Research Bytes] Current Use of IT Contract Workers December, 2011 The decision to use contract workers is an important one. There are pros and cons either way: flexibility versus stability, lower costs versus no fixed rates. Managing the contract workforce is a balancing act. In this study, we examine the use of contract workers as a percentage of the IT staff by organization size and sector. We also examine the five-year trend between 2007 and 2011 to discover how the use of contract labor has changed over time, particularly in light of the recent recession. The report concludes with our view on current and future trends in contract labor use. (9 pp.,4 figs.) [Research Byte] Elevating the Role of the CIO December, 2011 CIOs are being asked to expand their role to support business change and innovation while they are struggling with maintaining aging infrastructure and declining resources. This report provides guidance for CIOs on how to elevate their role within the organization to one that has a meaningful influence on meeting strategic business objectives. In brief, we outline a personal development strategy for CIOs to optimize the IT infrastructure and lower ongoing support costs so that they can free up resources and focus on integration, intelligence, and innovation. (10 pp., 2 figs.) [Research Byte] IT Outsourcing Series: Special Report Bundle November, 2011 This special publication bundles the entire collection of IT outsourcing reports. The outsourced IT functions covered include application development, application maintenance, data center operations, database administration, desktop support, disaster recovery, help desk, IT security, network operations, application hosting, and Web and e-commerce operations. The final chapter provides four essential steps for successfully outsourcing IT functions. The full report description provides a more complete outline of the content (211 pp., 143 figs.) [Full Report Description and Free Sample] Outlook for IT Spending and Staffing in 2012 November, 2011 This annual report provides guidance for IT executives as they firm up spending plans for the coming year. It is also useful for IT product and service providers in forecasting economic trends for IT spending for 2012. It is based on our fourth-quarter poll of 157 organizations worldwide, including 97 IT organizations in the U.S. and Canada, with more than $40 million in annual revenue. The study assesses the spending and staffing actions IT managers are currently taking, the budget actions they took over the past year, and what they are including in their budget plans for the year ahead. Our outlook report provides 2012 forecasts for IT operational spending, IT capital spending, and IT hiring by organization size. We also forecast pay raises for IT workers. (28 pp., 27 figs.) [Research Byte] ERP Adoption and Customer Experience November, 2011 ERP systems are the most widely deployed business applications. But how aggressively are end-user organizations currently investing in ERP and what are the risks and rewards? In this study, we show the three-year trend in the percentage of organizations that have adopted ERP systems and are currently investing in them. We report worldwide adoption and investment rates by sector, organization size, and geography. We also measure customer experience in terms of the success rates for return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO). Finally, we assess ERP investment levels for new implementations and improvements to existing systems. We wrap up with our recommendations for improving the ROI of ERP. (18 pp., 10 figs.) [Research Byte] IT Security Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience November, 2011 As security threats grow and change, outsourcing to IT security service providers can be an attractive option for augmenting in-house security capabilities. In this study, we present data about the four-year trend in IT security outsourcing. We examine the amount of IT security work being outsourced, the impact on costs and service levels, and the amount of IT security outsourcing broken down by organization size. We also examine the three-year trend in offshoring IT security work. Finally, we examine the sectors most likely to engage in IT security outsourcing. We conclude with recommendations on outsourcing security. (19 pp., 4 figs.) [Research Byte] ERP Support Staffing Ratios November, 2011 ERP systems can be major investments requiring substantial effort for implementation. Yet many organizations do not realize that the total cost of ownership of an ERP system is composed largely of ongoing support. While initial license fees and consulting services required to implement the system are one-time investments, the cost of support personnel recurs year after year. This study presents the number of ERP users per ERP support staff member by size of installation, software vendor, and age of installation. It also assesses factors that impact the productivity of ERP support staff and makes recommendations for optimizing ERP support staffing. (15 pp., 5 figs.) [Research Byte] Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Staffing Ratios October, 2011 For businesses today, properly scaling business intelligence applications while controlling support costs is a difficult challenge. This study provides benchmarks for staffing the data warehouse (DW) and business intelligence (BI) functions. We provide the ratio of DW/BI staff to total IT staff for the composite sample and by organization size and sector. We also present two other metrics for benchmarking this function: applications per DW/BI staff member and terabytes of storage per DW/BI staff member.