Cisco Cisco WebEx Social for Mobile White Paper
Forrester Consulting
Integrated Cloud Applications Have The Potential To Boost Employee Collaboration And Business Agility
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Figure 1
Business Leaders Invest In Collaboration Software As We Emerge From The Recession
Business Leaders Invest In Collaboration Software As We Emerge From The Recession
Base: 298 North American midmarket software decision-makers
(“Don’t know” responses have been omitted)
Source: Forrsights Software Survey, Q4 2011, Forrester Research, Inc.
Businesses Embrace The Cloud For Portions Of Their Collaboration Portfolio
Today’s global and mobile business environment requires information workers to communicate and collaborate
with people both behind and outside of the corporate firewall. These employees need tools that are easily accessible
to those inside and outside of the company — something that is not easily accomplished with on-premises software,
which requires tunneling through the firewall to facilitate external access. Over the past five years, the relatively
inexpensive computing power available in the cloud has unleashed a myriad of small vendors that provide
collaboration solutions — such as file sharing and social software — that naturally sit between companies,
providing a DMZ where multiple parties can interact.
with people both behind and outside of the corporate firewall. These employees need tools that are easily accessible
to those inside and outside of the company — something that is not easily accomplished with on-premises software,
which requires tunneling through the firewall to facilitate external access. Over the past five years, the relatively
inexpensive computing power available in the cloud has unleashed a myriad of small vendors that provide
collaboration solutions — such as file sharing and social software — that naturally sit between companies,
providing a DMZ where multiple parties can interact.
Employees initially brought many of these tools into businesses on their own, as many of these vendors target
individuals or teams with low-priced or free offerings. However, as technology decision-makers implement and
expand their collaboration technology portfolios, they now also embrace the cloud — more than half of the
application decision-makers we surveyed indicated that they currently use or plan to use collaboration software-as-
a-service (SaaS) (see Figure 2). This doesn’t mean that these leaders want to move all collaboration technology into
the cloud; like their employees, the bulk of these leaders using or considering collaboration SaaS want to use it in
specific ways to fill gaps in their collaboration capabilities.
individuals or teams with low-priced or free offerings. However, as technology decision-makers implement and
expand their collaboration technology portfolios, they now also embrace the cloud — more than half of the
application decision-makers we surveyed indicated that they currently use or plan to use collaboration software-as-
a-service (SaaS) (see Figure 2). This doesn’t mean that these leaders want to move all collaboration technology into
the cloud; like their employees, the bulk of these leaders using or considering collaboration SaaS want to use it in
specific ways to fill gaps in their collaboration capabilities.
“What are your firm’s plans to adopt the following packaged (not custom) business applications?”
13%
21%
22%
30%
33%
39%
42%
43%
20%
17%
11%
29%
21%
23%
16%
22%
12%
8%
8%
10%
8%
6%
6%
6%
14%
11%
11%
7%
8%
8%
5%
5%
16%
24%
18%
12%
17%
15%
17%
12%
21%
16%
22%
6%
7%
4%
8%
3%
Collaboration software
Content management software
Software that supports an industry-
specific process
Business process management software
Learning management software
Project portfolio management software
Order management software
ePurchasing software
Not interested
Interested but no plans
Planning to implement in a year or more
Planning to implement in the next 12 months
Implemented, not expanding
Expanding/upgrading implementation