Archive for January, 2010

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Event Report: Oracle-Sun Raises The Stake In the Stack Wars

Published on January 27, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

Oracle Rolls Out A New “Red Stack”
With EU approval out of the way, Oracle finalizes the Sun deal and resumes its quest for the largest share of the IT wallet. Oracle’s 60+ acquisitions follow a concerted strategy and Sun adds key areas such as servers and storage. The stack now comprises Vertical Apps, Horizontal Apps, Middleware, Database, Operating Systems, Virtual Machines, Servers and Storage (see Figure 1). Customers and prospects can expect more details on each of the integration points and how Oracle’s engineering teams will collaborate to bring interoperability to the stack.

Figure 1. Oracle’s Expanded “Red Stack”
screen-shot-2010-01-27-at-103025-am

Customers and Prospects Can Expect Oracle To Follow Its M&A Playbook

As with previous Oracle acquisitions, the Redwood Shores, CA vendor intends to increase the aggregate investments in R&D, support, and sales. Where possible, Oracle plans to create innovations among the stack but also significant barriers to entry. Back office functions and other inefficiencies will most likely lead to an elimination of positions. Oracle will reach out to customers with a 70 city tour to address concerns, consider feedback, and discuss future road maps. Investment in new SPARC chips represents one example of how Oracle will continue innovation post acquisition. Despite not buying any fabs, Oracle will continue the development of four new SPARC chips beyond the current US-T3. Key feature sets will include new processor cores, higher frequencies, smaller sizes (e.g. 40 nm to 28 nm). Expect more cores, higher frequencies, larger caches, next gen memory, next gen IO, improved power management.

The Bottom Line For Customers – Organizations Gain Efficiencies But Must Balance Lost Of Leverage And Choice

Charles Phillips referenced the gold standard “IBM” experience of the 1960′s. As Oracle tries to recreate the vertical stack, the software vendor promises to keep building on open standards. Given the economies of scale achieved, Oracle can commit $4.3B towards building an integrated “Red Stack”. Should Oracle succeed, they will eliminate a lot of waste that IT leaders have faced with integration, security, and scalability. “One throat to choke” brings significant appeal given complexity in today’s technology.  However, customers must carefully balance the risk (i.e. the lack of competition and the complexity of owning multiple, yet disparate technologies) with the benefits (i.e. improved integration and cost effective innovation).  Consequently, customers will want to preserve third party maintenance rights as industry consolidation will continue and they will need to keep some level of choice and balance in the marketplace.


The Bottom Line For Vendors – The “Red Stack” Creates A Major Force In Competing For IT Wallets
Vendors competing or partnering with Oracle must take note to understand the new dynamics in the technology vendor “Stack Wars”. Oracle’s model to directly sell to its top customers, ask partners to specialize to create customer and Oracle value, and increase dominance in R&D investment, will force smaller competitors to rethink relationships and potentially create new alliances. Partners must carefully think about their long term competitive strategy or else maximize exit strategies in the short term. Those partners who spend time building and providing solutions on the Oracle “Red Stack” will profit the most. Those partners in the way of Oracle’s long term tech strategy will become major competitors.

Your POV

Do you bet on the RedStack? Are you ready to go with one throat to choke? Do you trust Oracle as your IT partner?  Would you like some choice in the third party market?  Would you like to learn how to:

  • Assess whether the “Red Stack” is for your organization
  • Determine how to keep leverage in Oracle contracts
  • Reduce your overall cost of support
  • Identify which Oracle partners to work with

Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Related Links And Resources

20100127 SearchOracle.com/TechTarget – Ed Scannell “Oracle lays out its vision for a Sunny future”

20100127 IDG News Service – Chris Kanaracus “Oracle promises top-notch support for Sun customers”

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Wednesday’s Whispers: People Whispers – January 2010

Published on January 26, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

PEOPLE WHISPERS: MOVES, PROMOTIONS, AND MILESTONES*

As always, thanks for your emails and alerts. If you’ve got a change or know of a promotion, keep dropping me a line! If you need a referral, and we’ve worked together in the past, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via Linked In.

Roger Bottum became VP of Marketing at SpringCM, a SaaS content management player this past November.  Roger formerly served as Acresso Software’s SVP of Marketing. Other senior marketing roles include work for companies such as Axentis, Endeavor Information Systems, and Arrowsight.  Other companies include  System Software Associates, Accenture, and Pansophic Systems.

