ISG Provider Lens™ Research (Archetype & Quadrant) are dedicated studies of relevant offerings related to specific IT or BPO topics or service lines over multiple regions (see “IPL Project Plan” for details). Leading vendors and service providers are evaluated and positioned, based on a transparent methodology.
The studies provide IT vendors and providers an informed base of data and research to enable them to compare their own offerings with those of relevant competitors and to reveal strengths and weaknesses as well as competitive differentiators and unique selling points. Our study serves as an important decision-making basis for positioning, key relationships, and go-to-market considerations. ISG Advisors and enterprise clients also leverage information from these reports in evaluating their current vendor relationships and potential new engagements.
Vendor positioning is based on a neutral and independent research and evaluation process. Participation in the study is FREE OF CHARGE. Vendors can purchase reprint rights of the study for marketing, press and sales purposes only AFTER the study has been completed.
A project brochure with further information can be obtained by clicking on the following graphic:
Definition of Quadrants (market categories)
Below you will find the detailed definitions of the market categories evaluated in the study "Cloud Transformation/Operation Services & XaaS 2019". As part of the ISG Provider LensTM Quadrant Study, we are introducing the following quadrants:
Segments Description
Public Cloud Transformation – Consulting and Integration
Public cloud infrastructure consulting and implementation services firms assist enterprises in navigating the complexities of adopting a public cloud-computing environment. Their services typically include the following.
Advisory services: creating a business case for cloud, identifying workloads for migration, assessing organizational impact, addressing risk/compliance issues and/or advising on migrating applications from the existing environment to a public cloud provider environment.
Implementation services: configuring the cloud environment, migrating and integrating applications and/or optimizing the architecture to exploit the cloud computing features and benefits.
For this study, we exclude the creation of private clouds, as it is covered in a separate study on datacenter outsourcing and transformation. Accordingly, Public Cloud Consulting and Implementation will be confined to the adoption of public cloud services as well as integrating them with on-premises e
Managed Public Cloud Services
Public cloud managed services providers (MSPs) provide managed services on top of third-party public cloud IaaS platforms. At a broad level, these services include proactive monitoring, automation and management of the customer’s cloud environment, aiming to maximize the performance of the workloads in the cloud, reduce costs and ensure compliance and security. Services provided typically include:
- Monitoring of CPU, storage, memory, databases, operating systems etc.
- Upgrades and patching
- Expense management
- Governance, security and compliance management
- Cloud management platforms
- Support service such as incident management
This survey excludes Managed Services for private clouds as that topic is covered in a separate study on datacenter outsourcing and transformation.
SaaS – ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is category of business-management software that includes integrated application modules that enterprises utilized to collect, store, and manage business activities within the organization. ERP business planning and management software (for instance, for the retail, production or business services sector) traditionally includes modules such as: marketing, sales, purchasing, human resources, finance & accounting, controlling and master data management, product lifecycle management, supply chain management (purchasing, manufacturing and distribution), warehouse management, sales order processing, online sales, and decision support systems. Please note: The first questions you answer related to Europe and Pan America will ask you to identify which countries you operate from within Europe and Pan America. Subsequent answers to questions related to Europe and Pan America will apply collectively to those countries you identified.
SaaS – CRM
CRM software streamlines the process of all those activities that seek to link a business to a customer or vice versa. It provides a centralized repository for all customer data, allows collaboration between sales people, provides a platform for customer engagement through marketing, sales and service related activities. CRM as a Service refers to a CRM system that is accessible on any system with an internet connection. Data fields, overviews and reports are easily customized - with little or no need for consultants. Unlike an on-premises application a Cloud CRM solution isn’t purchased outright or owned by a customer. The customer doesn't pay an upfront cost to purchase but instead pays a monthly subscription to use the service. This will also include all CRM upgrades and service updates. Please note: The first questions you answer related to Europe and Pan America will ask you to identify which countries you operate from within Europe and Pan America. Subsequent answers to questions related to Europe and Pan America will apply collectively to those countries you identified.
