For CIOs

CIOs: Develop A Technology Watch List

The Top 15 Technology Trends To Watch

by Sharyn Leaver, November 13, 2009

As IT executives set out their strategies and plan for 2010 and beyond, they must determine what the top technology trends are for their business and gauge IT's ability to support the next phase of technology innovation and growth. To help, Forrester . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

The Top 15 Technology Trends EA Should Watch

by Alex Cullen, October 6, 2009

IT organizations need to inform their annual and longer-term plans with an understanding of how changes in technology will enable business outcomes. EA groups are the logical leaders for this effort. Forrester has identified 15 technologies with the greatest . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Untamed Business Processes: When Even The Best Of Intentions Go Awry

by Craig Le Clair, August 21, 2009

A business process — at its highest level — is any activity that helps an enterprise achieve its goals. Packaged and industry-specific applications form the transactional backbone for most critical business processes in enterprises and small and medium-size . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Complex Event Processing (CEP) Platforms, Q3 2009

The Fledgling CEP Platform Market Is Vibrant, Competitive, And Dynamic

by Mike Gualtieri, John R. Rymer, August 4, 2009

Forrester evaluated nine complex event processing (CEP) platforms using 114 criteria and found Progress Software and Aleri to be standout Leaders because of their top scores in the event processing features and strategy categories. Solid features and . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: The Doctors Company Innovates While Rebuilding Its Core Systems

Business Rules, Prototyping, And Agile Support Growth To No. 1 In Field

by John R. Rymer, July 2, 2009

The Doctors Company (TDC), the largest national insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability in the US, provides lessons on how to use business rules platforms and Lean development to raise the pace of application delivery. At the same time, TDC . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Must You Choose Between Business Rules And Complex Event Processing Platforms?

Understand The Sweet Spots Of Each To Make An Informed Decision

by Charles Brett, Mike Gualtieri, January 21, 2009

How can you choose between investing in a business rules platform and a complex event processing (CEP) platform? The answer is not as easy as saying "a business rules platform is for rules" and "CEP is for events." Each platform strives to facilitate . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: Hypo Real Estate Enables Credit Risk Professionals With Business Rules

Achieve Greater Agility, Transparency, And Compliance In An Uncertain Regulatory Environment

by Mike Gualtieri, January 5, 2009

Uncertainty in lending regulatory requirements is putting pressure on credit risk modelers to become more responsive. Munich-based Hypo Real Estate Group (HRE), an international banking specialist for commercial real estate markets and the public sector, . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Application Development Pros: Must-Read Research In Any Economic Downturn

by Mike Gilpin, October 28, 2008

Whether the economy slips into recession or not, many firms are starting to tighten their budgets. Although this means even more limited resources than usual, the business will continue to expect application development teams to deliver high-quality, . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Best Practices In Implementing Business Rules

Empower Your Business Users To Author And Maintain Business Rules

by Mike Gualtieri, John R. Rymer, October 3, 2008

Business rules platforms are a key enabler of today's architectural imperative to build for constant change. Why? In large part because business rules platforms give business analysts the authoring tools they need to maintain decision logic that is usually . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: California Association Of Realtors Innovates With Business Rules

Automating Forms Decisions Allows Realtors To Spend More Time Selling

by Mike Gualtieri, John R. Rymer, October 3, 2008

The California Association of Realtors implemented business rules to help its 175,000 member realtors efficiently complete more than 600,000 residential real estate transactions per year. How? By using business rules to create an application that automatically . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

A Taxonomy Of Event Processing For Enterprise Architects

Many Forms Of Event Processing Are Becoming Hot; Guide Your Team By Understanding Them

by Charles Brett, August 18, 2008

IT professionals — and increasingly business users, as well — commonly use terms such as event processing, business event management, complex event processing, and various other similar expressions. But confusion about what each represents is rife, in . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The Truth About Business Rules Algorithms

Authoring Flexibility Is Just As Important As Execution Performance

by Mike Gualtieri, July 24, 2008

The algorithm you select to process your business rules can make a big difference in the authoring flexibility and execution performance of your application. Confusing vendor messaging, the indirect relationship between authoring tools and runtime algorithms, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How The Convergence Of Business Rules, BPM, And BI Will Drive Business Optimization

by Boris Evelson, Colin Teubner, John R. Rymer, May 14, 2008

With change endemic, business flexibility paramount, and the lines between strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making blurring, information and knowledge management (I&KM) pros must find new application architectures for a new generation . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Business Rules Platforms, Q2 2008

