IT Decision Makers Get Information Workplace Platforms But Strategies And Implementations Are Just Beginning To Break Silos

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1 December 5, 2006 IT Decision Makers Get Information Workplace Platforms But Strategies And Implementations Are Just Beginning To Break Silos A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft Executive Summary...2 IT Decision Makers Anticipate Platform Convergence...3 Respondents Have Considered The Idea Of A Unified Infrastructure...3 Respondents Anticipate Platform Convergence In Their Organizations Larger Ones Say It s Happening Today...3 Basic And Standardized Phase Of BPIO Model Dominate...5 Most Organizations Are Not Specific About Expected ROI...11 Trends In ECM, Communication And Collaboration, And BI...13 Enterprise Content Management...13 Enterprise Communication And Collaboration...15 Business Intelligence...17 Forrester Methodology...20 Conclusions...23 Additional Reading...24

2 Executive Summary In the fall of 2006 Forrester Consulting conducted a commissioned study on behalf of Microsoft to examine the adoption of Information Workplaces and test the validity of Microsoft s Business Process Infrastructure Optimization Model using a phone survey of IT decision makers at organizations in the US, Canada, and UK with more than 1000 employees (for more detail about this study and its participants, see the Forrester s Methodology section). Forrester defines an Information Workplace as a next-generation digital work environment that provides information workers of all types seamless, contextual, role-based, guided, visual, multimodal, right-time access to people, content, data, voice, business processes, and elearning. Information Workplace platforms unify content, collaboration, portal, office productivity, and other technologies (e.g., business intelligence, rights management, business process management, and expertise location), and provide the foundation for delivering Information Workplaces to end users. The three core areas Forrester investigated in this study were enterprise content management (ECM), enterprise communication and collaboration, and business intelligence (BI). In the commissioned study of 240 business and IT decision makers, Forrester Consulting found that 78% of respondents anticipate the convergence of ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI in their organizations with 28% saying this convergence is already underway. As additional compelling evidence of progress toward the development of Information Workplaces, 68% of decision makers have considered the idea of a unified information management and business productivity infrastructure that provides users with broad access to information. 1 At Microsoft s request, Forrester used the study to map adoption of Information Workplace technologies to Microsoft s Business Process Infrastructure Optimization model for Information Workplace platform adoption and found that while the majority of organizations are still in the early phases, organizations recognize a convergence of architectures and have made progress toward unifying their information worker infrastructures during the past two years. 2

3 IT Decision Makers Anticipate Platform Convergence In this study, respondents were asked about whether they had considered the idea of a unified information management and business productivity infrastructure that would empower information workers to find the information and people they need, at the time when they need them. They were also asked about the convergence of ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI into a unified Information Workplace platform. Respondents Have Considered The Idea Of A Unified Infrastructure Nearly 70% of respondents have considered the idea of a unified information management and business productivity infrastructure (see Figure 1). There was no discernible difference in responses according to company size. Figure 1: Nearly 70% Of Respondents Have Considered The Idea Of A Unified Information Management And Business Productivity Infrastructure Question: Have you considered the idea of a unified information management and business productivity infrastructure that would empower the information workers in your organization to find the information and people they need when they need them? Percent answering yes by company revenue No 32% 70% 71% 68% 61% 68% Yes 68% <$500M $500M to <$1B $1B to <$5B $5B to <$20B >$20B Company Revenue Or Organizational Budget Q19. Have you considered the idea of a unified information management and business productivity infrastructure that would empower the information workers in your organization to find the information and people they need when they need them? Base: All respondents Respondents Anticipate Platform Convergence In Their Organizations Larger Ones Say It s Happening Today Forrester found that 28% of respondents see a convergence of ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI already occurring within their organizations. An additional 50% view this convergence as inevitable (see Figure 2). Not surprisingly, this convergence is more likely to already be underway in larger organizations, where IT consolidation, cost savings benefits and business process improvements can be substantial (see Figure 3). With regard to the primary drivers of Information Workplace platform convergence, results showed significant variation across 3