SaaS – Enterprise Cloud Filesharing
File Sharing as-a-Service offering collaboration for enterprise organizations and their employees, vendors, customers, and contractors. Functionality includes file storage of business-related documents that are accessible via a browser, desktop, or mobile application. The file sharing service is a searchable file service enabling real-time authoring and document collaboration, workflows, and team related services. File Sharing as-a-Service also includes a marketplace of 3rd party integrations including email and productivity, social media, and project management. Please note: The first questions you answer related to Europe and Pan America will ask you to identify which countries you operate from within Europe and Pan America. Subsequent answers to questions related to Europe and Pan America will apply collectively to those countries you identified.
iPaaS – Integration Platforms
iPaaS (Integration Platform-as-a-Service) providers provide on-demand capacity for performing integration between application workloads that have incompatible data formats or structures. These integration offerings typically include pre-defined data formats for popular software packages (e.g., SAP) and capabilities to relocate data within and across records, and restructure the format of data (e.g., translate data from decimal to floating point). In addition, some offerings may include optional functionality (e.g., data cleansing) These offerings may include various pricing/contracting options such as on-demand, reserved capacity, etc. Please note: The first questions you answer related to Europe and Pan America will ask you to identify which countries you operate from within Europe and Pan America. Subsequent answers to questions related to Europe and Pan America will apply collectively to those countries you identified.
aPaaS – App Development Platforms
Application PaaS (aPaaS) provides platforms for creating, operating and monitoring applications and is a significant part of the overall PaaS market offering; this is a field of business offered by providers and technology organizations where ecosystems for applications operations or go-to-market programs are provided. aPaaS market offerings are numerous, varying from early app-centric services to testing and development scenarios, based on public clouds, to hosted private cloud variants. Please note: The first questions you answer related to Europe and Pan America will ask you to identify which countries you operate from within Europe and Pan America. Subsequent answers to questions related to Europe and Pan America will apply collectively to those countries you identified.
IaaS – Enterprise IaaS
Enterprise Cloud providers provide on-demand infrastructure commonly referred to hosted private cloud (enterprise cloud) including specialized services for enterprises customized to their specifications. These infrastructure offerings typically include user-specifiable quantities of server, memory, storage, and network capacity. In addition, some offerings may include optional software (e.g., Operating System, data base manager, etc.) and optional functionality for availability (e.g., data redundancy). These offerings may include various pricing/contracting options such as on-demand, reserved resources, etc. Workloads in this category are not enabled within hyperscale public cloud services. This allows for increased enterprise flexibility with contracts, security, regulatory, pricing, location, hardware choice, and other options not potentially available with hyperscale services. Enterprise cloud does not include services within on premises data centers owned by the customer but may include hybrid cloud connection capabilities with private and public clouds. Please note: The first questions you answer related to Europe and Pan America will ask you to identify which countries you operate from within Europe and Pan America. Subsequent answers to questions related to Europe and Pan America will apply collectively to those countries you identified.
Iaas – Public Cloud Hyperscale IaaS
IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) providers provide on-demand infrastructure commonly referred to as Public Cloud. These infrastructure offerings typically include user-specifiable quantities of server, memory, storage, and network capacity. In addition, some offerings may include optional software (e.g., Operating System, data base manager, etc.) and optional functionality for availability (e.g., data redundancy). These offerings may include various pricing/contracting options such as on-demand, reserved resources, etc. However, this category does not include options for Private Cloud infrastructures which will be covered in a separate category. Please note: The first questions you answer related to Europe and Pan America will ask you to identify which countries you operate from within Europe and Pan America. Subsequent answers to questions related to Europe and Pan America will apply collectively to those countries you identified.Functional expertise assesses office worker mobility, applied mobility in sales functions, specialization in factory floor mobility solutions, and field service management solutions such as maintenance and support.