ILOG, Fair Isaac, Pegasystems, Corticon, And Haley Lead, But Innovations Software Technology Is Also Very Strong

by John R. Rymer, Mike Gualtieri, April 8, 2008

Forrester evaluated 13 platforms from 11 vendors using 175 criteria and found ILOG JRules, Fair Isaac Blaze Advisor, and Pegasystems PegaRULES to be resounding Leaders as general-purpose business rules platforms. Haley Limited (Haley Expert Rules), Corticon . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Trends: Business Rules Platforms 2008

by John R. Rymer, December 21, 2007

Three key trends are driving the market for business rules platforms. First, vendors are bearing down on "authoring" tools and processes that allow businesspeople to directly create and maintain business rules. Second, the independent vendors are adding . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Business Rules And SOA Ease The Burden Of Regulatory Compliance

An Enterprise Rules Approach Provides One Set Of Rules For All Apps

by Mike Gualtieri, November 15, 2007

Leading financial services institutions have combined business rules platforms with service-oriented architecture (SOA), creating an effective strategy for enforcing enterprisewide compliance. Failure to comply with regulatory requirements such as anti-money-laundering . . .

A Business Rules Environment Decreases The Cost Of Fraud Detection

by Henry Peyret, June 21, 2006

For several years, governments have been asking banks to track potential money-laundering activities. This process requires a throughput of at least 10 million exchanges per hour — a volume that business rules engines have so far had trouble coping with. . . .

How Insurers Should Pick Business Rules Engines

by Marc Cecere, April 7, 2006

Insurance firms are increasingly interested in automating business processes. To make this move, they'll need to choose between embedded and independent rules engines. The embedded engines that are included with applications like policy administration . . .

The Forrester Wave™: Business Rules Platforms, Q1 2006

ILOG, Fair Isaac, And Pegasystems Lead In Our Lab-Based Evaluation

by John R. Rymer, January 4, 2006

To assess the state of the business rules platform market and see how the vendors stack up against each other, Forrester evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of top business rules platform vendors across 174 criteria. Business rules platforms are an . . .

ILOG Leads In Business Rules Platforms For Java

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by John R. Rymer, January 4, 2006

ILOG is a leader in business rules platforms, primarily based on the strength of its JRules product. JRules is a broad, Rete-based platform for business rules application development and enterprise rules management that has close affinity to the Java . . .

Haley Systems Leads In Business Rules Platforms For Business Analysts

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by John R. Rymer, January 4, 2006

Haley Systems occupies a unique position in the market, combining the depth of a rules technology veteran with a leading-edge platform for business analysts. Haley has been operating for 15 years and has now created this evaluation's top-ranked business . . .

Microsoft: A Good, Basic .NET Option In Business Rules Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by John R. Rymer, January 4, 2006

Few Forrester clients seem to know that Microsoft has a Rete-based business rules platform. The Microsoft Business Rule Engine (BRE) is included with BizTalk Server 2004 for creating sophisticated decision logic within business process management (BPM) . . .

Resolution EBS Pushes The Boundaries In Business Rules Platforms For Business Analysts

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by John R. Rymer, January 4, 2006

Resolution EBS is one of the upstart innovators in business rules, building on its unique algorithm, Directed Graph Combinatorics. Rete-based algorithms organize rules for processing one at a time in sequence, whereas Resolution's algorithm processes . . .

Fair Isaac Is The Deepest Business Rules Platform

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by John R. Rymer, January 4, 2006

Fair Isaac is a Leader in business rules platforms, and its Blaze Advisor is a broad, Rete-based platform for business rules application development and enterprise rules management. The vendor not only sells it as a standalone product, but also bundles . . .

InRule Technology Pushes The .NET Boundaries For Business Rules Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by John R. Rymer, January 4, 2006

InRule Technology is one of the innovative upstarts in the business rules market — an ambitious restart of a solutions consulting firm as a products company. InRule's Rete-based business rules platform is anchored by a developer IDE and also provides . . .