4 industries. For example, only 6% of respondents in manufacturing report user requirements as the primary driver, whereas 40% of those in healthcare do. Business process improvement was cited as the number one driver in retail and professional services, while compliance was the number one driver in financial services. Figure 2: More Than 75% Of Respondents Anticipate Platform Convergence In Their Organizations Larger Ones Say It s Happening Today Question: Do you anticipate a convergence of ECM, communication and collaboration, and business intelligence to occur within your organization? 26% 27% 20% 15% 19% No No 22% Yes not today, but it is inevitable 50% Yes It is currently under way 28% 50% 54% 24% 20% 55% 25% 52% 33% 35% 45% Yes It is inevitable Yes currently under way <$500M (n=54) $500M to <$1B (n=41) $1B to <$5B (n=56) $5B to <$20B (n=33) >$20B (n=31) Company Revenue Or Organizational Budget Q22. Do you anticipate a convergence of content management, collaboration and business intelligence to occur within your organization? Base: All respondents 4

5 Figure 3: Primary Drivers Of IW Platform Convergence: IT Consolidation And Cost Reduction, Business Process Improvements, And User Requirements Question: What do you think will be the primary driver of this convergence [of ECM, communication and collaboration, and BI within your organization]? 26% 25% 23% 17% 7% 2% IT consolidation & cost reduction Business process improvements User requirements Compliance requirements Software vendor strategies & product direction Other Q23. What do you think will be the primary driver of this convergence? Base: Respondents who anticipate the convergence, n=168 Basic And Standardized Phase Of BPIO Model Dominate As part of this commissioned study, Microsoft asked Forrester to identify where respondents fit into its four-phase maturity model that measures an organization s progression from viewing ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI as discrete strategy and technology areas to viewing them as part of a unified infrastructure that warrants a cohesive, overarching strategy. This model is in line with Forrester s five-phase model for Information Workplace readiness and adoption that was created and published in June Information Workplace readiness and adoption is an evolution; organizations will move toward Information Workplaces gradually and will approach them in various ways. At the highest level, the four phases of Microsoft s BPIO model are: Basic. Content chaos, uncoordinated collaboration and communication infrastructure. Data silos with custom reporting. Standardized. Standardized content and collaboration and communication infrastructure. Specialized datamarts with IT-dependent reporting and analysis. Rationalized. Fully managed and centrally provisioned business infrastructure for content and collaboration and communication infrastructure. Centralized data warehousing with self-service BI. These infrastructures are increasingly unified by design. 5

6 Dynamic. Unified content, collaboration and communication, and BI infrastructure that delivers common services (e.g., search, workflow, presence) to users in context (of their business processes, role, job level, and task). Forrester described the categories to respondents but did not label them. Not surprisingly, larger enterprises are generally at higher levels of maturity than smaller organizations (see Figure 4). However, regardless of an enterprise s size, respondents consistently reported that their organization s level of maturity had increased during the previous two years (see Figure 5). Figure 4: The Larger The Organization, The Later The Stage Question: As you look across ECM, communications and collaboration, and business intelligence, into which of the following overall adoption categories does your organization fall today? Company Revenue Or Organizational Budget Greater than $20B (n=31) $5B to <$20B (n=32) $1B to <$5B (n=56) $500M to <$1B (n=41) 6% 9% 34% 42% 36% 16% 48% 32% 33% 17% 39% 13% 21% 29% 7% 17% BPIO Phase Dynamic Rationalized Standardized Basic <$500M (n=54) 20% 52% 11% 17% Percent of Survey Respondents In Each Size Group Q27. As you look across all three of the main areas that we discussed (ECM, collaboration, business intelligence), into which of the following overall adoption categories does your organization fall today? Base: All respondents 6

7 Figure 5: Data Show Advancement From One Phase To Another During Past 2 Years Question: As you look across ECM, collaboration, and business intelligence, into which of the following overall adoption categories does your organization fall today? 2 years ago? % 43% 2 Years Ago Today Number Of 60 Respondents 28% 24% 40 18% 15% 20 14% 9% 0 Basic Standardized Rationalized Dynamic Phase in Microsoft s Business Process Infrastructure Optimization Model Q27. As you look across all three of the main areas that we discussed (ECM, collaboration, business intelligence), into which of the following overall adoption categories does your organization fall today? Q28. Same question as Q27, except 2 YEARS AGO Base: All respondents 7

