Latest Reports

• IT Project Management Staffing Ratios 2021

  In this study, we assess how many project managers a typical IT organization requires. We present five benchmarks: project managers as a percentage of the IT staff, project managers as a percentage of the application group, users per project manager, applications per project manager, and application programmers per project manager. Our analysis also includes the influence of organization size and industry sector. We conclude with recommendations on assessing the performance of the project management function.

  May, 2021

• Key Budget Trends in Response to COVID-19

  Due to the devastating effects of COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020, the global economy went into a recession. Organizations faced abrupt changes and, for a while, all enterprise investments stood still. However, as the global economy tried to recover, many companies made changes to their operational budgets to respond to the new business landscape. Some changes addressed immediate requirements to keep the business running while others like budgetary changes ensured more long-term viability and growth.

  April, 2021

• IT Help Desk Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience 2021

  The decision to turn over an IT organization’s help desk function to a service provider has a long and varied history. It is one of the services that helped establish the contemporary IT outsourcing industry. Even so, our research shows that help desk outsourcing is not as pervasive as one might think. In this report, we analyze the percentage of organizations outsourcing help desk (frequency), the average amount of work outsourced (level), and the change in the amount of work being outsourced (trend). We also present data on cost and service experience and on how these trends differ by organization size and sector. We conclude with some key questions to consider.

  March, 2021

• What’s Behind the Decline in Help Desk Outsourcing?

  The decision to turn over an IT organization’s help desk function to a service provider has a long history. Nevertheless, our research shows that it is not as pervasive as one might think. The percentage of organizations outsourcing their help desks at any level declined again for the third straight year. One factor behind the decline is that many support tasks have become easier to perform and can be done remotely. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on IT help desk outsourcing.

  March, 2021

• Quantum Computing Coming Sooner Than You Think

  The slow pace of quantum development has inspired enterprises to take a “wait and watch” strategy for quantum applications. Increasing the number of qubits while reducing the noise or error correction is the most critical challenge in quantum computing. However, the next five years will be crucial in the development of quantum computers. So now is time to build partnerships and identify pilot programs for when quantum computing becomes affordable and accessible to your size and type of organization.

  May, 2021

• Consumer Finance – Technology-led Transformation enhances Consumer Loan Servicing

  The increase in innovative technology, ever-changing customer needs, regulatory pressure, competition, and demand for more real-time transparent loan management is impacting the consumer finance industry. Limitations due to legacy systems, lack of proper infrastructure, and a need for talent make it tough for banks and financial institutions to compete while trying to embrace advanced technology to meet customer expectations. In order to cope with these changes, organizations are leveraging technology-rich platforms supplied by service providers to enhance customer experience and afford an automated and transparent financial lending workflow process. This approach within the consumer finance industry is poised to drive transformation in the sector.

  May, 2021

• Third-Party Security Providers Evolve to Handle Diverse Threats

  Security has become a major focus for IT leaders in 2021, and companies are now increasing their spending to secure the enterprise, including greater use of third-party security providers. This is because the threat landscape is evolving, as seen most recently in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on IT security outsourcing trends.

  May, 2021

• IT Security Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience 2021

  IT security has become a major focus for IT leaders in 2021. This is because the threat landscape is evolving with increased reliance on the cloud, a greater diversity in the IT service portfolio, more employees working from home, and a more burdensome regulatory environment. This report helps IT executives compare their outsourcing activity and experience with other IT organizations. We use three metrics to measure IT security outsourcing activity: how many organizations outsource IT security (frequency), how much of the workload is typically outsourced (level), and the change in the amount of work outsourced (trend). We also measure the cost and service experience of organizations that outsource this function and determine how outsourcing activity and experience vary by organization size and sector. We conclude with recommendations.

  May, 2021

• Call Security: Our People Lack Awareness

  Security training is a business best practice that involves the training of all IT and user personnel in a company’s security policies and procedures to increase awareness and ensure compliance. It is a highly advisable practice for every company. However, our report shows that too many adopters are only conducting security training in an informal manner, which can have dire consequences. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on security training best practices.

  April, 2021

• Avasant Digital Forum: Building Healthcare’s Digital Future

  In recent years, advocates of telemedicine promised increased access to healthcare, better patient outcomes, and reduced costs. COVID-19 became an unexpected large-scale trial for telehealth. Remote patient monitoring, chronic disease management, virtual appointments, and other aspects of digital medicine showed earlier success in those trials. As vaccines and therapeutics reduce the load on healthcare providers, they should not look to return to their previous standards of care. Instead, they should look to continue with digital healthcare in their post-COVID plans.

  April, 2021

• Hybrid Cloud Enables IT Transformation

  Over the last 12 months, there has been a sustained increase in adoption of hybrid cloud strategies designed to enable digital transformation. During a recent analyst day, Rackspace Technology, announced offerings designed to best govern the hybrid cloud.

  January, 2021

• Security Training Adoption and Best Practices 2021

  Security training is a business best practice that involves the training of all IT and user personnel in a company’s security policies, procedures, and best practices to increase awareness and ensure compliance. It is a highly advisable practice for every organization. Many companies report the existence of security training, yet there is ample room for improvement. This report begins by defining security training and summarizing the main types of training available. We next study the adoption and practice levels and examine those by organization size and sector. We conclude with best-practice recommendations.

  April, 2021