The Bay Area Executives Meetup has announced that Michael Wu, Principal Scientist of Analytics at Lithium Technologies, will join Tuesday's "Super Panel on Influence" -- what it is, who has it, what value it brings to business. R Ray Wang, Altimeter Group, moderates the panel, also featuring Michael Brito, Edelman, Barbara French, Tekrati, and Ali McCourt, Intuit. Register now.

WHAT

The next meeting of the Bay Area Executives Meetup will feature a lively panel on influence, "The Many Facets Of Influence: How to Outreach, Engage, and Build Trust with Key Stakeholders"

The panel will engage with the participants and provide perspectives on these critical questions about influence:

1.  What is influence and how do we align it with business value?

2.  The myths vs. realities of influence

3.  Key success factors of influence

4.  Identifying influencers: who and why?

Bring your questions, join the conversation, and engage!

The Bay Area Executives Meetup is a community of Silicon Valley Executives interested in discussions related to Social CRM, Enterprise 2.0, Social Business. The group is hosted and organized by Tatyana Kanzavel.

Event hashtag: #baexec

SPEAKERS

R Ray Wang, Altimeter Group (Panel Moderator) (blog)

Michael Brito, Edelman Digital (blog)

Barbara French, Tekrati (blog)

Ali McCourt, Intuit (community)

Michael Wu, Lithium (blog)

WHEN

Tuesday, August 24th. Dinner Networking 6:30 - 7:00 PM Panel 7:00 - 8:30 PM.

WHERE

Samovar Conference Hall, 1077 Independence Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043. 650-743-1145.

COST

Tickets are $20 in advance, $30 at the door and include gourmet food and wine. Space is limited; advance registration is recommended at http://www.meetup.com/BayAreaExecutives/calendar/14281183/

Influencer marketing is progressing from hype and trial-by-fire campaigns to sensible strategies and accepted best practices. Tekrati managing editor Barbara French will discuss influence -- what it is, who has it, what value it brings to business -- on a panel with R Ray Wang, Michael Brito, Ali McCourt and Tony Welch at the Bay Area Executives Meetup tomorrow evening at the Samovar Conference Hall in Mountain View, Calif. Register now.

The next meeting of the Bay Area Executives Meetup will feature a lively panel on influence, "The Many Facets Of Influence: How to Outreach, Engage, and Build Trust with Key Stakeholders"

The panel will engage with the participants and provide perspectives on these critical questions about influence:

1.  What is influence and how do we align it with business value?

2.  The myths vs. realities of influence

3.  Key success factors of influence

4.  Identifying influencers: who and why?

Bring your questions, join the conversation, and engage!

The Bay Area Executives Meetup is a community of Silicon Valley Executives interested in discussions related to Social CRM, Enterprise 2.0, Social Business. The group is hosted and organized by Tatyana Kanzavel.

Event hashtag: #baexec

SPEAKERS

R Ray Wang, Altimeter Group (Panel Moderator) (blog)

Michael Brito, Edelman Digital (blog)

Barbara French, Tekrati (blog)

Ali McCourt, Intuit (community)

Tony Welch, HP (blog)

WHEN

Tuesday, August 24th. Dinner Networking 6:30 - 7:00 PM Panel 7:00 - 8:30 PM.

WHERE

Samovar Conference Hall, 1077 Independence Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043. 650-743-1145.

COST

Tickets are $20 in advance, $30 at the door and include gourmet food and wine. Space is limited; advance registration is recommended at http://www.meetup.com/BayAreaExecutives/calendar/14281183/

Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) will host 3 new role-focused Forums -- the CIO Forum, the Business Process and Application Delivery Forum, and the Content and Collaboration Forum -- on October 7-8, 2010 at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

"Role-based events are just one of the ways in which Forrester is positioned to address the unique challenges IT professionals face when trying to balance their day-to-day job with staying in front of the next big wave of technology change," said Julie Meringer, managing director of Forrester's IT client group. "Our focus on business technology enables attendees to capitalize on these changes and radically rethink the way they implement and manage IT."

Find information on all upcoming Forrester Research Forums at the link below.

Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) recently announced its second quarter ended June 30, 2010 financial results. Total revenues were $64.7 million, compared with $61.6 million for the second quarter of last year.

On a GAAP-reported basis, Forrester reported net income of $6.9 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, compared with net income of $6.2 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, for the same period last year. The effective tax rate for the second quarter of 2010 was 39 percent compared with 48 percent for the same period last year.

On a pro forma basis, net income was $8.2 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2010, which reflects a pro forma effective tax rate of 40 percent. Pro forma net income excludes stock-based compensation of $1.4 million and amortization of $0.9 million of acquisition-related intangible assets. This compares with pro forma net income of $8.8 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, for the same period in 2009, which reflects a pro forma effective tax rate of 40 percent. Pro forma net income for the second quarter of 2009 excludes stock-based compensation of $1.3 million, amortization of $0.7 million of acquisition-related intangible assets and net investment losses of $1.0 million.

“We had a robust second quarter,” said George F. Colony, Forrester’s chairman of the board and chief executive officer. “All of our key client metrics continue to trend upward, so we are increasing guidance for the full year and reinvesting in the business. Forrester’s financial performance year-to-date continues to demonstrate that our role-based strategy resonates with our clients now more than ever.”

Find the complete financial results release at the link below. Contact Forrester for information about its results webcast replays.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Greentech Media (GTM) Research are partnering to collect and publish data and analysis on solar photovoltaics (PV). The market research will concentrate on solar power (CSP) and solar heating and cooling (SHC) markets in the U.S.

SEIA and GTM Research will release quarterly and year-end reports covering upstream and downstream solar markets with an emphasis on installations, component costs and domestic manufacturing for each solar technology.

“As a rapidly growing industry, it is vital for solar companies to have high quality, reliable data that highlights market trends and emerging sectors,” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA. “Our collaboration with GTM Research will greatly help SEIA in our effort to expand the U.S. solar market in the coming years and to meet our goal of installing more than 10 gigawatts of solar annually by 2015. That’s enough to power 2 million new households each year.”

The partnership’s first report will be published in October 2010. GTM Research will collect primary installation, capacity, cost and manufacturing data directly from solar energy companies via sector-specific surveys to provide an accurate historical and forecasted outlook on the industry.

“We are excited to partner with SEIA to track the U.S. solar market on a state-by-state basis and offer members of the industry an unprecedented level of detail on the market’s status, opportunities, and outlook," said Shayle Kann, Managing Director of Solar Research at GTM Research.

The Global Automotive Practice of Strategy Analytics recently announced the addition of Richard Robinson as a Director for the Automotive Multimedia and Communications Service (AMCS). This service focuses on in-car multimedia/infotainment, telematics and semiconductor technologies.

Mr. Robinson brings a background in vehicle navigation and Human-Machine Interface (HMI) design. Before joining Strategy Analytics he led interface design breakthroughs including the world’s first production automotive-interface using Macromedia Flash in 2004 (Jaguar XK) -- which also found its way into the Land Rover Freelander and the Jaguar XF at Alpine electronics. He was a key HMI consultant on several award-winning OEM navigation systems for Honda and Acura including consulting work on the first navigation head unit with a DVD-Audio drive and surround sound (2004 Acura TL) (JD Power No.1: 2001-2005).

Prior to joining Strategy Analytics, Mr. Robinson had been a principal analyst leading iSuppli’s research on automotive infotainment and telematics.

Mr. Robinson's extensive automotive industry background further enhances the Strategy Analytics highly experienced automotive team at a time when the infotainment and telematics markets are more dynamic than ever.

Mr. Robinson says, “It’s an exciting time for me to join the automotive team at Strategy Analytics. Car makers and their suppliers are wrestling with challenging questions that represent unique opportunities for Strategy Analytics to bring its multi-faceted resources to bear for both syndicated and project-oriented client work touching automotive hardware, software, services and applications.”

Pike Research launched a Green IT Advisory Service, a subscription-based information tool that provides market intelligence and strategy insights for companies seeking to improve the energy efficiency of information technology operations, as well as those looking to leverage IT for energy management applications.

The service analyzes opportunities for greener data centers, telecommunications networks, and electronics products, as well as emerging markets for IT in energy management and smart grid systems, among others.