8 Figure 6: Leading Drivers Behind Progression From Phase To Phase: Business Efficiencies, Cost Savings, Organizational Changes, Technology Question: What were the primary drivers for this change [from one BPIO phase to another]? Financial / cost reduction / efficiency 23% Merger / acquisition or org. changes 12% 11% Technology-specific drivers Better information mgmt. Business or worker productivity Improve communication / collaboration Compliance General ( business drivers ) End user requirements Customer service / relationships Revenues / growth Competition Improve mgmt. decision making Improve marketing Other 8% 8% 7% 5% 5% 5% 5% 4% 2% 2% 2% 3% Even though Forrester surveyed an IT audience, only 11% said it had to do with technologyspecific drivers. Q29. What were the primary drivers for this change? (open response question) Base: Respondents who reported a change in phase from two years ago to now. n=109 (multiple responses were accepted. 8

9 Figure 7: Organizational Politics Is Leading Obstacle To IW Platform Convergence Question: What is the primary obstacle to convergence of content management, collaboration, and business intelligence within your organization? Organizational politics 29% Difficulty building a business case (tie) Organizational structure (tie) Software licensing costs 14% 14% 13% User adoption / change mgmt. Existing infrastructure investments and strategic vendor relationships 6% 10% Deployment and training 3% Other 10% Q24b. Of the obstacles you mentioned earlier, which would you say was the primary obstacle to this convergence? Base: All respondents, n=119 (N is lower than total survey because this single response question was added after an interim data check) 9

10 In line with respondents selection of cost savings and business process improvements as the top drivers of the convergence of ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI, related concerns are driving organizations to advance from one phase to another (see Figure 6). Even though 90% of the survey respondents were in IT versus business the primary drivers were business related: The most common responses were principally financial and organizational in nature. Even though we surveyed an IT audience, only 11% of respondents said that technologyspecific drivers were one of the primary drivers moving them from one phase to another. The notion that organizational change due to mergers or acquisitions would drive technology infrastructure convergence is reinforced by respondents identification of the top inhibitors to adoption of a more converged infrastructure (see Figure 7). Respondents recognized organizational politics and organizational structure as the top obstacles to the convergence of Information Workplace platforms. Examples of organizational politics include: IT service owners not talking to each other, never mind aligning their strategies. Business units or people in specific roles having requirements that conflict with each other. Stakeholders losing focus on high-level strategy and paying too much attention to vendors, products, or technologies. Lack of a formal Information Workplace strategy development team and no budget allocated. Lack of executive sponsorship. 10

11 Most Organizations Are Not Specific About Expected ROI As part of this study, Forrester asked respondents a series of open-ended questions about the returns they expect on investments in a converged ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI infrastructure. Some respondents described specific business metrics while others described measurement tools. A takeaway from this is that the respondents have many ways to measure ROI of Information Workplace platform investments but don t yet know what they are measuring. Most respondents were not specific about expected ROI (see Figure 8). The majority of respondents who were specific about a percentage return don t expect greater than 30% ROI (see Figure 9). And most respondents expect both hard and soft returns from Information Workplace platform investments (see Figure 10). Figure 8: Respondents Have Various Methods And Metrics For Tracking Success Of Their Investment In Convergence Question: How are you measuring and tracking success for this investment [in converged content management, collaboration and business intelligence]? Respondents answers fell into two categories: General measurement tool or business metric Tracking/ reporting/ KPIs 15 (39%) Benchmarking 2 (5%) ROI 6 (16%) Project management 5 (13%) Inventory or product quality 2 (3%) Cost reduction/ savings 21 (36%) Compliance 2 (3%) Customer satisfaction/ service 4 (7%) Revenues/ growth 4 (7%) None 10 (26%) Q30. How are you measuring and tracking success for this investment? Base: Respondents who supplied a metric. N=109. Productivity 13 (22%) IT metrics 6 (10%) User satisfaction/ feedback 7 (12%) 11

