210 interviews were carried out in March 2009 with major companies in the USA, Europe and Asia/Pacific regions. The companies surveyed had minimum annual revenue of $200m. Almost half (46%) had annual revenue of more than $1bn.

The business sectors targeted, Telecommunications service providers and Travel & Leisure companies, were selected specifically because of the measurable impact lost, stalled or failed transactions have in the form of lost revenue, upset customers and high IT costs. Throughout this research the term "business transactions" refers to the orders both Telecommunications service providers and Travel and Leisure companies (looking at reservations specifically) accept from customers and businesses across multiple channels. In order for a phone to be provisioned or a room booked, for example, a series of transactions must take place across a distributed IT environment. And in difficult economic times, it is essential these transactions run smoothly and efficiently as they interact with various systems.

To establish how well companies are set up to manage transaction assurance, we surveyed individuals with senior roles in enterprise architecture, application delivery, development or support. Where variances in regional response or by size of business occur and are worth noting they appear in a separate information box.

As the following pages will demonstrate, the evidence is that improving Business Transaction Assurance presents a real bottom-line opportunity and is moving high up the business agenda. However, companies' current systems are not equipped with the necessary tools to manage and control such transactions.