Ventana Research Unveils 2018 Research Agenda for Business and Technology Markets

    BEND, OR, January 31, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Ventana Research, the leading business technology research and advisory services firm, today unveiled a sharply focused and digitally innovative research agenda for 2018. This agenda, which continues the firm's 15-year history of research and its extensive reach with both buyers and users of business technology, details the areas expertise the firm will focus on for 2018. The research detailed in this agenda will provide continued support to enable businesses to utilize their technology and resources efficiently and effectively and operate and perform well.

This 2018 research agenda reflects an innovative shift in the firm's view of how and why business will need to embrace digital technologies at a brisk pace to remain effective in the market. The research focuses on a number of key digital technology innovations that are changing the way business operates: analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain, bots and natural language processing, digital collaboration, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, and wearable computing. The research will assess the impacts of these technologies in finance, human resources, sales, marketing, customer service, operations, supply chain and IT functions in more than 20 industry categories.

Building on last year's introduction of its newest research offering, Ventana Research in 2018 will launch more Ventana Research Dynamic Insights assessment surveys, along with new market research initiatives that will enable the firm to provide cutting-edge guidance on best practices and market trends. This innovative research helps guide buyers to prioritize their efforts and ensure they are able to reach their optimal outcomes.

This research agenda, produced annually, is designed to enable businesses to plan and gain insights from trends and best practices so they can retain and advance their competitive edge in 2018. It also highlights the unique experience- and research-based services Ventana Research provides and distinguishes them from the less rigorous offerings of other advisory or consulting firms. The firm provides some of the most authoritative guidance available on best practices to support informed technology choices, using a rigorous research methodology and experience gained from more than 15 years in the industry. Ventana Research has benchmarked tens of thousands of organizations, differentiating it from any other analyst firm in the industry. Its research and education is provided directly to a community of members worldwide.

"In 2018, businesses will see a major shift in the role technology plays in their organization," said Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer of Ventana Research. "This is a year to focus on how emerging technologies can optimize business potential. Explosive growth in AI, machine learning, processes automation and natural language processing will create disruptive shifts in every line of business. To capitalize on these changes, companies will need to ensure they are relying on authoritative advice and best practices guidance that helps improve the people, processes, information and technology in their business - advice and guidance based on research from a firm that engages with them and their peers and measures how they achieve these tasks. IT-focused analyst firms that still operate in the dark ages of IT focus and technology categories lack the business context and digital effectiveness to effectively prioritize the application and digital technology investments that matter the most to organizations.

"A line-of-business focus such as ours enables us to offer the incisive guidance on digital innovation that is required to move beyond legacy approaches to focus on investments for the future," Smith said. "We are excited to again provide our comprehensive research agenda, an agenda that's publicly available and built on research and our ongoing review of how applications and technologies actually work. We encourage any organization evaluating a research and advisory services firm to examine its agenda for relevance and importance before making any investment. New to our agenda in 2018 are research assertions that outline what we believe will be key market and organizational insights pulled from our independent research and decades of industry experience."

Ventana Research is the only technology analyst firm that publicly posts its research agenda and framework for an entire year and provides free access to market research. Merely providing an analyst note or listing reports to be written does not constitute a useful research agenda; it merely announces the use of an approach not built on fact-based market research and full product evaluations. "Our market- and primary research-based approach and our focus on educating buyers in an efficient and digital manner more clearly than ever differentiates our firm from the array of others," Smith added.

For more information about the research agenda, please visit any of our expertise pages, Analytics, Customer Experience, Data, Digital Technology, Human Capital Management, Marketing, Office of Finance, Operations & Supply Chain, or Sales, and download the research agendas for business and technology areas most important to your needs now. Look also for Ventana Research's daily benchmark research facts via its social media channel on Twitter at @VentanaResearch and on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ventana-research

About Ventana Research

Ventana Research is the most authoritative and respected benchmark business technology research and advisory services firm. We provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies through a unique set of research-based offerings including benchmark research and technology evaluation assessments, education workshops and our research and advisory services, Ventana On-Demand. Our unparalleled understanding of the role of technology in optimizing business processes and performance and our best practices guidance are rooted in our rigorous research-based benchmarking of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions in every industry. This benchmark research plus our market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver education and expertise to our clients to increase the value they derive from technology investments while reducing time, cost and risk.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; business and IT professionals worldwide are members of our community and benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. To learn how Ventana Research advances the maturity of organizations' use of information and technology through benchmark research, education and advisory services, visit www.ventanaresearch.com.

# # #