12 Figure 9: Most Respondents Were Not Specific About Expected ROI Question: What kind of return would your organization demand in order to justify an investment in converging these technologies? Gave general, vague answers 60% Expect ROI in specific timeframe 6% Expect specific percentage return 34% Respondents who were specific about a percentage return don t expect greater than 30% ROI Q26. What kind of return would your organization demand in order to justify an investment in converging these technologies (e.g. organizational "rules of thumb")? [Open response] Base: All respondents who provided response. n=175. (n=60 for respondents providing a specific ROI). Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding %-10% 11%-20% 21%-30% 31%-40% Labels represent number of responses out of %-50% 51%-60% 61%-70% %-80% 81%-90% Return On Investment Expected %-100% >100% 12

13 Figure 10: IT Decision Makers Expect Both Hard And Soft Returns From IW Platform Investments Question: Do you expect hard returns (cost reductions) or soft returns (improved productivity) from this convergence, or both? Don t know 0% Neither hard nor soft returns 3% Hard returns only 7% Soft returns only 15% Both hard and soft returns 74% Q25. Do you expect hard returns (cost reductions) or soft returns (improved productivity) from this convergence, or both? Base: All respondents. Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding Trends In ECM, Communication And Collaboration, And BI In order to better understand the context from which respondents answered questions about the convergence of technology into Information Workplace platforms, Forrester asked about organizations IT strategies and infrastructures in each of three areas: ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI. Enterprise Content Management Within the broader Microsoft BPIO model are sections specific to ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI. With regard to ECM, the descriptions of the phases in Microsoft s model are: Basic. Content on paper, file shares, and personal drives. Disparate search tools. Virtually no centralized process or management. Standardized. Disconnected repositories and sites with basic search capabilities. Departmental document management, simple forms-based processes, and multiple ITmanaged web sites. 13

14 Rationalized. Integrated, centralized repositories for managing and publishing documents and records, with enterprise-wide search. Electronic records management, enterprise forms management, and consolidated Web infrastructure for intranet, extranet and Internet. Dynamic. Single federated document and records management infrastructure with integrated search. Personalized access to web content management for internal and external sites, full process orchestration across the enterprise. Almost 70% of companies we interviewed report having an ECM strategy (see Figure 11). Yet 29% of the respondents are still in the Basic phase of ECM and another 30% are in the Standardized phase. We would expect a larger percentage of respondents to be in Rationalized or Dynamic, given the high percentage that has an ECM strategy. The most likely explanation for this is that 60% of respondents report having consolidated document management systems, which is often thought to be the core of ECM. Also, from this study it is not clear how formalized the respondents ECM strategies are. Reflecting widespread adoption of the most basic forms of content management, file shares for common storage and departmental repositories were nearly ubiquitous, with 92% and 84% of companies reporting having them in production, respectively. Figure 11: Nearly 70% Of Respondents Say Their Org Has An ECM Strategy But 60% Are Still In Basic Or Standardized Phase, With Regard To ECM Question: Does your organization have an ECM strategy? Question: Where does your organization fall in the following characterizations of adoption with regard to ECM? Half of $20B+ organizations are in the rationalized phase of ECM Don t know 1% >$20B (n=26) Standardized Basic Rationalized Don t know Dynamic 27% 15% 50% 8% No 29% Yes 69% $5B to <$20B (n=28) $1B to <$5B (n=44) 32% 39% 11% 18% 30% 32% 23% 14% 2% $500M to <$1B (n=35) 29% 29% 34% 6% 3% <$500M (n=47) 28% 32% 30% 9% 2% Q8. Does your organization have an enterprise content management strategy? Q9. Have you implemented an enterprise content mgmt. infrastructure? Base: All respondents who reported being a stakeholder or decisionmaker for ECM, N=180. Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding Forrester found that half of the surveyed organizations with revenues of $20 billion or more are in the Rationalized phase of ECM. The ECM market has been on a path of convergence, marked by vendor consolidation, for five years or longer, so it is a more mature market than communication and collaboration or BI. Large enterprises have been developing strategies for standardizing and unifying their ECM infrastructures for several years now. Consolidation and unification of 14