David Buckholtz has been promoted from Vice President, Enterprise Technology & Quality at Sony Pictures Entertainment to Vice-President, Divisional CIO of Enterprise & Corporate Technology at Sony Pictures. Previous roles include Senior Architect at GXS and Chief Architect and Six Sigma Blackbelt at General Electric.

Gerard Corbett, APR, Fellow, PRSA is now Board Director at ADP Technology (Asia) Ltd and Secretary and Member of the Board of Directors at Public Relations Society of America. Corbett brings significant PR experience with work as the Co-Chair, The 2008 International Conference at Public Relations Society of America, and VP and Genera Manager at Hitachi America, Ltd.

Michael Corkery was appointed as CFO for Deltek.  Previous roles include serving as the CFO and Acting CEO for ICO Global Communications.  Corkery’s experience reflects a telecommunications technology background with other executive roles at Current Group, LLC; Nextel Communications; Berliner Communications, XO Communications, and AT&T Wireless

Stephen DePooter is now Chief Information Officer at Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs. He brings significant IT and healthcare experience from serving as a System Director, Applications at Memorial Health System, IT Security Analyst at Horace Mann, IT Security Consultant at MSF&W, and various roles at Emory Healthcare.

Justin Floyd became the CEO and Co founder of RedCloud Bank in October 2009.  Former roles include serving as an Investor at CCL Group plc and Investor and Chairman/CEO at Vecta

Bill Geist became President at Turning Point Management LLC in October 2009 after serving as COO, Global Services at  CDC Software.com.  Other former positions include CEO at Application Partners LLC; Senior Vice President at Headstrong, Inc.; Partner, Southeast Region at Wavebend Solutions, LLC (BDO Seidman consultancy); Partner, Branch Manager at Whittman-Hart; Director, Group Manager at Cambridge Technology Partners; VP, Information Technology & Services at Scientific Atlanta; and VP, Information Services at Reichhold.

Glenn Gruber is now AVP, Market Development, Travel Technologies at Ness Technologies.  Glenn has served many marketing roles including AVP, Strategic Marketing at Symphony Services Corp.; Product Line Manager at Parlex Corporation; Director of Marketing – RFID/Smart Cards at Power Paper, Inc.;VP, Sales and Marketing at Golden Screens Interactive; and Director of Marketing and Business Development at Kyocera Electronics, Inc.

Alexis Karlin is now Digital Marketing Specialist at Neolane. Prior to Neolane, Alexis served as Web Producer from 2007 to 2009.  Former roles include work as an Interactive Developer at Feinstein Kean Healthcare and Web Adminstrator at Cognos

Andrew Kisslo has an updated current title: Sr. Product Manager, Competitive Strategy, Software as a Service at Microsoft

Marina Kosmatos is now Marketing Communications Manager at Tagged.   Her former roles include significant travel experience roles as Managing Editor at Offbeat Guides and Commissioning Editor- Caribbean Islands and Jamaica at Lonely Planet.

Joanne McCool became Executive Director at Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce in December 2009.  McCool brings a track record of getting  “projects” done.  She’s served as an Advisory Board Member at PSVillage; Chief Operating Officer at Ternary Software; VP / General Manager (Evolve) at Primavera Systems, Inc.; and VP Human Resources at Primavera Systems.

Tamara Mendelsohn was promoted to Director of Marketing at Eventbrite.   She brings tech marketing experiences from Apple and her work as an Senior Analyst at Forrester Research.

Michael O’Kelly rejoins as IT Director at International Aid in December 2009.  Please make donations if you care to.

Jessie Paul is now CEO at PaulWriter.  After a 5 year career as CMO of Wipro and 15 years in the corporate environment, Jessie’s teamed with Paul Writer to start her new venture.  The new concern will build on her deep marketing experiences that include Head of Worldwide Marketing at iGATE Global Solutions; Global Brand Manager at Infosys Technologies; and account executive at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

GV Rao has become Global Head – Oracle Alliances & BD at Mahindra Satyam

Bruce Richardson joins Infor as Chief Strategy Officer.  The legendary IT analyst from AMR Research brings unparalleled experience as Infor makes major shifts in 2010.

Pascal Sero has updated his current title to VP Oracle Asia R&D Centers.  He’s been with Oracle for more than 2 decades.

