About

Welcome to the KnowledgeForward blog! My goal is to provide information and ideas that help organizations get their knowledge-based Information Technology initiatives moving forward. I have been a technology industry analyst and consultant since 1998 and have been lucky to be deeply embedded with software vendors, end users, and thought leaders at the crux of many technologies as they have taken off, such as:

• Web Application Servers
• Enterprise Portals
• Rich Internet Applications (RIA)
• Business Process Management (BPM)
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Enterprise Attention Management and Information Overload (ok, those aren’t technologies, but they are near and dear to my heart)

I have found it fascinating to see how industry consensus emerges around new technologies and concepts and to follow their acceptance from geeks (“Isn’t this a great new technology?”) to VCs (“Wow! Look how much money we can make!”) to end users (“What can this really do for me today?”). I continue researching new areas with a healthy dose of skepticism, applying the lessons I’ve learned so far to each.

I was at META Group for seven years (before its acquisition by Gartner Group). I moved over to Burton Group in May of 2006 where I am now an analyst covering enterprise portals, content globalization, collaboration platforms (especially SharePoint since I helped to create and deliver our intro and advanced SharePoint Strategy Workshops), attention management (information overload, interruption science), virtual worlds, and the executive view of collaboration. In addition to being an analyst, I’m also a Service Director for a Collaboration and Content Strategies service where I have a great team of analysts to work with: Mike Gotta, Guy Creese, Larry Cannell, and Bill Pray. The future of collaboration and content looks equally promising and confusing – my favorite combination!

–Craig Roth

Want more detail on what I write about?  Here are some quick Wordle charts taken from my papers! Click on one for a larger view.