It’s great to have a line that’s far above the rest. It’s great to see that in the Magic quadrant, it’s great to see that in a wave, it’s great to see that in any industry report. But what does it all mean? The technology provider I understand that corporate executives like dashboards, spreadsheets, charts and graphs. These are the tools that many of them used to run their businesses day-to-day. But what does it mean to see a spike in the line; or what does it mean to see a drop in the line? The key to any reporting capability is to have solid analysis and analytics. For instance a marketing executive needs to know why the dramatic spikes in news reference volume from some vendors and not others. That same executive would also want to consider why search trends don’t follow news volume.
The technologies that allow you to come to conclusions based on data is inherently more powerful than the technology that just gives you reports. Reporting is a capability that has been built into even the most basic of managed file transfer technologies. But true analysis and analytics is only available from a handful of suites. But think about this for a moment, if the differentiation between one vendor in the next is not in the breadth and depth of security; it is not in the breadth and depth of protocol and communications support and then where is the differentiation? I would argue that the differentiation exist on the ability to give corporate leaders the information that they need to make corporate decisions that drive shareholder value.
Being able to track orders and shipments in relationship to external events and trends is inherently more powerful than just looking at green light that says all files sent were received. (Not to undermine that type of reporting is very necessary, but as companies projects mature analytics and analysis will take center stage.) Regardless of where you implement your file transfer technologies you should ensure that you are comparing the capabilities and functionality of that vendors analysis and analytics offering.
About fkenney:
Frank Kenney is Vice President, Global Strategy and Product Management at Ipswitch, responsible for defining the company's vision and strategy and integrating his global perspective into the products, services and messaging. Frank brings an unmatched depth of experience and knowledge in the managed file transfer space to the team. Most recently, Frank was a Research Director at Gartner, Inc., responsible for analyzing topics including managed file transfer, application integration, SOA, and business process management. He initiated and drove the Magic Quadrants on managed file transfer and SOA governance technologies. Before joining Gartner, Frank was Director of Creative Services and Content Distribution at the Executive Business Group. Frank holds a degree in Music Technology from the Center for the Media Arts and has studied English and Computer Science at University of Tampa. When not working, Frank can be found living the life of a frustrated musician and producer in his home studio in Tampa.
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