Posts Tagged ‘forrester’
Next Gen Web Analytics
Just got off a Webcast entitled “Next Generation Web Analytics,” and presented by Forrester’s John Lovett, whom had somehow had escaped my radar.
Though the Webcast didn’t cover the Unica Insight tool in any detail, it did provide an excellent overview of how organizations need to evolve and adapt if they’re to fulfill the promise of customer intelligence that can be delivered via the Web digital footprint.
The net? (My interpretation):
- Web analytics made a promise it couldn’t keep…the infinitely measureable Web didn’t materialize.
- Data collection is the root of complexity…Stop digging through the logs, you’re missing the forest for the trees.
- Value is in the empowered interpretation, not the enduring collection, of Web customer intelligence.
- The “action chasm” renders analytics inert. Need to move towards an in-dash navigation.
- Which means more data confidence is required, so folks stop questioning the accuracy and focus on the actionability.
- Orgs need to build a foundation of analytical excellence, which begins with a strategy that evolves out of guiding business objectives.
- Technology is simply the enabling factor.
Smart and somewhat self-evident stuff, but easy to lose sight of in an enterprise with lots of switches, levers, and pilots. : )
That Huge IT Spend Sucking Sound
That Huge IT Spend Sucking Sound
Okay, we’ve got some good news, and we’ve got some bad news.
Which do you want first?
Okay, I’ll start with the bad news and get that outta the way.
In its recent “U.S. and Global IT Market Outlook: Q2 2009,” Forrester Research has forecasted that global IT spending will decline by nearly 11% in 2009.
According to coverage in NetworkWorld, the U.S. drop will be down 5.1% (two percentage points more than previously forecast).
The reason? A “ghastly” first quarter (I thought it was relatively ghastly myself), and “likely similarly poor results in Q2” (Doh!…Can’t comment on those Q2 numbers just yet.).
Now for the good news.
Vendors and end-user organizations apparently believe we’ll start to see some signs of recovery later this year and early next.
The Forrester report also suggests that the pullback is reducing spend across all categories of IT: Software, hardware, telco equipment.
It’s an equal opportunity IT spending pullback.
Can you hear the giant sucking sound?
Shhh, just listen….There it is, can you hear it? It’s slowing down, bit by bit.
According to Forrester, the even better news is that the bad news could have been so much worse.
It’s no small privilege for me to help deliver such bad tidings when it could have been sooooo much worse.
Further, nominal GDP growth helped prevent a further decline, but the credit crunch “caused IT capital purchases to drop like a stone,” with “companies large and small” being shut out of credit markets.
So what’s a poor hungry tech vendor to do?
In 2H09, it’s time to restart those IT marketing engines.
However, focus not only on the efficiency story (always great in a slowdown), but also highlight the opportunity your products and solutions can provide to drive growth.
Coming out of a downturn, it’s always all about revving up growth.
This also presents an opportunity to highlight reference clients (including word-of-mouth via the social media!) which are leveraging IT for real and distinct competitive advantage.
Okay, we’ll bite.
Here’s one from the European Horticultural industry, Danish company Container Centralen.
Europe’s largest provider of re-usable transport equipment and services, Container Centralen is now using IBM sensor technology (including RFID tags) to allow its horticultural supply chain participants to track the progress of shipments of flowers and plants from wholesalers to retailers across 40 countries in Europe.
As former U.S. First Lady and fellow Texan Lady Bird Johnson once said, “Where flowers bloom so does hope.”
Kudos to Container Centralen for their very smart transportation solution.
And here’s hoping a few million new IT projects bloom across the globe very soon!