Planview® has been named a "Leader," the highest possible designation, in three new Forrester Research Wave reports that evaluated portfolio management solutions for tech management and business technology (BT) as well as strategic planning tools (Forrester's first evaluation of planning solutions). Forrester Waves are developed to help role professionals - in this case enterprise architects, business technology strategists, and portfolio managers/project management office (PMO) professionals - select the right partner for their needs.
"For 25 years Planview has had a single focus on portfolio and resource management. We are proud to have been designated as a Leader across all five of these Wave segments, and we believe this expansive body of research emphatically validates our commitment to our customers and this growing market," said Patrick Tickle, chief product officer for Planview. "We feel this new coverage of strategic planning breaks new ground and shows the increased market interest in an area where we have invested for years as a company."
Linking strategy and execution - facilitated by cross-organisational planning capabilities - is a theme Planview found in all three Forrester reports outlining the five Wave segments, authored by Margo Visitacion and Gordon Barnett with Alex Cullen and Abigail Komlenic. For instance, in "The Forrester Wave™: Portfolio Management Tools For The BT Agenda, Q1 2015," March 13, 2015, the authors write: "In the age of the customer, business and technology partners must have unparalleled visibility into strategic and execution plans in order to direct critical resources on the initiatives needed to win, serve, and retain their customers."
Distinguishing the Leaders
Technology Management (™) Portfolio Management Tools: Planview is designated a "Leader" in "The Forrester Wave™: Portfolio Management For The Tech Management Agenda, Q1 2015," March 18, 2015. In this category, Forrester counsels tech management professionals to look at accessibility, extensibility, and integration as key differentiators: "Standalone, bottom-up planning technology no longer effectively supports the needs of tech management leaders. Extensible solutions with streamlined integration capabilities that support hybrid planning and delivery practices in an intuitive UI will dictate which providers lead the pack."
BT Portfolio Management Tools: Planview is designated a "Leader" in the "The Forrester Wave™: Portfolio Management Tools For The BT Agenda, Q1 2015," March 18, 2015. This report advises EA and PMO professionals that the following features are key differentiators among vendors in this space: "Improved real-time analytics, collaboration, and self-service planning and access to metadata dictate which providers will lead the pack. Vendors that can provide these capabilities in an easy and intuitive user interface position themselves to successfully deliver visibility into opportunities and provide performance management to their customers."
Strategic Planning Tools: Planview is designated a "Leader" across all three Wave segments spanning BT strategists, enterprise architects, and portfolio managers, as outlined in "The Forrester Wave™: Strategic Planning For The BT Agenda, Q1 2015," March 13, 2015. For BT strategists, Forrester says: "The agility required to take advantage of new opportunities or meet customer demands requires them {firms} to have greater transparency into the strategic planning process and have access to a broad range of performance data to improve decision-making." Organisations should focus on "…self-service, integration with execution, and data source solutions as well as provide agility through real-time collaboration and feedback" to differentiate between the leading vendors.
