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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
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