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Two-Factor Authentication Again Ranks as Least-Mature Best Practice
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a powerful way to improve IT security. But at the same time, workers—and even their managers—often resist it, because it creates an additional step to access systems. As a result, many organizations are inconsistent or informal in their practice of 2FA. This Research Byte highlights some of our findings on the least-mature practices, along with an overview of the contents of the full study on IT management best practices.
April, 2023
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Cybersecurity Services: Shifting from Horizontal to Industry Vertical-Specific Approach
As cyber threats rise, organizations continue to secure their hybrid environments by refreshing, enabling, and standardizing security controls deployment to address trends emerging around cloudification, Industry 4.0, the convergence of 5G, and software-defined networking. This has fundamentally shifted how cybersecurity services are viewed from a general-use horizontal solution to industry vertical-specific offerings. Both demand-side and supply-side trends are covered in our Cybersecurity Services 2023 Market Insights™ and Cybersecurity Services 2023 RadarView™, respectively.
June, 2023
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Europe Increasing IT Budgets Even More Than US and Canada
The IT spending and staffing outlook in Europe for 2023 is positive, but CIOs are being asked to be especially careful to make sure their investments count. For over a year, European companies have dealt with inflation, poor economic growth in the region, brittle supply chains, and a war on their doorsteps. By now, we would have expected more companies in Europe to be cautiously preserving cash, preparing for a recession. And yet, for the most part, businesses are not cutting IT budgets. This Research Byte is a brief description of some of the findings in our European IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks 2023/2024 study.
September, 2023
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RPA Adoption Increases as Robots Get Smarter
Two years of inflation and rising labor costs have increased enterprise interest in automation. As technology has advanced and corporate stakeholders have successfully delegated tasks to robots, trust in RPA has grown over time. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on RPA Adoption Trends and Customer Experience.
October, 2023
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United Kingdom Region: Embracing Digital Technologies to Forge a New Era
Amid turbulent economic conditions, the UK region strives to become a global technology hub by investing in emerging technologies and developing startup ecosystems. Beyond London, cities such as Manchester, Edinburgh, and Belfast are becoming the new technology and startup hubs. UK enterprises are actively partnering with service providers to further enrich customer experience and adhere to upcoming ESG and cybersecurity guidelines. To support regional digital aspirations and navigate the talent crunch, the government and enterprises are investing in digital talent development. Both demand-side and supply-side trends are covered in our United Kingdom (UK) Digital Services 2023–2024 Market Insights™ and United Kingdom (UK) Digital Services 2023–2024 RadarView™, respectively.
December, 2023
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Generative AI Commands C-Suite Leadership
In this, our first survey-based report on generative AI strategy, spending, and adoption, we provide metrics on how much enterprises are spending on this ground-breaking technology, where they are spending it, and how they are governing it. Given the hype, it is not surprising that our survey respondents rank generative AI as strategically important to their organizations. In fact, it is so important that the C-suite is typically leading the effort. This research byte is a brief description of some of the findings of our eight-chapter report on Generative AI Strategy, Spending, and Adoption Metrics.
January, 2024
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SCM Adoption Declines: Is the Supply Chain Hype Subsiding?
Previous global crises pushed supply chain management systems to the brink. Delays and shortages have led business leaders to question their longstanding commitment to lean inventory, just-in-time manufacturing, and reliance on long offshore supply chains. But with the changes of the economic environment in play, we have seen some normalization of supply chains. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on supply chain management adoption and customer experience.
February, 2024
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IT Security: A Business Necessity, Not a Game of Chance
Organizations in all industries and of all sizes require some form of IT security technology. In analyzing adoption and investment trends in IT security technology, there is a problem: IT security is not just one technology. It includes a wide variety of technologies, from basic security tools such as firewalls and spam filtering to more advanced capabilities such as incident detection. This Research Byte summarizes the full report, IT Security Technology Adoption and Customer Experience.
February, 2024
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Disaster Recovery Requires Consistent Planning
Not many companies are consistently planning for disaster recovery. And if we have learned anything from the past few years of high-profile outages, it is that the ability to recover information systems and data quickly and effectively after a disaster should be an organizational priority. Failure to consistently plan for disaster can cost organizations time and money during an outage. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on disaster recovery planning as a best practice.
April, 2024
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Strategic Solutions for a Struggling Payments Platform — A Case Study in Fintech
A financial technology client in Europe is facing a significant challenge with maintenance and operations of its payments platform. Despite its best efforts, the platform has not been profitable, and the client is seeking ways to reduce operating expenses. In this case study, we will explore the options that the client is considering, including outsourcing IT operations and selling the intellectual property associated with the payment platform and how Avasant's standard approach on strategic sourcing was applied to this project.
May, 2024
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Incorporating Technology Levers and Digital Expertise to Meet Evolving Supply Chain Needs
The supply chain landscape is undergoing a transformative shift, propelled by the convergence of pandemic-induced disruptions, shipping challenges, geopolitical instabilities, and inflationary pressures. Traditionally linear and siloed supply chain operations, from sourcing and procurement to manufacturing, distribution, and disposition, are now being reimagined. Digitalization is the linchpin in this evolution, streamlining decision-making and optimizing processes to mitigate costs. Where cost-minimization in sourcing and distribution once reigned, the focus has pivoted to resilience, adaptability, and visibility have become critical priorities in navigating the complexities of today’s supply chain dynamics.
June, 2024
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Analysis of negotiation challenges, supplier issues during a divesture project
A divestiture involves selling, liquidating, or spinning off a business unit to streamline operations, reduce debt, or reallocate resources, often as part of a corporate restructuring strategy. These processes can help a company focus on core competencies, enhance financial health, and ensure regulatory compliance by shedding non-core assets. Avasant's role in divestitures includes managing procurement activities, organizing IT sourcing, and conducting workshops to assess employee impact. Challenges in contract negotiations and supplier management during divestitures include ensuring fair contracts, maintaining good client-provider relationships, and managing supplier uncertainties and employee turnover.
June, 2024
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The Era of AI-Enabled Innovation
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the central force of innovation across various industries and sectors. AI is revolutionizing diagnostics, treatment personalization, and patient care management. In manufacturing, it is enhancing production efficiency, predictive maintenance, and supply chain optimization. However, the journey to AI integration is not without its complications. One of the significant challenges is ensuring seamless integration of AI systems with existing infrastructures—while maintaining data security and privacy.
July, 2024
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Generative AI Infrastructure Suite: Gen AI Infrastructure is Advancing to Meet the Demands of Next-generation LLM Technologies
As enterprise interest in large language model (LLM) adoption continues to rise exponentially, the demand for robust generative AI (Gen AI) infrastructure is increasing due to diverse needs such as reduced power consumption, faster inferencing, affordable pricing, deployment flexibility, and specialized chips. This shift has prompted vendors to innovate, building and refining chip architectures for lower latency and enhanced energy efficiency. Additionally, they are creating comprehensive Gen AI development and workflow orchestration platforms and collaborating with service providers to offer industry and domain-specific customization for various enterprise requirements.
August, 2024