Trendspotting
What's up, what's down in IT?
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Optimize
January 2007,
Issue
63
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| Nucleus Research offers these insights . . . |
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New Year's Resolution: Prove SOA Value
Many CIOs are using service-oriented architecture to achieve tactical wins and accomplish more with a flat budget. If you're having success with SOA, prove it on two levels. First, demonstrate that SOA cuts IT costs. Then, show that it's creating strategic wins.
At the IT level, track the number of services and the rate at which they're reused. Compare the eliminated development and testing costs with the cost of creating services, and you have an ROI.
At the strategic level, identify tactical wins and bring them to the attention of business executives. Once you've defined those wins, point to SOA-enabled projects—for example, integration with a new sales channel—that helped you achieve them. |
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Software In The Attic
Automating your order-entry operation is a great way to reduce IT staffing. But you may not be saving as much as you could be. In fact, you could be paying maintenance fees on software and servers for employees you no longer have.
To better track your maintenance needs, look into solutions from Blazent and others that identify unused seats and retired hardware. |
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On-Demand: More Than A Workaround
On-demand has emerged as a key disrupter, allowing companies to leverage technology faster and more cheaply than previously possible for greater usability and broader benefit. According to a recent Nucleus Research survey, 51% of the organizations polled already use on-demand solutions—and more plan to do so in the near future.
Initially viewed as a workaround to IT, on-demand has evolved to let smart CIOs deliver applications faster, reduce ongoing support costs, and devote limited IT resources to strategic management instead of baby-sitting servers. More and more companies are using tools like Salesforce.com's Sandbox and their own internal teams to test, develop, and launch integrated on-demand technology while keeping infrastructure hardware and support costs under control.
It's important to understand on-demand's implications for your portfolio. Better integration and development tools mean on-demand can be a great way to innovate while effectively outsourcing ongoing maintenance. |
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Podcasting: Not Just For Pundits
We don't often think of podcasting as a business medium, but it may present opportunities to reach new audiences, train employees better, and drive home brand messages—provided that line-of-business managers and IT give it the attention it deserves.
Although podcasting is used primarily by sales and marketing teams, IT support is critical to successfully delivering podcast messages. It's important to implement strategies around podcasting initiatives to ensure timely information releases, proper tracking and analysis of listener choices, and clear message delivery and distribution. A well-managed podcasting program can provide a low-cost, logical alternative to other channels of communication and become a key business tool for information distribution and product branding. |
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