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Document & Content Solutions: The Professional Services Opportunity

# Pages: 100+
Publication Date: December 2005
Services: Dynamic Content Software Strategies
Region: North America

Introduction

Documents and content are an essential part of nearly all business processes. They affect how organizations communicate, officially record and reference transactions, and capture information for later use. The growing interest in document and content-based solutions is driven by numerous business needs and initiatives.

To address these needs, organizations implement a variety of technologies. A single product rarely satisfies an entire need, and implementing a solution is never as simple as deploying new hardware and installing new software. A range of professional services are required to sculpt the technologies into real solutions from which organizations can directly derive business benefits.

To that end, organizations utilize their own IT resources to implement, integrate, and deploy document and content-based solutions. They often supplement this effort with external resources, and sometimes nearly completely outsource the services. Our research has shown that organizations turn to many different sources for assistance, including technology providers, system integrators, professional service firms, full solution and managed service providers, and consultants.

This is a fragmented market, and many hands are in the pot. What factors do companies consider when procuring external professional services? What is the balance of strategic, advice-oriented consulting versus hands-on implementation experience that companies prefer to buy? How important is an understanding of the business process that is driving the need? What type of organization is best positioned to capitalize on this opportunity?

The primary objectives of InfoTrends' study are to profile the document and content professional services opportunity and the provider landscape, and to identify the practices and strategies required for successful market engagement and deployment. This study will provide the foundation to effectively target and sell to this growing market segment.

Project Objectives

InfoTrends' study will answer the following questions:

• Which aspects of document and content projects do organizations need external professional services for?
• Which specific skills are most needed for projects?
• In which technologies and standards must a provider be proficient?
• Which factors are considered more important when an organization compares professional service providers?
• What business and solution domain expertise is valued most?
• How important are global capabilities?
• Who is involved in determining which professional service providers to hire? Who makes the final decision?
• What is the landscape of service providers?
• Which perceptions exist based on past experiences in working with various types of (or specific) service providers?
• How do companies want to purchase services? Do they prefer fixed price, time and material, value-based solution pricing, technology & services from one provider, etc.?
• How are service providers measured?
• Which factors determine if a complete solution should be outsourced as a
  managed service

Who Should Subscribe

• Document and Content Solution Providers
• Managed Service Providers
• IT and System Integration Service Providers
• Technology Vendors with document and content-related products
• CIOs, IT Directors, and others involved in purchasing professional services for document and content solutions

Project Deliverables

The final report will include extensive analysis of primary and secondary research to develop a comprehensive understanding of professional service expenditures for document and content solutions, including best practices and InfoTrends' recommendations. The materials will include:

• An executive summary that addresses key issues, findings, and overall recommendations
• A detailed written report with text and charts addressing the objectives of the study
• A set of presentation-style overheads for internal communication of the research results
• Data tabs, charts, and a questionnaire from the study
• An optional, on-site briefing

Getting Started

For more information on the study or to sign up as a participant, contact Alison Hipp at + 1 , ext. 126 or via e-mail at . Early subscriber discounts are available until April 29, 2005.