15 communication and collaboration services is more recent, and the consolidation of reporting and analytics tools into a BI infrastructure is still in its earliest phases. We found that of the ECM capabilities we asked about, the most commonly implemented are file shares for common storage and departmental repositories, though 60% of respondents said they have consolidated enterprise document management and 49% said they have enterprise search (see Figure 12). Figure 12: File Shares And Departmental Repositories Still Dominate Question: What ECM capabilities are in place today in your organization? File shares for common storage Departmental repositories 84% 92% Electronic forms solution 61% Consolidated enterprise document mgmt. 60% Enterprise search 49% Other Don't know 3% 2% Q10. What ECM capabilities are in place today in your organization? Base: All respondents who reported being a stakeholder or decisionmaker for ECM, N=180. Enterprise Communication And Collaboration With regard to enterprise communication and collaboration, the descriptions of the phases in Microsoft s BPIO model are: Basic. Basic , file shares, and primarily phone-based communication using standard telephony. Standardized. Secure , instant messaging, and ad hoc teaming (e.g., collaborative document management) based on IT standards. Rationalized. Fully managed collaboration platform, with increasing unification of communication channels. with support for compliance requirements, broadening use of presence, and a move to voice over IP (VoIP) telephony. Dynamic. Seamless collaboration across firewall, federation of communication information and policy. 15

16 Although almost 70% of respondents report having an enterprise communication and collaboration strategy, the same percentage position themselves only in the Basic or Standardized phase (see Figure 13). We would have expected a larger portion to be in the Rationalized or Dynamic phase based on the percentage having enterprise communication and collaboration strategies. But only 30% of respondents have installed unified communication; in contrast, 90% have installed messaging ( , calendaring and scheduling, task management, contacts management) (see Figure 14). This finding could be due in part to the ambiguity of our question about enterprise communication and collaboration strategy, which did not force respondents to specify whether they have a formal documented strategy or just an unwritten shared vision. It may also be due to respondents associating the word enterprise, in enterprise communications and collaboration, with unified communications. Figure 13: Orgs Have Communication And Collaboration Strategies But Nearly 70% Are Still In Basic Or Standardized Phase In This Area Question: Does your organization have an enterprise communication & collaboration strategy? Don t know 1% Question: Where does your organization fall in the following characterizations of adoption with regard to communication & collaboration? >$20B (n=27) Basic Standardized Rationalized Dynamic 15% 27% 42% 15% No 30% Yes 69% $5B to <$20B (n=29) $1B to <$5B (n=39) $500M to <$1B (n=37) 10% 48% 28% 14% 35% 41% 14% 10% 30% 35% 19% 16% <$500M (n=48) 54% 31% 4% 8% 2% Q15. Into which of the following adoption categories does your organization fall with regard to communication and collaboration? Base: All respondents who reported being a stakeholder or decisionmaker for Enterprise Communicaiton and Collaboration, N=

17 Figure 14: Messaging Is Still The Most Prominent Collaboration Tool Question: Which communication and collaboration components have you implemented? Messaging ( , calendaring and scheduling, task mgmt., contacts mgmt.) 90% Collaborative workspaces / portals Web conferencing Instant messaging 59% 56% 67% Unified communications Unified messaging 30% 29% Other Don t know 2% 1% Q14. Which communication and collaboration components have you implemented? Base: All respondents who reported being a stakeholder or decisionmaker for Enterprise Communicaiton and Collaboration, N=189. The results of this study showed that the smallest organizations have the longest way to go in enterprise communication and collaboration. More than half of organizations with less than $500 million in revenues are still in the Basic phase while the same is true for only 15% of the largest organizations we surveyed. It also showed some variability in maturity across industries, with the Rationalized or Dynamic phase being most common in retail and professional services and Basic and Standardized being most common in government. Business Intelligence Seventy-One percent of the survey respondents said they are responsible for or influence BI purchase decisions as well as at least one of the other two areas. With regard to BI, the descriptions of the phases in Microsoft s BPIO model are: Basic. Data silos and limited automation of data management. No real-time data for reporting and analysis. IT mostly responsible for developing reports, OLAP cubes, etc. Standardized. Disconnected reports, analysis scorecards on subject-oriented data, with automated data loading. Most data centralized; no real-time data for reporting and analysis; IT mostly responsible for developing reports, OLAP cubes, etc. 17