“The global IT industry faces a unique opportunity to reduce its own energy costs and carbon footprint, in addition to having a substantial impact on the energy efficiency of other industries,” says managing director Clint Wheelock. “Energy has often been an afterthought in IT circles, however it is fast becoming a key priority as well as a significant business opportunity.”

As part of its Green IT service, Pike Research’s industry analysts offer timely and actionable market insights, covering specific technology and business sectors as well as overall market conditions and trends. Research reports include an in-depth examination of business models, technology issues, policy and regulatory factors, the competitive landscape, and market sizing, segmentation and forecasting.

A key differentiator of Pike Research’s coverage, says Wheelock, is its unique blend of qualitative and quantitative research. The new service offers significantly more granularity and depth of analysis than traditional IT analyst research, and provides clients with perspectives from the firm’s broader coverage of the cleantech and energy industries.

A few of Pike Research’s key forecasts about the emerging Green IT market include the following:

• Green data center investment will grow to represent 28% of the total worldwide data center market within the next five years, increasing in value from $7.5 billion annually in 2009 to $41.4 billion by 2015. 
• Carbon management software and services will also be increasingly adopted by enterprises in the coming years, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 40% between 2009 and 2017. 
• Fixed and mobile telecommunications network operators are utilizing more energy efficient infrastructure equipment in addition to renewable energy power sources. By 2014, 4.5% of the world’s mobile base stations will be powered by renewable energy. 
• Utilities will invest $21 billion in smart grid cyber security during the period between 2010 and 2015, as the industry works to address the vulnerability of the electrical grid to hackers, terrorists, natural disasters, and other threats. 
• Energy Management Systems (EMS) are being utilized by commercial building property managers to optimize energy consumption in their facilities. Pike Research estimates that the EMS market is currently only 14% penetrated, providing a significant opportunity for new industry players. 

Pike Research’s Green IT Advisory Service analyzes emerging trends and business models related to the opportunity for greater energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions in the global information technology industry. Areas of focus include energy efficiency solutions for data center operations, telecommunications networks, and the global electronics supply chain, as well as an examination of the opportunities for IT to be harnessed for energy management and smart grid systems. The service also provides quantification of the energy efficiency benefits for telecommuting, videoconferencing, and cloud computing. The service includes access to more than 15 of the firm’s in-depth Research Reports per year, in addition to unlimited Analyst Inquiry access.

Executive Summaries and further information about the Advisory Service are available for free download on Pike Research’s website.

The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT), a global strategic advisory and operations improvement consulting firm, last week announced its financial results for the second quarter, which ended July 2, 2010.

Second quarter 2010 revenue was $53.7 million, a 55% increase from the same period in 2009. Pro forma diluted earnings per share were $0.08 for the second quarter of 2010, as compared to $0.02 for the same period in 2009. Pro forma information is provided to enhance the understanding of the Company’s financial performance and is reconciled to the Company’s GAAP information in the accompanying tables. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.10 for the second quarter of 2010, as compared to $0.00 for the same period in 2009.

At the end of the second quarter of 2010, the Company’s cash balances were $19.1 million. During the quarter ended July 2, 2010, the Company repurchased 682 thousand shares of its common stock at an average cost of $3.02 per share for a total cost of approximately $2.1 million. On August 5, 2010 the Board of Directors increased the Company’s stock repurchase plan authorization by an additional $5.0 million. As a result, the Company’s current remaining authorization is approximately $7.4 million.

“We had an outstanding quarter with improved performance across all service groups,” stated Ted A. Fernandez, Chairman & CEO of The Hackett Group, Inc. “We feel that our offerings are well-aligned with the current economic recovery which requires organizations to stay highly focused on market conditions and strong operational execution.”

Based on the current economic outlook, the Company estimates total revenue for the third quarter of 2010 to be in the range of $51.5 million to $53.5 million, and estimates pro forma diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.07 to $0.09.

