Latest Reports

• Neglect of Encryption a Prescription for Disaster

  Encryption is a best practice for protecting sensitive or confidential information, and it has long since moved into the IT mainstream. Yet our research shows that there are still many companies practicing encryption informally or inconsistently, which can have serious consequences. This research byte summarizes our full report, Encryption Adoption and Best Practices.

  February, 2021

• COVID Accelerates Digital Disruption and Innovative Business Models in the Insurance sector

  Changing risk landscapes and worsening loss ratios are shifting the role of insurance companies from risk mitigation to risk prevention. Additionally, the pandemic has put new pressures on business models. Newer risks, evolving customer expectations, and increased competition combined with business continuity challenges have made digital transformation a top priority for insurance carriers. Insurance companies are significantly investing in building digital capabilities to optimize core operations, create nontraditional products, and enhance and personalize the customer experience. These trends are covered in Avasant’s new Insurance Digital Services 2021-2022 RadarView™ report.

  January, 2021

• Insurance Digital Services 2021-2022 RadarView™

  The Insurance Digital Services 2021-2022 RadarView™ report provides information to assist enterprises in charting out their action plan for digital transformation. It identifies key global service providers and system integrators that can expedite their digital transformation journey. It also brings out detailed capability and experience analyses of leading vendors to assist insurers in identifying strategic partners. The 103-page report also highlights key industry trends in the insurance space and Avasant’s viewpoint on them.

  January, 2021

• Avasant Digital Forum: Vendor Governance Reimagined: Enabling Business Agility in the Digital Enterprise

  In the era of Digital Transformation, our vendor relationships have become increasingly complex. The rapid adoption of digital technologies, flexible contracts and platform-based services have necessitated a radical change in the global service delivery model. And now, the COVID-19 pandemic is further transforming our vendor relationships, pushing us to redefine our engagement strategies, restructure contracts and increase offshore delivery. We have been forced to rethink how we create adaptable, resilient and responsive vendor governance models.

  January, 2021

• Working From Home Was Already Surging Before Pandemic

  The practice of working remotely has skyrocketed over the past 11 years for many reasons, and in early 2020 it got a huge boost with the COVID-19 pandemic. Untold millions of workers around the world started working from home in March 2020, after thousands of companies and governments instructed them to do so. This Research Byte summarizes the findings in our full report.

  March, 2020

• Trends in Telecommuting in the IT Workforce 2020

  The practice of working remotely has skyrocketed over the past 11 years for many reasons, and in early 2020 it got a huge boost with growing concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus. This report examines the reasons for the rise in telecommuting, how often IT workers do so, and what benefits companies and employees are enjoying—while also being mindful of possible disadvantages. We conclude with best-practice recommendations for a sound telecommuting policy. (10 pp., 4 fig.)

  March, 2020

• Avasant Digital Forum: The Digital Banking Playbook: Re-imagining Global Banking for the New Economy

  With a lighter branch footprint, seamless digital capabilities and a rich partner ecosystem, Digital Banks are reshaping the future of financial services. Global banks are rapidly transforming their operating model, compelled by changing consumer behavior and competing digital only Banks, the pandemic has super-charged this shift to digital and irrevocably changed Banking. Traditional banks have to evolve and become Digital-First to thrive in the New Economy.

  January, 2021

• The ERP Support Staffing Puzzle

  Right-sizing the support staff for an ERP system can be complicated. This is there are many factors that affect the support staffing ratio. These include the type of ERP system, its age, the extent of modification, industry sector, and more. Nevertheless, understanding support requirements for ERP systems is vital for IT leaders. This research byte provides a summary of our full report on ERP support staffing ratios.

  January, 2021

• ERP Support Staffing Ratios 2021

  For many IT organizations, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are at the center of the application portfolio. In this report, we analyze ERP support requirements in several ways. First, we look at the ERP support staffing ratio, which is the number of ERP users divided by the number of ERP support personnel. We then assess this ratio by the size of the ERP installation. We also examine the data to determine the ratios by vendor. We examine the ratio by sector, age of installation, years since last upgrade, extent of modification, and type of deployment (on-premises, cloud, or hosted) as well. Finally, we provide recommendations on optimizing ERP staffing levels. (20 pp., 10 fig.)

  January, 2021

• IT Spending as a Percentage of Revenue by Industry, Company Size, and Region

  This Research Byte analyzes IT spending as a percentage by industry, IT costs as a percentage of revenue by company size, and IT budgets as a percentage of revenue by region. We discuss why it is better to evaluate percentiles rather than average IT spending. Finally, we outline other key metrics for IT budget analysis, such as IT spending per employee, IT spending per user, and IT spending per desktop.

  January, 2021

• Four Uses for Fair Market Value Data

  Any company that invests in information technology has an ongoing need for fair market values (FMV) of IT equipment. Although executives readily see the usefulness of FMV data when they buy or sell used equipment, in fact there are three other reasons that accurate FMV data is essential to a well-managed IT function. When considered together, these four reasons suggest that IT organizations would do well to ensure that FMV data is readily available.

  January, 2019

• Choosing Between Solid State Drives and Hard Disk Drives When Upgrading PCs, Laptops

  When upgrading PCs or laptops, the choice of hard drive is a critical decision. Traditional hard drives (HDD) and newer solid-state drives (SSD) have different characteristics in terms of cost, performance, reliability, and useful life, which should influence the decision. This report provides an overview of the two types of drives and provides criteria for making the right choice.

  November, 2018