In this Executive Report, we discuss the major sets of options currently available to business and IT planners today concerning their current legacy systems: leave them alone, replace them with COTS, replace them with open source applications and components, or replace them with state-of-the-art service-oriented architecture (SOA) or cloud applications. The report suggests that there are problems with all of these approaches and discusses the primary characteristics that the core application systems of the 21st century should include. Principal among these characteristics are that they should: (1) be platform-agnostic, (2) utilize agile development environments, and (3) be semantically aware.

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In January 2008, Cutter Consortium conducted a survey of 101 end-user organizations regarding their use of business performance management practices. The goal was to determine the degree to which companies are implementing business performance management techniques and technologies. In addition, I wanted to identify business performance management development issues and trends, discern how companies are progressing with their initiatives, and provide findings you can use to measure your own organization's business performance management efforts.

More than half of end-user organizations undertaking business performance management initiatives are required to make changes to existing business processes in order to support implementing their performance management solutions. This finding comes from a Cutter Consortium survey conducted in January 2008 of 101 end-user organizations (based worldwide). The survey was designed to measure the extent that organizations are implementing business performance management and the techniques and tools they are using as well as the issues they are encountering in their efforts.

Learning management systems (LMS) are fast becoming standard business applications, a strategic solution for planning, delivering, and managing all learning events within an organization, including online, virtual classroom, and instructor-led courses. Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS), which enable just-in-time content creation to meet the needs of individual learners or groups of learners are also quickly becoming a companion standard business app.

Spend an hour with Lance Dublin and learn how your IT organization can ensure your enterprise truly maximizes the return on its LMS/LCMS investment.