Other Highlights

REL Working Capital Research – New working capital research was released by REL, a division of The Hackett Group, and CFO Magazine, showing that the impact of the global recession made it dramatically harder for the 1000 largest public companies in the U.S. to collect from customers and manage inventory last year. The research, which was featured in a cover story in the June issue of CFO, showed that the largest U.S. companies saw working capital performance deteriorate by over 8% in 2009, the largest decline in more than 5 years. According to REL's research, top performing companies collected from customers 17 days more quickly than typical companies in 2009. They also operated with less than half the inventory on hand, and extended payment terms by an additional 10 days.

Supplier Diversity Research – New research from Hackett found that while world-class procurement organizations continue to outperform their peers in driving supplier diversity spending, most companies still make major errors in how they operate and measure the performance of their supplier diversity efforts. Most rely on overly simplistic measures to evaluate the progress of supplier diversity programs, and never truly assess whether programs are meeting corporate objectives. Most companies also fail to consider whether having a few large suppliers or many smaller suppliers best supports their corporate goals.

SAP Qualifies Answerthink’s EzIMC™ solution - Answerthink, a division of The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT) announced that its EzIMC offering for the industrial machinery and components industry is now a qualified SAP Business All-in-One partner solution. Answerthink's EzIMC supports the entire business value chain from design to service, including product life-cycle management, order-to-cash management, supply chain planning and execution, engineer to order, make to order and/or make to stock strategies, procure to pay process, service management and financial management. The package is a completely preconfigured, documented, industry-specific, and ready-to-run version of the SAP ERP application combined with SAP Best Practices offerings and Answerthink's expertise with industrial machinery and components companies.

Visit the link below for the complete results release and replay of the webcast, both available as of this posting.

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry, last week reported results for second quarter 2010 and increased its outlook for full year 2010 revenue and earnings. In addition, the Company announced that a new $500 million share repurchase program has been authorized by its board of directors.

For second quarter 2010, total revenue was $314.2 million, up 16% year-over-year both as reported and excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Net income increased 17% year-over-year to $20.1 million and diluted income per share increased 11% year-over-year to $0.20. Net income and diluted income per share were negatively impacted by Acquisition Adjustments totaling $3.6 million after tax, or $0.04 per share. Diluted Income Per Share Excluding Acquisition Adjustments increased 33% year-over-year to $0.24 and Normalized EBITDA increased 22% year-over-year to $53.7 million. See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for a discussion of Normalized EBITDA and Income Per Share Excluding Acquisition Adjustments.

Gene Hall, Gartner's chief executive officer, commented, "During the second quarter, our top line growth continued to accelerate in all three of our businesses and our earnings exceeded expectations. The success of our initiatives to improve sales effectiveness and enhance the value provided by our services, coupled with a stronger sales environment, drove these results. We are solidly back on track to deliver double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the long-term.”

Business Segment Highlights

Research

• Revenue for second quarter 2010 was $209.1 million. Year-over-year, revenue was up 14% as reported and 13% excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Gross contribution margin was 65%, unchanged year-over-year. 
• Contract value was $872.2 million at June 30, 2010. Year-over-year, contract value was up 19% as reported and 14% excluding the impact of foreign exchange. 
• Client and wallet retention rates for second quarter 2010 increased to 81% and 93%, respectively, versus 77% and 86%, respectively, for second quarter 2009. Wallet retention excludes the impact of foreign exchange. 

Consulting

• Revenue for second quarter 2010 was $75.8 million. Year-over-year, revenue was up 9% as reported and 10% excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Gross contribution margin increased 2 percentage points year-over-year to 42%. 
• Second quarter 2010 utilization increased to 71% versus 68% for second quarter 2009. Billable headcount was 440 at June 30, 2010 versus 459 at June 30, 2009. Backlog at June 30, 2010 was $93.6 million, up 15% year-over-year. 

Events

• Revenue for second quarter 2010 was $29.3 million. Year-over-year, revenue was up 75% both as reported and excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Gross contribution margin increased 6 percentage points year-over-year to 39%. 
• During second quarter 2010, the Company held 21 events with 9,697 attendees as compared to 14 events with 5,108 attendees during second quarter 2009. 

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet Highlights

During second quarter 2010, cash provided by operating activities increased 46% year-over-year to $69.6 million, including the negative impact of $2.6 million in Cash Acquisition and Integration Charges. Additions to property, equipment and leasehold improvements (“Capital Expenditures”) were $4.3 million. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a discussion of Cash Acquisition and Integration Charges.

