In terms of technology and research, there is every suggestion that the 21st century has started out as the age of customisation - Google and the internet; music, movies and iPods; content and RSS. The trend follows the maturation of certain technology and process channels. Research is no different. Since 1979 companies have been coming to grips with the power of technology through industry-specific research. Gartner, META Group, Yankee, Aberdeen and others all led the way through the channel known as syndication. So what about Australia's research greats?

Major Australian organisations are perplexed by a market that provides little national context for ICT investment. Yet such is the repetitive call for action that there can be no question as to Australia and New Zealand's possession of a rich vein of technology companies capable of providing high-end solutions to local corporate markets. Correctly assessing, benchmarking, ranking and marketing them in comparison to the international economy remains a crap-shoot which the Government and research industry has not been able to adequately address.

Organisations are increasingly conscious that the individual disciplines of enterprise architecture, governance, project management, and service management provide only myopic solutions to the systemic issues of failed projects, misaligned offerings, and poor service delivery of ICT. Increasingly, portfolio management is dawning as a new solution and is fast breaking ground from a maturing area of focus to respected enterprise practice.