Joseph Stanhope is now Senior Analyst at Forrester Research.  Stanhope brings various experiences from Alterian where he served as VP of Platform Strategy, Director of Global Product Marketing, and Director of Marketing.  Other roles include VP of Marketing at MarketerNet, LLC and Senior Product Manager at Experian

Bob Suh is now Founder and CEO at OnCorps.  Bob brings heavy technology expertise with past roles such as Chief Technology Strategist at Accenture; President, Consulting and SI at Perot Systems Corporation; and Managing Director at CSC Index

Jari Tavi became Head of Operations and Innovation at Loyalty Agent Ltd. ,a stealthy startup, in October 2009.  Past roles include CEO and Partner at Hotelzon Technologies and Development; Head of Technology at Berling Capital; and CTO at BasWare. Jari brings a passion for new ideas and crucial startup thinking.

John Taschek has an updated current title to Vice President, Strategy at Salesforce.com

Anders Trolle-Schultz is now Chairman of the board at Eurocloud, Denmark.  Anders has taken his passion for SaaS to another level and builds on experiences as a Sales Director at Crayon; Nordic Marketing & Business Development Manager at Norsoft A/S; and Management Consultant & Partner at Fornebu Consulting A/S

Mitch Wagner is now Principal at Mitch Wagner Communications. Mitch brings over 25 years of tech media experiences including many of the initial web and social initiatives at United Business Media/CMP.

Zia Yusuf is now an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at both Sutter Hill Ventures and  Norwest Venture Partners. Zia brings a wealth of experiences including a 10 year career at SAP and experiences at the WorldBank.

Your POV

Got a scoop or something to share? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com and we’ll keep your anonymity.

* Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions.  However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Personal Log: Welcoming Alan Webber and Lora Cecere to Altimeter Group!

Published on by R "Ray" Wang

Altimeter Group Adds Supply Chain and Public Sector Coverage

Our enterprise strategy clients continue to seek advice on how to apply disruptive technologies to change their business models, innovate around their processes, or adjust their organizational structure.  We’re seeing demand for a point of view that may start with customer strategy and end with supply chain management or begin with government innovation and move quickly to social CRM.  This approach requires deep industry experience and a holistic approach that encompasses topics, industries, market sizes, and or roles.  As we grow, we will continue to add individuals with a passion for collaboration and innovation. In fact, we’ve already added Valerie Cachola as our operations manager, who will keep the planes in the air.  And as part of our growth plan for Altimeter Group and the Enterprise Strategy practice, please welcome the latest Altimeter Group partners Alan Webber and Lora Cecere!

Alan Webber, Government Innovation

Headshot Alan Webber

With a strong focus on making organizations more efficient and more effective, Alan helps government agencies manage the impact of emerging and disruptive technologies and improve interactions between government and citizens and businesses. Returning to his roots, Alan will also be helping organizations understand the impact and role of clean technologies and sustainability in business.

Alan has more than 16 years of business and government management and technology experience working with commercial and government clients around the globe. Prior to striking out on his own and joining Altimeter Group, Alan was a Principal Analyst at Forrester Research where he covered government and the B2B user experience.  Prior, he led various strategic planning, performance management, eGovernment, and Web initiative efforts for the US government at the Department of the Interior and the National Science Foundation.

When it comes to cross collaboration, Alan will mesh well with the other Altimeter team members. Together with Jeremiah Owyang, Alan will be helping government agencies and leaders use social media to better engage with citizens and businesses. Alan and Ray Wang advising clients on the implementation of ERP and CRM systems in the public sector.

Connect with Alan on twitter at @AlanWebber, or read his blog.

Lora Cecere, Supply Chain Management

Headshot Lora Cecere

With deep experience in using enterprise applications to drive supply chain excellence, Lora provides early adopters with a first mover advantage. For software vendors, Lora provides strategic guidance in go to market strategies; reviews and designs software licensing, pricing, support, and maintenance policies; delivers competitive assessments; evaluates software partner ecosystems; and actively researches the evolution of business processes like supply chain compliance, deduction management, order-to-cash effectiveness, supply chain metrics, and emerging supply chain processes.

Her analyst experiences include Vice President roles at Gartner Group and most recently at AMR Research.  Before serving as an industry analyst, Lora was a line-of-business user/buyer and a builder of enterprise solutions.  She’s launching a new blog, Supply Chain Shaman , and is on
Twitter at @lcecere.