The Company deployed its cash principally to repurchase 1.64 million shares of its common stock for a total cost of $39.9 million and to reduce its total debt net of cash by $26.5 million. As of June 30, 2010, the Company had total debt of $357.0 million and cash of $122.4 million.

New Share Repurchase Program

Gartner also announced that its board of directors has authorized the use of up to $500 million for the repurchase of its common stock. Repurchases are subject to the availability of stock, prevailing market conditions, the trading price of the stock, the Company's financial performance and liquidity needs and other conditions. The program will be funded from cash flow from operations and possible borrowings.

Financial Outlook for 2010

Based on its strong results year-to-date and outlook for the remainder of the year, Gartner increased its full year 2010 projections for total revenue, diluted income per share, Diluted Income Per Share Excluding Acquisition Adjustments and Normalized EBITDA. In addition, Gartner reiterated its projections for cash provided by operating activities and Free Cash Flow. On a segment basis, Gartner increased its full year projections for revenue growth excluding the impact of foreign exchange (FX Neutral) for all three of its business segments. On an as reported basis, Gartner increased its projections for Events segment revenue and reiterated its projections for Research and Consulting segment revenue.

Visit the link below for the complete financial results release and replay of the webcast, both available as of this posting.

Tier1 Research, an IT analyst firm owned by The 451 Group, announced the return of its highly successful Hosting and Cloud Transformation Summit – North America. The event will be held on September 13-15 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

For the sixth consecutive year, HCTS-NA will bring together industry leaders, including C-level and other senior executives from hosting and colocation service providers, independent software vendors and SaaS (software-as-a-service) providers, investors and investment bankers, as well as an increasing number of enterprise customers.

Registration for HCTS-NA is now open, and additional information can be obtained from the event website: http://www.hsvsummit.com/na/2010. Typically a sell-out event, the number of attendees is limited, ensuring an intimate environment.

"The Hosting & Cloud Transformation Summit is the only event of its kind to bring together such high-caliber attendees from every area of the Internet infrastructure sector," said Antonio Piraino, Tier1's Vice President & Research Director and Conference Chair. "Industry leaders from organizations of all sizes attend this summit year after year because they can depend on the insight received from our analysts and the networking opportunities with forward-thinking executives and investors."

The three-day event will feature panel discussions directly related to the hosting and colocation sector. There will also be new panels focused on the impact of cloud computing on the hosting sector, enterprise cloud adoption, the role of systems integrators and software vendors in the cloud, and the challenges of security in the cloud. Antonio Piraino will deliver the first analyst keynote on the repositioning of hosting providers as they attempt to remain competitive and relevant in the new cloud landscape, and will discuss how the datacenter and hosting world is reacting to the advent of cloud computing in the enterprise space.

"Increased enterprise adoption of cloud computing poses a real threat to the hosting and colocation providers that have not taken the next step up in their business model," said Piraino. "While previous HCTS-NA events focused on plans and strategic business directives to target the booming cloud opportunity, this year we're emphasizing ways to execute and compete in this environment, including marketing of differentiated services to niche customers and effective investing."

In addition to the learning and networking opportunities that HCTS-NA provides, attendees will be able to sign up to receive 30-minute one-on-one sessions with analysts from Tier1 Research and 451 Research and consultants and experts from the Uptime Institute to discuss a variety of topics, including the current market and economic climate, business models and value propositions, partners and competitors, and the latest industry advancements. Sessions will be booked on a first-come, first-served basis.

This year's event will be sponsored by some of the most noteworthy companies in the industry, including: Microsoft, CA Technologies, DH Capital, Quality Technology Services, Signal Hill, OnApp, Alert Logic, Blue Mountain Labs (Bick Group), Cloudsoft, Cloud.com, CommVault, CoreSite, Hewlett-Packard, Interxion, Lee Technologies, Media Venture Partners, Mezeo, Nimsoft, Novell, Schneider Electric, Stifel Nicolaus, StillSecure, TelecityGroup, Verizon Business, ViaWest, Latisys and NeuStar.