EMA Research Blog: Navigating IT and Security Horizons

Consumers of IT services want speed and dependability above all else. When they envision a new service, they want it built and deployed in record time. While there has always been time pressure, it has become more pressing with the consumerization of IT. Consumerization describes the emergence of IT in the consumer market which then spread to business and government organizations. Users carry their devices and expectations to the workplace and want the same instant gratification, self-service mobile access, and constant stream of new apps they experience in their personal use of technology. Combine this with business intelligence capabilities advancing big data and analytics, and you end up with digital transformation: using data, pervasive connectivity, and easy to use devices to change the way businesses interact with their customers and conduct their core activities. These trends have raised the bar on the expectations of IT to innovate as quickly as possible.

EMA conducted four research studies during Q4 2010 with over 400 respondents in total.  While the topics of these studies varied from two cloud computing topics and two asset management topics, we always include a standard set of demographic questions and budget questions.  I asked our Survey Production & Research Analytics Manager, Sylvia Rimmington, to combine the budgetary data from these four studies into a single analysis and compare this data with similar data from Q4 2009.

When designing the EMA Radar Report, I was unaware of this video of Gideon Gartner answering a question about the Gartner Magic Quadrant.  I only learned of this on twitter last week. Gideon is asked what he would do different if doing the Magic Quadrant today. His answer…he would use spider diagrams.  This is exactly what we do in the EMA Radar Report. First published in December 2009, we have published five reports to date with five pending for the first half of 2011 (see the list at the bottom of this post).

Cloud SaaS can be a cost effective and  fast way to buy and start using software (see my top ten reasons to do SaaS).  However, while cloud SaaS can be great when done right, it can be painful to use when done wrong.  With the increasing interest, adequate bandwidth for delivery, and a marketplace ready to try SaaS applications, many traditional software companies are considering a SaaS option.  The greatest risk to the success of SaaS is poorly done SaaS ruining the market by disappointing early adopters and creating a bad reputation for SaaS.  I am concerned that traditional software companies, rushing in to a SaaS delivery model and under estimating what is required to do SaaS right, are the most likely to do SaaS poorly.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a model of software delivery where customers access network-based software.  This is far from a new concept and has had many names in the past, such as service bureau (in the 1980’s), ASP (in the 1990’s), hosted software or on-demand software in the early 2000’s and most recently Cloud SaaS as defined by NIST:

When you are looking at buying a new IT Management tool, do you put most of your emphasis on features, with only some consideration to cost to acquire?  What about the effort to deploy and operate?  You may only spend a few weeks or months doing the initial deployment, but you will have to administer the product for years.  How do you factor these other considerations against features?