Your POV

Got topic ideas for coverage?   Interested in working at Altimeter Group?  Got a disruptive technology or business model?  Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwareinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Related blog posts discussing this announcement.

Alan Webber’s post on his blog - Alan update – Joining Altimeter Group!

SageCircle - With expansion and professionalism, Altimeter Group raises its relevance with both enterprises and vendor analyst relations

Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang - Growth at Altimeter Group: Supply Chain Management, Government Innovation

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Monday’s Musings: The Hidden Value In SaaS Deployments

Published on January 25, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

Gains In SaaS Adoption Driven By Speed And Cost Savings…

Preliminary data from Q4 earnings data show continued traction among SaaS solutions.  Expect SaaS deployments to gain steam in 2010 as organizations finalize their SaaS apps strategies to take advantage of 7 key benefits:

  1. Richer user experience – SaaS apps bring Web 2.0 usability to the enterprise world through rich internet applications using Adobe Air, HTML 5, Microsoft Silverlight, and other tools.
  2. Rapid implementation – SaaS applications focus on configuration and integration, not hard core implementation.  Users can be up in weeks, not months.
  3. Frequent cycles of innovation - At present, most vendors introduce new functionality, enhancements, and bug fixes on frequent refresh cycles.  Some vendors provide as frequent as weekly updates, others – seasonal.
  4. Minimal upgrade hassles – Users focus on minimal testing scenarios and receive updates all at once.  In applications with significant regulatory and tax updates, SaaS applications reduce the cost of compliance by as much as 77%.
  5. Always on deployment – Organizations can expect average up-time levels at 99.95% or higher for most applications.  These results often exceed existing on-premise performance.
  6. Subscription pricing – Subscription pricing reduces the capital burden of common on-premise payment models.
  7. Scalability – Organizations can add or subtract users as needed without worrying about procuring new hardware and other infrastructure.

Moreover, latest Information Week Analytics survey reaffirms several key benefits of SaaS adoption – time to market and cost savings (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Information Week Analytics Survey Confirms Trends In Adoption

Information Week Analytics 2010 SaaS survey

…Yet, Aggregated Information Provides The Differentiated Value To Clients

Despite the obvious benefits with SaaS deployments, three hidden advantages will emerge with market maturity:

  • Benchmarking. SaaS vendors sit on a tremendous treasure trove of data.  Participating organizations could opt-in to share secure and masked information for the purposes of business optimization.
  • Trending. Organizations could also opt-in to identify larger market trends.  Trending information could be used to help organizations with planning.
  • Prediction. More sophisticated organizations will take SaaS vendor trending data and design new algorithms to support predictive analytics.  The richness and consistency of the data set will improve accuracy.

The Bottom Line For SaaS Vendors – Create Additional Value As An Information Broker

The end game for SaaS vendors may not be a re-creation of the on-premise world in the Cloud.  In fact, those vendors with a true multi-tenant SaaS model may turn out to find additional revenue streams as information brokers.  Expect demand for premium information-on-demand services to begin with benchmarking and evolve to prediction.  For example, imagine the benefits gained by organizations who consume the latest buying behavior data from their CRM vendors.  Organizations could turn to HCM vendors for geographical salary or hiring trends.  Customers of financial vendors could better predict credit risk factors.  A key requirement – customers must trust their SaaS vendor’s data ownership and privacy policies before the industry makes this transformation.  With acceptance, vendors will have more reasons to move to a SaaS offense.

The Bottom Line For Organizations – Determine Your Data Rights Before You Sign The Contract

Organizations in SaaS deployments will want to preserve the their data rights and minimize their cost structures to consume aggregated information.  A few key areas should be considered:

  • Data usage. Organizations generally assume that the data belongs to the organization while the software belongs to the SaaS vendor.  To be safe, organizations will want to be clear that rights to use data will require an organization’s permission.  In addition, the disposition of data should be made clear
  • Data access. Organizations should expect unhindered access to raw data, queries, and extraction.  Access to data should not require additional fees.
  • Aggregated data cost. Organizations participating in aggregated data programs should be given preferential treatment not only in cost, but also access to data.  The cost of this “stone soup” approach should be factored in pricing.