(19 pp., 11 figs.) [Research Byte] Desktop Support Staffing Ratios 2011 October, 2011 This study provides benchmarks for desktop support staffing, using two metrics: desktop support staff as a percentage of IT staff and PCs per desktop support staff member. We also assess these ratios by organization size and sector. In addition, we provide benchmarks for organizations with combined desktop support and help desk functions. We conclude with strategies for improving the efficiency of desktop support staff. (20 pp., 11 figs.) [Research Byte] IT Help Desk Outsourcing Trend and Customer Experience October, 2011 Companies can dramatically reduce costs through outsourcing the help desk function, but caution is advised. Service levels can decline as well. In this study, we measure help desk outsourcing activity in four ways: outsourcing frequency, outsourcing amount, outsourcing cost experience, and outsourcing service experience. The study also examines the rate at which organizations use offshore service providers and the amount of work typically offshored. Finally, the report examines the five-year trend in help desk outsourcing frequency and amount to determine whether the outsourcing of this function is growing or shrinking. (20 pp., 14 figs.) [Research Byte] IT Help Desk Management Series October, 2011 In this special publication, we bundle six of our most popular reports that deal with various aspects of help desk (service desk) management. Reports include analysis of the best metrics for measuring help desk efficiency, help desk staffing ratios, help desk outsourcing trends, investment trends for service desk software and self-support tools, and help desk salary benchmarks. The price of this special bundle is discounted 50% from the cost of these six reports if purchased separately. (85 pp., 43 figs.) [Full Report Description] IT Outsourcing Statistics 2011/2012 October, 2011 This major study reports current levels of outsourcing by U.S. and Canadian organizations for 11 IT functions: application development, application hosting, application maintenance, data center operations, database administration, desktop support, disaster recovery services, help desk services, IT security, network operations, and web/e-commerce systems. Among the dozens of metrics, we report the percentage of organizations that outsource the function (frequency), the average percentage of work outsourced (level), the change in level of outsourcing over the past year (trend), the percentage finding cost and quality of service greater or less than doing the same work in-house, and the percentage of outsourced work performed offshore. (109 pp., 91 figs.) [Full Report Description and Sample Pages] Vendor Discount Report (October 2011) October, 2011 Market intelligence on current discounting practices for business equipment can be difficult obtain. As a result, buyers do not know whether a better deal can be negotiated. This updated report, based on our knowledge of recent deals, provides buyers with guidance concerning current discount structures on a variety of equipment. Categories include IT equipment (desktops, laptops, network equipment, printers, servers, and storage), office equipment (copiers, mail equipment), forklifts, medical equipment, test equipment, and miscellaneous equipment. Major vendors include IBM, HP, Dell, HP, Apple, and others. Includes a downloadable PDF workbook of over 400 individual deals used in the report to calculate average discounts and soft cost statistics. (14 pp., 12 figs.). Technology Trends 2011/2012 September, 2011 The use of IT in business is rapidly evolving, with new technologies and IT initiatives shifting in popularity from year to year. But which technologies justify investment? This study assists IT executives in planning for use of new technologies in light of the adoption and economic experiences of those that have already implemented them. Technologies covered include ERP, CRM, supply chain management, human resource management systems (HRMS), business intelligence (BI), mobile applications, enterprise collaboration, environmental management solutions, legacy system renewal, software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), unified communications, desktop virtualization, Microsoft Windows 7, and tablet computers. Read the full report description for more information. (61 pp., 50 figs.) [Full Description and Sample Pages] Unified Communications Adoption Trend and Economic Experience September, 2011 In this report, Constellation Research Group analyst Elizabeth Herrell, an expert in business communication technology, assesses trends in unified communications. Herrell presents current data on worldwide enterprise adoption of this multifaceted technology by global region, sector, and organization size along with the economic experience of enterprise adopters. In her analysis of the latest Computer Economics survey data, Herrell presents her predications on near-term technology trends and gives IT executives advice on planning and implementing solutions in this rapidly advancing technology area. (16 pp., 10 figs.) [Research Byte] IT Management Best Practices 2011/2012 August, 2011 As IT management matures as an organizational function, certain policies and disciplines show up again and again in the best-run IT organizations. In this study, we examine the maturity levels and growth rates of 15 selected IT management practices: IT steering committees; IT change control boards; disaster recovery testing; IT security policy compliance audits; IT strategic planning; user satisfaction surveys; project management office; IT spending benchmarking; IT performance metrics; project portfolio management; IT asset management systems; post-implementation audits; IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL); IT balanced scorecard; and open source contributions. (29 pp., 19 figs.) [Full Description and Sample Pages] ITIL Adoption and Best Practices August, 2011 Providing excellent IT service management to help a business achieve its strategic targets is a much debated but seldom achieved goal. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is perhaps the most widely accepted framework to accomplish this elusive goal. This study begins with a brief explanation of ITIL's history and current framework for IT service management. We next study ITIL adoption and practice levels in North America, examining levels of adoption by organization size and sector. The study concludes with best-practice suggestions for successful ITIL implementations. (10pp., 5 figs.) [Research Byte] IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks 2011/2012: Full Study June, 2011 Our 2011/2012 IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks study provides a comprehensive view of the current state of IT budgeting and staffing levels for business and governmental organizations in the U.S. and Canada, based on our 22nd annual survey.Detailed metrics are provided by organization size and by industry sector. This article allows purchase of all 22 chapters at a significant discount off the individual chapter price. Individual chapters are also available for purchase--click the Full Study Description below for details. (1,193 pp., 679 figs.) [Full Study Description, Chapter Pricing] |
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