1. Webinar Optimize Your Business Applications Strategy
Paul D. Hamerman, Vice President, Principal Analyst
August 29, Call in at 10:55 a.m. Eastern time

2. Agenda
Challenges and trends impacting business applications strategies
An approach to optimizing your application strategy
Recommendations and closing thoughts
Q&A

3. Within the next five years, technologies that disrupt our preconceived notions of ownership costs, process flexibility, usability, and speed will transform enterprise applications.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (

4. Five key application categories are driving change
FINANCE HAS THE LARGEST INSTALLED BASE AND SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT
Source: June 14, 2012, “Optimize Your Business Applications For Value And Flexibility” Forrester report

5. Business applications priorities focus on renewal and rationalization
Source: June 14, 2012, “Optimize Your Business Applications For Value And Flexibility” Forrester report

6. Technology reshapes the business application value proposition
Cloud deployment
Semantic business services specs
Mobile
The future of business applications
Real-time analytics
BPM
Flexibility, speed, intelligence, ease of use, value focus
Component-ization
User experience
Social collaboration
Extensibility
Elastic app platforms
Source: May 24, 2012, “Increase Business Flexibility By Embracing Future Trends” Forrester report

7. The evolution of business applications
Source: May 24, 2012, “Increase Business Flexibility By Embracing Future Trends” Forrester report

8. Business applications of the future focus on processes, models, and components
APP DELIVERY PROS NEED:
A new, more flexible architecture.
To design, simulate, deploy, execute, change, and manage business processes . . .
. . . in organizations that need greater agility, cost effectiveness, and speed to maintain a competitive edge.
An architecture supporting definition, integration, and extension of business processes across various business applications and — later on — business components, content repositories, and data stores.

9. The future evolution of business applications: Application Process Platform reference architecture
Source: May 24, 2012, “Increase Business Flexibility By Embracing Future Trends” Forrester report

10. Agenda
Challenges and trends impacting business applications strategies
An approach to optimizing your application strategy
Recommendations and closing thoughts
Q&A

11. A do-nothing app strategy incurs app-related technical debt
Source: July 31, 2012, “Measure The Business Impact Of Improved App Strategy” Forrester report

12. Foundation for business application strategy: conceptual pillars of opportunity
Source: May 30, 2012, “Optimize Application Strategy To Generate Business Value” Forrester report

13. Forrester’s business application strategy approach
Source: May 30, 2012, “Optimize Application Strategy To Generate Business Value” Forrester report

14. Stage 1: Assess your application portfolio and business processes
The purpose of this stage is to take inventory of your current business apps and process needs by:
Reviewing business and IT strategies.
Assessing the current application and technology environment.
Assessing business process capabilities and requirements going forward.
Determining gaps in automation and process execution.

15. Stage 2: Set the strategy and vision
The purpose of this stage is to create a conceptual path forward by:
Articulating the vision for business processes.
Defining the technology innovation strategy to support the process vision.
Defining the scope and objectives of the strategy.
Developing a preliminary business justification for the transformation.

16. Stage 3: Define the target audience
The purpose of this stage is to lay out the business functions, technology, integration, and business intelligence characteristics of the strategy. Tasks include:
Defining the functional architecture.
Identifying the technology characteristics and deployment methods.
Determining how current apps fit into future plans.
Mapping integration and data management strategies.
Defining BI strategies and performance measures.
Defining the IT/BT organizational model.

17. Stage 4: Build the business application road map
You have your target architecture, now you need to determine how you will get there by:
Defining the phasing priorities.
Assessing buy versus build alternatives.
Determining candidate software suppliers.
Analyzing project dependencies and time frames.
Completing the business application strategy road map.
Calculating the TEI business case based on costs, benefits, risks, and flexibility.

18. Stage 5: Execute, measure, and optimize
This stage enables the execution and management of the strategy by:
Selecting app software and delivery vendors.
Implementing specific phases of the road map.
Managing ongoing ownership costs.
Measuring results achieved.
Optimizing staffing resources and vendor relationships.
Revising the business application strategy.

19. Agenda
Challenges and trends impacting business applications strategies
An approach to optimizing your application strategy
Recommendations and closing thoughts
Q&A

20. Recommendations and closing thoughts
Determine the level of transformation that is achievable in your organization, considering factors such as:
The evolution of the business.
Technology change: obsolescence risk versus innovation gains.
The flexibility needed to keep pace with process requirements.
How to engage business users, customers, and employees.
Today’s systems are tomorrow’s legacy baggage. Don’t underestimate the risks and opportunities as you go through this process.
Adopt sustainable delivery approaches for core systems, including SaaS, outsourced managed services, and third- party maintenance.

21. Agenda
Challenges and trends impacting business applications strategies
An approach to optimizing your application strategy
Recommendations and closing thoughts
Q&A

22. Paul D. Hamerman

23. Selected Forrester Research
August 1, 2012, “Transform HRM Processes And Systems To Drive Business Excellence”
June 14, 2012, “Optimize Your Business Applications For Value And Flexibility”
May 30, 2012, “Optimize Application Strategy To Generate Business Value”
May 24, 2012, “Increase Business Flexibility By Embracing Future Trends”
January 25, 2012, “The Forrester Wave™: Human Resource Management Systems, Q1 2012”
August 18, 2011, “Align Financial Processes And Systems For Better Business Value And Compliance”

24. The business applications playbook
Source: June 14, 2012, “Optimize Your Business Applications For Value And Flexibility” Forrester report