Your POV

Where are you in your SaaS deployment?   Have you thought about these long-term benefits? Looking for assistance with crafting, validating, or reviewing your SaaS Apps Strategy?  Do you have a different point of view? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwareinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Other Useful SaaS Strategy Links

20091222 Tuesday’s Tip: 10 Cloud and SaaS Apps Strategies For 2010

20091012 Research Report: Customer Bill of Rights – Software-as-a Service

20090602 Tuesday’s Tip: Now’s The Time To Consider SaaS Software Escrows

20081028 Tuesday’s Tip: SaaS – Integration Advice

20090714 Sandhill.com – R ‘Ray’ Wang – “Opinion: Moving to a SaaS Offensive”

20070903 Trends: What’s all the fuss about True SaaS, OnDemand, Hosting?

20091208 Tuesday’s Tip: 2010 Apps Strategies Should Start With Business Value

20091109 Monday’s Musings: SaaS, SOA, Integration and How To Make A Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich In The Cloud

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Monday’s Musings: Next Generation CIO’s Face 11 Skill Shifts In A Disruptive World

Published on January 18, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

The Era Of CIO Dictatorships Ends With 2009

Less than 5 years ago, the mighty CIO controlled his or her organization’s destiny by shepherding multi-million dollar projects and ruling with a fist. Business leaders had to pay homage to the IT team and they hated it.  The economic crisis, advent of the cloud and SaaS, and the massive number of IT failures have rapidly changed the role of the CIO.  Saddled with the burden of maintaining legacy projects and faced with a shortage in budget and resources, businesses now move around the IT team as they must meet a flurry of business requirements.  CIO’s have lost a lot of control in guiding how technology is used in the enterprise because the world of consumer tech has out innovated enterprise class technologies.

CIO’s And Their Organizations Challenged By The Pace Of Change In The 2010′s

Similar to this past decade, organizations will face massive amounts of change in the next decade.  While change is nothing new to CIO’s and their organizations, the velocity of change has increased – to a point where the rate of obsolescence outpaces the rate of change.  Conversations with over 200 CIO’s this year reveal an anxiety in remaining nimble, cutting costs, and just keeping up with change.  CIO’s must rapidly respond to disruptive forces in the market, workforce dynamics, business models, and pace of technology adoption (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.  Four areas of change responsible for major disruptions in today’s organizations

screen-shot-2009-12-21-at-112559-am

(Source: R Wang & Insider Associates, LLC)

The Bottom Line – The CIO Role Shifts To Match Next Gen Enterprise Requirements

What’s the role of the CIO in this next gen enterprise?  Well, next gen CIO’s must help organizations navigate complexity while realizing the benefits of a solid business technology strategy.   While the immediate focus may be on hot topics such as security and risk, third party maintenance, cloud and SaaS, and email replacement and unified communications, there are significant transformations across 11 broader skill sets (see Figure 2.)  Next Gen CIO’s must begin the process of transforming themselves and organizations in 2010 to meet the demands of the decade, anticipating the disruptive business models, technologies, and processes to come.

Figure 2. Eleven Skill Shifts For The Next Gen CIO

screen-shot-2010-01-19-at-74323-am

(Source: R Wang & Insider Associates, LLC)

In This Series

Your POV

What skill shifts are you seeing in your work as a CIO?  Do these shifts resonate? Do you have a different point of view? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwareinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Event Report: Lotusphere 10 Launches IBM Into New Era

Published on by R "Ray" Wang


(Pictures For Now, More Analysis Later)

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(Photos: Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.)

Keynote Highlights Integration of IBM’s Full Set of Assets

Users Treated To Preview of Project Vulcan

The Bottom Line – Convergence of Emerging Technologies May Begin With Lotus

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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News Analysis: SAP Revives Two-Tier Maintenance Options

Published on January 14, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

Standard Support Returns After Much Deliberation

SAP announced today that they would be reintroducing their Standard Support offering.  Customers now gain choice with a 2-tier maintenance offering. Here are the details between standard support and enterprise support.