18 Rationalized. Fully managed infrastructure for scorecards, self-service reporting; centralized data management. No real-time data for reporting and analysis. Business users mostly responsible for developing reports, OLAP cubes. Dynamic. Real-time data used for proactive, strategic decision making. Real-time, strategy-driven closed loop analysis and performance management. Sixty percent of respondents said their organization has an enterprise BI strategy (see Figure 15). Yet sixty three percent of respondents said they are in the Basic or Standardized phase of BI in Microsoft s BPIO model. Smaller organizations, especially, have a tendency toward the Basic phase. Surprisingly, 40% of respondents say their organization has deployed enterprise-wide business scorecards, 43% have deployed real-time business activity monitoring and/or performance management, and half have a standardized analytics platform (see Figure 16). The most commonly implemented BI tools are operational systems used for reporting and analysis and specialized data marts. Figure 15: 60% Say They Have Enterprise BI Strategies But 63% Are Still In Basic Or Standard Phase Of Microsoft s BPIO Model, In The Area Of BI Question: Does your organization have an enterprise business intelligence strategy? Question: Where does your organization fall in the following characterizations of adoption with regard to business intelligence? Basic Standardized Rationalized Dynamic Don t know 1% >$20B (n=20) $5B to <$20B (n=25) 15% 20% 45% 40% 25% 32% 15% 8% No 39% Yes 60% $1B to <$5B (n=40) 25% 40% 30% 5% $500M to <$1B (n=29) 38% 24% 17% 21% <$500M (n=31) 38% 30% 16% 11% 5% Q18. Into which of the following adoption categories does your organization fall with regard to business intelligence? Base: All respondents who reported being a stakeholder or decisionmaker for Business Intelligence, N=

19 Figure 16: The Most Common BI Capabilities Implemented: Specialized Data Marts And Operational Systems Used For Reporting Or Analysis Question: Which of the following business intelligence capabilities are currently deployed in your enterprise? Operational systems used for reporting or analysis Specialized data marts for reporting and analysis Centralized data warehouse used for reporting or analysis Self-service reporting and ad-hoc analysis Departmental dashboards and KPIs 87% 79% 70% 67% 62% Standardized analytics platform Real-time business activity monitoring and/or performance mgmt. Enterprise-wide business scorecards Other Don t know 3% 1% 43% 40% 50% Q17. Which of the following business intelligence capabilities are currently deployed in your enterprise? Base: All respondents who reported being a stakeholder or decisionmaker for Business Intelligence, N=

20 Forrester Methodology In September 2006 Forrester Consulting conducted a research study on behalf of Microsoft to investigate the adoption of Information Workforce platforms across industries and company sizes and identify how adoption levels fit within Microsoft s Business Platform Infrastructure Optimization model. The project consisted of a phone survey of 240 IT decision-makers and influencers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Survey respondents worked at organizations with more than 1,000 employees and 42% of respondents worked at companies or government institutions with 20,000 or more employees. Fifty-six percent of the organizations surveyed had annual revenues greater than $1 billion (see Figure 17). The survey included IT decision makers and influencers in various industries, but focused primarily upon six broad industry classifications: government, business services, financial services, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing (see Figure 18). Forrester surveyed people who are responsible for, or are stakeholders in, technology purchases in two or all of the following areas: ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI. Respondents only answered questions in the areas in which they are responsible or are stakeholders (see Figure 19). Figure 17: Respondents Worked For Mid-Sized And Large Organizations 42% of respondents work for orgs with 20K+ employees 70% of respondents work for organizations with revenues <$5B Number of Respondents % 32% 22% 10% 10% Number of Respondents % 18% 27% 15% 14% K to <5K 5K to <20K 20K to <50K 50K to <100K 100K+ 0 <$500M $500M to <$1B $1B to <$5B $5B to <$20B $20B+ Number of Employees Company Revenue Or Organizational Budget Q3: What is your organization's annual revenue (or budget, if government organization)? Q4: How many employees are in your organization? Base: All respondents 20

