Latest Reports

• The Mandate for Growing IT Spending in the Insurance Industry

  Insurance providers are at a crossroads. Many have large, complex legacy systems deeply embedded in back-end processes. These require legions of IT personnel to keep them responsive to changing market needs. Now, these established players face new competitive threats from upstarts, unencumbered by legacy systems, able to rethink how insurance services can be delivered to customers in new ways. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a monkey wrench into strategic planning in the insurance industry.

  October, 2021

• IT Outlook for 2021 Depends on Where You Stand

  Last year did not go according to plan. Two months after we published our Worldwide IT Spending and Staffing Outlook for 2020, the world’s economies began to shut down. Businesses transformed overnight. Our prediction of “positive, but some hints of trouble brewing” in 2020 turned out to be a bit of an understatement. Because 2020 was not the easiest year to predict, do not expect easy answers when it comes to 2021. But in this, our annual study of the IT spending and staffing outlook for the new year, we find that IT leaders worldwide have a surprisingly positive outlook on the year ahead. This research byte summarizes the full study.

  February, 2021

• IT in PJs Here to Stay, Post-Pandemic

  Regardless of how long the pandemic lasts, one thing that appears to be here to stay for IT personnel is working from home, although the percentage will drop. Our annual IT salary study finds that about a quarter of IT workers will ply their trade from home, full-time, after the pandemic subsides. This Research Byte summarizes our findings on the WFH reality.

  December, 2020

• Cloud Migration Leads to IT Staffing Decline

  Way back in 2007, IT personnel represented more than half of all IT operational spending. Fast forward to 2017, that number declined to 42%. That is one major finding of a new report, in which Computer Economics analyzed long-term IT spending and the effects of the cloud. And based on our analysis of IT organizations that are already well down the road in their cloud transformation, we could see spending on IT personnel comprise less than one third of the total IT budget within the next 10 years

  March, 2018

• SD-WAN Leads the Way in ROI

  With the COVID-19 pandemic, the network is at the front and center of resiliency discussions, now so more than ever. Network services have further gained importance, especially for improving business agility and flexibility—which we’ve known for a while. And yet we are mildly surprised that SD-WAN finished first on the risk-reward analysis this year in our annual study. This Research Byte provides a look at the risk/reward profile for the technologies in our full study, Technology Trends 2021.

  March, 2021

• IoT Shows Only an Iota of Growth

  The Internet of Things (IoT) is a maturing technology, and for many years it has promised benefits such as lower labor costs and better tracking of assets. But our data is showing a trend that is common with other technologies as they mature. The adoption of IoT projects and investment in them have remained at a fairly low clip. This research byte provides a summary of our full report on IoT Adoption Trends and Customer Experience.

  March, 2021

• COVID-19 Driving Growth of Digital Operations

  The COVID-19 crisis led to severe disruptions in the global socio-economic structure and adversely impacted enterprises. Enterprises were forced to explore all possible avenues to sustain business operations. While cost optimization was one objective, the focus shifted enabling digital operations. Enterprises that had already outsourced could mitigate the COVID-19 impact better than those keeping operations in-house. BPO service providers reacted quickly, leveraged technology, and developed tailored solutions for seamless business operations. This led the enterprises follow the suite driving double-digit growth in BPO engagements in 2020. These trends are covered in Avasant’s new Business Process Transformation Horizons report.

  March, 2021

• Communications Staffing Still on Mute

  Corporate communications systems have become more complex, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, as companies struggle to make it possible for large chunks of the workforce to work remotely. Nevertheless, despite the growing complexity, the number of IT specialists who support communications systems has stabilized in the past few years. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on communications support staffing ratios.

  January, 2021

• Factors Behind the Decline in Application Development Staffing

  The way that enterprise applications are internally developed and maintained has changed, causing the ratio of application developers to dip again for the third straight year. App developers are some of the highest-paid IT personnel, so it is vital that IT leaders periodically assess this staffing ratio. This research byte summarizes our full report, Application Developer Staffing Ratios.

  February, 2021

• Media and Entertainment: Evolving Rationale for Trust and Safety Services – A Perspective

  Digitization is changing the face of the media and entertainment (M&E) industry across the globe. We live in a networked world, where geographical boundaries are giving way to globalization. The influencer, the gamer, the streamer, and the viewer are all part of this constantly evolving ecosystem and help determine the potential growth of the industry. Safeguarding the interests of all connected customers is crucial, as the industry deals with several threats that not only weigh down revenue and reputation but also accessibility, user privacy and security, and social and communal harmony. In this paper, we talk about the business and managerial challenges of this industry, with a specific focus on trust and safety (T&S), and how enterprises and service providers are coming together to maintain the integrity of M&E.

  February, 2021

• 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