  • Standard Support Offering reintroduces at 18%. Customers seeking core bug fixes, support packages, risk mitigation, and related new functionality will have choice in staying on standard support.  The program is designed for customers who seek to keep their systems up and running.  Customers with CPI clauses in their contracts will want to take note – the first set of consumer price index (CPI) price increases will begin January 1st, 2012.
  • Enterprise Support remains at 22%. SAP will continue to offer Enterprise Support at 22% for new customers and a ramp up for existing customers (see Figure 1).  Enterprise support includes features such as best practices for IT operations, proactive monitoring and reporting, and transparency for business process performance.  Customers who choose to go with Enterprise Support prior to March 15th, 2010 will be eligible for ramp up.
  • Supplemental offerings still available. Other programs such as Max Attention, Safeguarding, and Product Support for Large Enterprises (PSLE) will continue to be available by choice and invitation.

Figure 1. SAP’s New Support Pricing Scale

screen-shot-2010-01-14-at-74603-am

(Source: SAP)

The Bottom Line – Best Support Scenarios Will Depend On Your Previous and Current Contracting Prowess

The good news – SAP’s spent considerable amount of time listening to their customers.  The result – customers do want choice and there are plenty of choices to be made.  Decisions on which option is best can be best summarized by asking a few key questions:

  • Are you expanding your use of SAP in the next 3 to 5 years? Determine your pace of adoption for SAP products.  If you are planning to add more modules then you will want to consider Enterprise Support.  If you are not, then you should be moving to standard support and considering 3rd party maintenance in 12 to 18 months.
  • Do you have a CPI increase in your contract? If you do, then you’ll want to see if the total is above the inflation rate or the enterprise support ramp up of 6% per annum.  The best case is to have negotiated CPI + 0% but most SAP customers have CPI +5% as standard, well over the 6%.
  • What’s your overall SAP apps strategy? How will you harness innovation within and around SAP?  What’s your plan in the next 12 to 18 months?  What will you be doing with SaaS?  How will you be incorporating portals such as Sharepoint?
  • Can you make a decision on Enterprise Support by March 15, 2010? Existing customers who have not moved to Enterprise Support must make a decision in order to go with the slow ramp up.  Those who wait after March 15, 2010 will start at 22% maintenance.

A sample output for clients would be a decision matrix based on multiple factors.  Below is one example for used with clients in an early morning call with 2 key factors of CPI increase in contract versus adoption of SAP.  Other factors will include when your contracts began and what lifecycle of adoption your organization are in. (See Figure 2):

Figure 2.  Sample SAP Support Decision Matrix

Copyrighted © 2001- 2010 R "Ray" Wang and Insider Associates LLC.

Copyrighted © 2001- 2010 R "Ray" Wang and Insider Associates LLC.

Your POV

Need help with your contract negotiations?  Tap into the experience of thousands of contract negotiations.  Have a story to share about SAP contracts? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com and we’ll keep your anonymity.

* Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions.  However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.

Other Useful Software Contract Negotiations Links

Tuesday’s Tips: Five Simple Steps To Reduce Your Software Maintenance Costs

Tuesday’s Tip: Do Not Bundle Your Support and Maintenance Contracts!

Tuesday’s Tip: Software Licensing and Pricing – Do Not Give Away Your Third Party Maintenance And Access Rights

Tuesday’s Tip: 3 Approaches To Return Shelfware

Tuesday’s Tip: Software Licensing and Pricing – Now’s The Time To Remove “Gag Rule” Clauses In Your Software Contracts

Related Blogs, Press, and Links

MUST READ – 2010017 Irregular Enterprise – Dennis Howlett “SAP’s Maintenance Cost Sleight of Hand”

News Analysis: SAP Moves All Customers Onto More Expensive Enterprise Support

News Analysis: SAP and SUGEN Make Progress on Enterprise Support

20100115 SearchSAP.com/TechTarget – Courtney Bjorlin ” Choosing Standard or Enterprise support more difficult for SAP customers with no KPIs ”

20100114 IDC – Amy Konary at IDC “Guest Post: Back by Popular Demand, A Basic Maintenance Offering from SAP”

20100114 Forrester Blogs – Paul Hamerman “SAP’s Tiered Support Announcement Diffuses a Contentious Issue”

20100114 IDG News – Chris Kanaracus “SAP shakes up support structure, executive organization”

20100114 Enterprise System Spectator – Frank Scavo “Flash: SAP backs down on 22% maintenance fees”

20100114 Information Week – Doug Henschen “SAP Reintroduces Tiered Maintenance”

20100114 ComputerWorldUK – Mike Simons “Update: SAP does U-turn on Enterprise Support”

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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