21 Figure 18: Respondents Were In Various Industries And In US, Canada, And UK Location Industry Canada 13% UK 34% US 53% Manufacturing 10% Retail 10% Other 25% Healthcare 13% Government 15% Business services 14% Financial services 13% Q1: Where are you located? Q2. Which industry most closely matches your organization's primary business? Base: All respondents 21

22 Figure 19: Most Respondents Were In IT, Not Business, And All Had A Stake In Multiple Information Workplace Areas Business 10% Role For which of the following areas are you a decision-maker or stakeholder? 42% 29% IT 90% 12% 17% ECM & BI Comm. & Collab. and BI Comm. & Collab. and ECM All three Q5. Which choice best describes your title or role in the organization? Q10. For which of the following areas are you a decision-maker or stakeholder? Base: All respondents The study focused on identifying: 1. Whether IT decision makers have thought about Information Workplace platforms and anticipate a convergence in their organizations of three core capability areas: ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and business intelligence. 2. Whether organizations have enterprise strategies in these three core areas. 3. Which technologies in each of the three categories organizations have implemented. 4. In which phase of Microsoft s BPIO model IT decision makers see their organizations. 5. What type and level of return IT decision makers expect from their investments in Information Workplace platforms. 22

23 Conclusions From this study of Information Workplace platform strategies and adoption, Forrester found that: A model like Microsoft s Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization model reinforces that purchase decisions in ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and business intelligence are becoming platform decisions. A model like Microsoft s Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization model provides an approach to identifying where organizations really are in their thinking and technology adoption, whether that be in just one of the three core capability areas (ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI) or in a unified manner across all three areas. Organizations are thinking about the convergence of ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI platforms. This convergence is actually underway in some businesses, with large enterprises leading the way. Most organizations have some form of enterprise strategy in areas like ECM, enterprise communication and collaboration, and BI but technology implementations lag. Business intelligence is as important an element of an Information Workplace platform as ECM and enterprise communication and collaboration. Company size did not impact whether or not an organization has an ECM strategy or an enterprise communication and collaboration strategy. The bigger difference in these areas is by vertical industry. ECM and enterprise communication and collaboration strategies are common in financial services while manufacturing lags in ECM strategies and professional services and government lag in enterprise communication and collaboration strategies. With regard to BI strategies, size does make a difference. The proportion of respondents who said their organizations had enterprise BI strategies increases with company size. Vertical industry also makes a difference in this area, with retail standing out the most. 23

24 Additional Reading Unified Communications: What You Need To Know, Tech Choices, Nov. 9, 2006 The State Of Enterprise Software Adoption, Data Overview, Nov. 2, 2006 Microsoft s 2007 Collaboration Platform, Tech Choices, October 24, 2006 Collaboration Trends 2006 To 2007, Trends, Aug. 16, 2006 Gates Steps Back, Changes Everything, Quick Take, June 16, 2006 The Forrester Wave : Collaboration Platforms, Q2 2006, Tech Choices, May 24, 2006 Microsoft Is A Leader In The Collaboration Platforms Market, Tech Choices, May 24, 2006 The Information Workplace: Who Wants It And When? Trends, April 27, 2006 Context Is King In The New World Of Work, Trends, March 8, 2006 Get Ready: The Millennials Are Coming! Trends, September 30, 2005 Information Workplaces And Interaction Platforms, Best Practices, June 22, 2005 The Information Workplace Will Redefine The World Of Work At Last!, Forrester Big Idea, June 1, 2005 Microsoft Hints At The Information Workplace For Office 12, Quick Take, May 19, We found that while between 71% and 74% of respondents in retail, manufacturing, professional services, healthcare, and government have considered the convergence of ECM, communication and collaboration, and BI. This is the case for only 58% of the respondents in financial services. This is probably because financial services firms are often required by law to maintain walls between parts of their business, and this would naturally be reflected in these firms IT environments. 2 See the April 27, 2006, Trends The Information Workplace: Who Wants It And When? and the June 1, 2005, Forrester Big Idea The Information Workplace Will Redefine The World Of Work At Last. 24