Benchmarking+Surveys

IT Benchmarking, productivity metrics, and data from Cutter’s ongoing industry research.

Delving into Technical Debt

Kara Letourneau | Nov 2, 2011 No Responses

Nov 022011

Over the past twelve months, many diverse organizations worldwide have benefited from Cutter Consortium’s considerable expertise in conducting technical debt assessments. According to our experts Israel Gat and Chris Sterling, many of the findings and recommendations made during these engagements are broadly applicable in concept. The new Executive Update “Delving into Technical Debt” explores the considerations that most organizations go through while devising a technical debt reduction strategy. (You can register and download a complimentary copy of this 11-page report using promotion code DELVING.) From typical opportunities that arise during a technical debt assessment to common areas that need improvement, and from creating a technical debt mitigation strategy to leveraging the open source software quality …

Interest in Data Mining and Predictive Analytics Grows

Curt Hall | May 3, 2011 3 Responses

May 032011

Our research indicates that interest in predictive analytics and data mining has never been higher, and that organizations are increasingly turning to the technology to take their BI capabilities to the next level (i.e., the ability to predict who will be their best customers, which customers are likely to churn, and optimum performing suppliers, etc.). Moreover, organizations are not only using predictive analytics to analyze structured data, but are also applying text mining and analysis tools to analyze unstructured (text-based) information. (Please do let us know your opinion on the use of text mining and analysis by taking our survey at www.keysurvey.com/survey/347516/e8e2/ .) A number of factors are driving the use of data mining and …

How tight are belts in IT this year?

Kim Leonard | May 5, 2010 No Responses

May 052010

Are IT budgets easing up, or does budgeting in 2010 feel like 2009 redux? We hope you’ll help us find out. Cutter has just launched its fifth annual IT Budgeting survey, the results of which will appear in an upcoming issue of Cutter Benchmark Review. Please assist us in creating a snapshot of where we stand in 2010 that we’ll use to compare with data from previous years, identify trends, uncover risks, and make practical recommendations. Please take our survey, which takes 10-12 minutes to complete. We truly appreciate your time, and will thank you for participating with an immediate download of “IT Budgeting: IT May Be Faring Better than Others in the Storm,” the …

Quantifying the Start Afresh Option

Israel Gat | Mar 22, 2010 4 Responses

Mar 222010

Source code analysis techniques have progressed to the point that answers to numerous tricky questions about software investment dilemmas can now be answered through quantifying technical debt. Consider, for example, the following scenario: You are a venture capitalist. One of your portfolio companies has been working for a few years now on a promising software application. Various surprises with respect to schedule and functionality have been sprung on you along the way. The company asks for additional $2M to complete development and bring a 500K lines of code to market. Using technical debt quantification techniques you find the technical debt amounts to $1M. You are not at all comfortable “paying back” the technical debt in addition …

Making trash into treasure? IT’s role in reverse logistics

Kim Leonard | Sep 25, 2009 No Responses

Sep 252009

The Cutter Benchmark Review team is putting together an issue on IT’s Role in Reverse Logistics, and that means it’s survey time. The topic was new to me, so I went to the web for some education and inspiration. And bam! I found this great piece in Modern Materials Handling. In a nutshell, I learned that effectively dealing with returned materials offers companies the opportunity to bolster customer satisfaction, increase profit margins through resale (through channels like eBay or Craigslist), minimize inventory carrying costs and reduce their impact on the environment. The strategic use of IT resources can be the difference between success and failure in this endeavor. In fact, state-of-the-art technology and applying the …

What color are your metrics?

Anne Mullaney | Sep 17, 2009 1 Response

Sep 172009

Last spring, when Gabe Piccoli, Rick Watson and Emily Ryan looked at whether green IT/IS was a priority for organizations, they found some good news: their survey for Cutter Benchmark Review uncovered that more than one-third of companies in the US, and over half of European companies had a long-term strategy in place for reducing their environmental footprints. Environmental responsibilities are increasingly becoming a mandatory part of business strategies. The pressure not only comes from growing customer demand for green products and processes, but it’s also coming from industry-specific government regulations that enforce precise collection, management, and reporting of carbon data. So now Gabe, this time along with Cutter Senior Consultant Bhuvan Unhelkar and Brian …

Agile-developed software is easier to support, say survey respondents

Anne Mullaney | Sep 3, 2009 2 Responses

Sep 032009

Cutter recently conducted a survey of than 100 software development organizations to study how companies deal with maintenance and other software support issues. The survey, which was analyzed by Senior Consultant E.M (Elli) Bennatan, covered a broad range of organizations: 45% with fewer than 25 developers, 23% with between 25 and 100, and 32% with more than 100 developers (of those, 18% have more than 400). The survey also covered a fair mix of both small and larger projects: at 59% of surveyed companies, projects are typically small — fewer than 5 person-years; at 35%, they are between 5 and 20 person-years (of those, at 11%, they are between 11 and 20), while the remaining …

How is IT governance management being applied? Help us find out.

Kim Leonard | Jul 23, 2009 No Responses

Jul 232009

Cutter Senior Consultant Bob Benson is researching how IT governance management practices are actually applied in organizations — and the effectiveness of those practices. We’re hoping you’ll let us know your opinions on this topic by participating in our survey. We’ll thank you with an immediate download of the Cutter Consortium article by Steve Andriole, New Governance vs. Organizational Terrorism“, when you complete the survey. If the IT Governance Survey isn’t a good fit for you, we’re also currently surveying on Software Project Requirements, and invite you to participate. Cutter’s constant flow of new research provides our clients with accurate forecasts about the business and technology strategies, tactics, and trends that will have an impact …

What productivity tools do IT pros use?

Kim Leonard | May 27, 2009 3 Responses

May 272009

IT professionals tell us anecdotally that they use a variety of personal productivity solutions — from checklists on paper to involved (and expensive) project planning software. Please take our 3-minute survey and help us get a snapshot of the current and best practices in use by IT professionals worldwide. We’ll thank you with a copy of the Executive Report The Business Technology Optimization Audit: Finding the Make Money/Save Money Zone. Please respond ASAP – this survey closes 6:00 am (Boston time) Friday, May 29.

2009 Trends Research: Economy hasn’t taken IT’s eye off the strategy ball

Kim Leonard | Feb 23, 2009 No Responses

Feb 232009

2009 Trends Research: Economy hasn't taken IT's eye off the strategy ball

Every year, the IT trends issue is one of Cutter Benchmark Review’s most popular, probably because of CBR‘s unique approach to looking at the trends. This is the fourth year expert practitioner Jeroen van Tyn and academic Dennis Adams bring their divergent experiences to the table to analyze our trends survey. As always, they’ve delivered some surprises. According to van Tyn, the recent downward economic spiral has predictably put IT in the spotlight as a target for cost reduction, but “Despite the increased pressure to save money, IT organizations are not just running for the tall grass. Combined with rather predictable cost-saving measures, we see solid trends toward maintaining strategic focus over the long haul. …

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