Latest Reports

• 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

• Understanding Fair Market and Residual Values in Negotiating Leasing Options

  The terms “fair market value” and “residual value” have different meanings, and it is important to know the difference when buying or leasing PCs, laptops, and other equipment. In addition, those who hold the leases (lessees) and leasing companies (lessors) use different methodologies to create their own definitions. This article outlines the perspectives of lessees and lessors, and how the former benefits from negotiating lease contracts in a considered way.

  March, 2019

• How to Plan for New Desktop Equipment Acquisitions

  There are many complex decisions that must be made during the PC procurement process—especially in cases where there are several thousand units involved. This report examines the various decisions required in this process, explores the pros and cons of purchase versus lease, and provides an outline to ensure that the final contract will deliver sound economics and flexibility for your organization.

  January, 2019

• Very Small Organizations Struggling for IT Budget

  For the first time, Computer Economics has conducted a study on the IT spending habits of organizations in the U.S. and Canada that are too small to qualify for our annual benchmarks survey. We decided to examine the IT spending habits of these “very small organizations” with a dedicated survey to determine their spending habits and priorities, and to provide some metrics that can be used to benchmark their spending. This Research Byte provides a summary and description of our full report on IT spending and staffing in very small organizations.

  November, 2019

• IT Spending Benchmarks for Very Small Organizations 2019-2020

  For the first time, Computer Economics has conducted a study on the IT spending habits of “very small” organizations in the U.S. and Canada, a population that is beneath the size threshold for our annual IT spending and staffing benchmark study. This report examines high-level IT spending, staffing metrics and trends for such very small IT organizations. We further break down the high-level metrics by three sectors: manufacturing, retail and wholesale distribution; professional and technical services; and financial services. To qualify as very small for the purposes of this study, a company has to be either under $50 million in revenue or under $1 million in IT operational spending. (36 pp., 17 fig.)

  November, 2019

• Worldwide IT Spending and Staffing Outlook for 2020

  Although IT leaders worldwide have a positive outlook for the global economy, that outlook seems a bit tinged with frustration compared to previous years. This report, based on our Q4 survey, provides data on the global and U.S./Canadian trends for IT spending and staffing in 2020. This year, our report assesses IT operational and capital spending plans, executive priorities for IT investment, and plans for hiring, outsourcing, and pay raises for IT organizations worldwide and in the U.S. and Canada. (34 pp., 24 fig.)

  January, 2020

• IT Leaders on Edge as Budgets Continue Only Modest Gains

  Here at the end of 2019, we find that IT leaders worldwide have a positive outlook for the global economy. Nevertheless, hat outlook is tinged with frustration compared to previous years. It is not exactly that leaders fear a recession (though an increasing number do) so much as they are becoming fed up with years of modest increases and not-so-modestly increasing demands for service. This research byte summarizes the full report, Worldwide IT Spending and Staffing Outlook for 2020.

  January, 2020