Benchmarking, or the analysis of operational costs, productivity, and service levels in a comparative context of market standards, is a firmly established management tool. 

If you're a small or mid-sized business thinking about virtualization, particularly in the world of Microsoft, it makes sense to upgrade your database servers as well. This article explains why to upgrade and provides several examples of companies that have successfully made the move. 

In this article, Kaplan, of Harvard Business School, and Norton, founder and director of the Palladium Group, explain how to effectively manage both strategy and operations by linking them tightly in a closed-loop management system, which comprises five stages. 

Master data management (MDM) tools are on the rise as more companies look toward ways to solve all their data needs through one system. This expert e-guide from our editorial team features two articles with exceptional insight on what vendors and trends are prevailing in the current MDM market. 

This e-book, packed with four expert articles, highlights SAP's solution to sales order management, offering insight into its CRM, ERP and supply chain management components. Read these insightful articles now to learn about this option's strengths and weaknesses, how to properly define the sales process and so much more. 

<p>Read this expert article to discover exactly what your managers needs to know about software testing. Find tips on how to make processes run more smoothly and ways to make sense of large quantities of data to make the most informed decisions possible.</p> 

<p>This e-guide features editorial articles with insight from IT industry consultants and technology professionals on the importance of data quality as well as advice for ensuring a successful program.</p> 

This White Paper is intended to help organizations who are attempting to set up an enterprise architecture practice. It shows how organizations can use a modular, iterative, and incremental approach in order to develop an architectural capability that is otherwise a large and complex undertaking. 

<p>Read this article to hear from experts Dorothy Graham and Mark Fewster as they discuss the takeaways from 28 test automation case studies in agile application development. Learn how you can implement test automation in your organization quickly and easily.</p> 

This e-guide features two shop-floor quality-control articles from our award-winning editorial team. Read on to learn critical advice for increasing your manufacturing without compromising compliance or quality. 

This editorial e-guide features two articles on choosing the right master data management (MDM) software and how to convince your executives to invest in MDM tools. 

Your next software implementation doesn’t have to be a nightmare. It can be done faster and with less training and without the need for upgrades or continued training. Read this paper to learn about the Plex Online implementation and training process, a process perfected over hundreds of successes. 

This edition of BI Trends and Strategies opens with a piece by Lou Agosta on the need for data warehouses to adapt to new data types, innovation and big data. Alan R. Earls also offers advice for incorporating spreadsheets into your BI programs without problems and Richard Herschel calls for universities to step up their BI and analytics programs.