Latest Reports

• Web/E-commerce Staffing Flat Despite Increasing Demand

  Web/e-commerce support staffing has been generally flat as a share of the typical IT staff over the past five years. But the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a substantial increase in digital interactions with customers, partners, and suppliers.

  November, 2021

• IT Security a Never-Ending Arms Race

  With increased threats from within and without, IT organizations would love to have a silver bullet for security. Although there is no silver bullet, there is a growing array of security technology available. No wonder then that IT security technology investment and adoption are both high, and businesses can reap the benefits of protection that the technologies provide. This Research Byte summarizes the full report, IT Security Technology Adoption and Customer Experience.

  November, 2021

• ERP Expands Footprint but Stumbles on ROI

  Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have long been one of the most adopted and mature technologies that we track, and investment in new ERP capabilities remains high. But ERP systems are complicated to deploy, and many organizations have difficulty staying within budget. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on ERP Adoption Trends and Customer Experience.

  August, 2021

• Too Many Companies Use Lax Data Classification Practices

  Creating a formal classification scheme is an important element in managing data for security, disaster recovery, and retention purposes. Yet, many organizations fail to establish this important foundation. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on data classification and retention best practices.

  July, 2021

• Compliance Requirements Driving the Move to Government Clouds

  The dramatic shift towards smart cities and a new digital economy is increasing the need for governments to upgrade their IT infrastructure. Cloud environments are the best way to ensure government systems are highly available and data is securely accessible. But until recently, cloud was not always an option for government entities due to strict compliance requirements. Now providers are catering to this need by setting up government clouds—sovereign data centers to employ local workers in the countries they intend to serve.

  November, 2021

• Business Analysts Bridging the Gap Between Business and IT

  Digital transformation has evolved beyond the mere digitalization of analog processes. Most businesses are now rethinking their business processes from the ground up. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 2021 there is an increase in business analyst staffing.

  November, 2021

• Unified Communications Transitioning from Business Continuity Tool to Strategic Must-Have

  Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) proved vital as a business continuity tool during the pandemic. With enterprises seeing the potential, they are now going beyond isolated applications toward integrated tools directly into business critical applications like customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). The new strategic role of UCaaS can make workers more efficient and facilitate enterprise-wide collaboration

  November, 2021

• 5G and the Future of Healthcare

  5G promises to be 10—20 times faster and with less latency than the previous generation (4G), enabling new capabilities and transforming applications in a variety of industries. However, the cost of 5G is enormous. Healthcare, a notoriously laggard sector, has the opportunity to take a big step forward if it can choose the right applications to begin its investment.

  October, 2021

• New Technologies Boost Business Analytics but Challenges Remain

  IT organizations continue to devour data at unprecedented rates, and adoption and investment in business and data analytics tools are reaching new heights. But challenges remain when it comes to wider adoption of these tools. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on business and data analytics technologies.

  November, 2021

• CRM Necessary but Messy

  Customer relationship management systems are one of the most widely adopted categories of enterprise applications. But investing in a new CRM can be a messy business. As a core system, a CRM needs to interact with data across the entire business. Business processes should change to match the new capabilities. Hidden or unexpected costs can quickly add up, and missteps can result in a major setback, or worse, project failure. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on CRM Adoption Trends and Customer Experience.

  September, 2021

• Help Wanted for the Help Desk

  The help desk role should never be overlooked; it is more important than ever. It is the face of IT for the business. And, as businesses maneuver to adapt to new working environments—work from anywhere—help desk technicians take on a strategic imperative. In 2021, the help desk staffing ratio took another jump, albeit small, surpassing the 2019 ratio. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on help desk staffing ratios.

  October, 2021

• Retailers Feeling the Need for More Database Administrators

  : While database administration (DBA) staffing remains steady or has declined in most sectors, the retail/wholesale sector has increased staffing in this area. The COVID-19 pandemic elevated the importance of an online presence in the retail/wholesale sector. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on database administration staffing ratios.

  October, 2021