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Published on December 11, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

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(Photos by R Wang & Insider Associates, LLC. Copyright © 2009 All rights reserved.)

Re-innovation Now At The Heart Of SAP's Focus And Strategy

SAP has faced a rough two years. From the continuing market pressure on new license revenue, false-start launch of Business By Design (ByD), comprar gleevec de descuento, management restructuring, and issues with user groups and Enterprise Support, one could kindly say its been a brutal period. Looking forward to a fresh start in 2010, senior executives and key personnel have been hard at work "re-innovating" SAP at both the product and marketing level. As intended, Cheap gleevec overnight delivery, many of the 275 analysts, bloggers, customers, influencers, and media attendees of this year's SAP Influencer Summit left Boston with the perception that the company is in the midst of such transition. However, epogen en ligne afin, the clarity of that message and the perception of innovation depended on the topic at hand.

Five key themes drove most formal and informal conversations throughout the event:

SAP continues to be innovative. John Schwarz, SAP Executive Board Member, keynoted on stage that " We are not your grandmother's SAP" and addressed SAP's aspiration to become more customer focused and innovative. Jim Hagemann Snabe, παραγγείλετε online zometa, Executive Board Member in charge of Business Technology and Solutions, touted the product vision. Vishal Sikka, SAP's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) focused his conversation on Timeless Software and SAP's cloud orientation. He emphasized the size of future data volumes and the case for why In-Memory applications would provide the access speed and key meta-data required to draw inference for usage in business intelligence and analytics. Meanwhile, John Wookey, who leads SAP's OnDemand for Large Enterprise effort commented on the Cloud by stating, "SAP sees On-Demand as the next major change in computing models and we're very serious about on-demand, For cytoxan online. Innovation in on-demand (deployment options) is still largely in front of us."

Point of view (POV): SAP's working hard to highlight its innovations. With €1.6B spent a year in R&D, innovation exists in SAP Labs but management and tribal politics often keep good ideas from becoming productized. Users will need to work closely with SAP to identify needs and requirements and help SAP prioritize what should go to market. Cloud strategy remains hazy in specifics, buy evista. In-memory approach will benefit customers but will take time to develop across all products. OnDemand for Large Enterprises could slow in-roads by pure-play SaaS vendors.

Business analytics and intelligence play a key role in the platform. Executive Vice-President and General Manager, Marge Breya spent much time talking about SAP's support for heterogeneous data sources. As the BOBJ assets integrate into NetWeaver, her emphasis would be to deliver information across new platforms and use cases. Project Kona for business intelligence (BI) OnDemand in mobility would play a key role in changing how users access SAP information.

POV: Customers need better information in order to make key decisions. BI plays a significant role in delivering such value to customers and the Business Objects acquisition provides the enabler. However, SAP users still find data quality and data governance to be a key hole in the SAP information strategy. SAP will need to address the different approaches in master data management (MDM) and help customers understand which set of tools should be applied in each customer scenario.

Future growth rests with success in small and medium enterprises. With most of the large enterprise saturated with packaged apps such as ERP, Oklahoma OK Okla., SAP's future growth rests on its ability to move down market. The SME team led by Hans-Peter Klaey shared progress on their 3-prong product strategy with Business One (B1), Business All in One (BAiO), and Business by Design (ByD). B1 continues to gain traction in the small end of the market and SAP has published a product road map well past 2014. The key issues remain the future of ByD and how SAP plans to scale growth.

POV: With hopes of getting ByD to scale, Feature Pack 2.5 promises to bring in-memory analytics, multi-tenant support, mobile device enablement, iressa online kaufen, Microsoft Silverlight UI's, and a software development kit based on Microsoft Visual Studio. Scaling remains a big issue but now becomes technically feasible. Conversations with Rainer Zinow, Senior Vice President for SME Strategic Solution Management; Christoph Behrendt, Senior Vice President for Midsize Enterprises; Peter Lorenz, Illinois IL Ill., Senior Vice President, SME Solutions; Jeff Stiles, Senior Vice President for SME Marketing; and others, highlight the advanced progression in SAP's SME thinking. Early indications show promise that they will eventually approach the market with the right scaling, go to market plan, comprare gleevec, and cost structure to succeed. Movement towards more Microsoft technologies will help attract B1 partners, especially many at Sage who may be disgruntled but technically competent and customer service oriented.

Sustainability is more than a trend. Building on its Clear Standards acquisition, SAP continues to drive mind share in the field of sustainability tracking. Key topics include the usual suspects of carbon emissions, Generic epogen, energy consumption, and compliance. The Business Objects Sustainability Performance Management offering showcased new areas such as product and workplace safety. Its recent Sustainability Report highlights how SAP uses its own software to achieve its corporate objectives. Sustainability shows growth as a board-level topic and issue of concern.

POV: More than just buzzwords, SAP's making a considerable investment in sustainability. By providing the right templates and KPI's for external reporting, SAP will transform social responsibility aspirations to reality for its interested customers. Peter Graf, SAP's Chief Sustainability Officer, αγοράζουν φτηνά arimidex, has harnessed the do-good spirit of SAP's employees in building out SAP's offerings. Expect sustainability to be a key area in repairing SAP's current image. Conversations with customers indicate that sustainability may not be a primary reason to choose SAP today, but SAP's investment and commitment in this arena brings SAP into conversations with key business leaders and has led to deal flow. However, long term success in sustainability will require good master data management (MDM) and SAP must rapidly address this issue or face the prospect of false promises.

Partners and ecosystems matter. The partner ecosystem team continues to evolve and innovate with new programs that not only attract new partners, but also improve partner readiness. SAP currently works with 7000 go to market partners and the SAP Developer Network boasts 2.5M developers. Efforts such as the SAP Mentor program, Cheap evista no prescription, SAP Partner Edge, SAP EcoHub, and SAP Community Network by Zia Yusuf and his successor, Singh Mecker, Senior Vice President of GEPG provide proof points of progress and success.

POV: Buy evista, The EcoHub provides customers, partners, suppliers, and internal employees with a collaboration point for subject matter experts, trouble shooting, and fostering community. SAP's partner ecosystem remains its strongest asset. In order to capitalize on their success, SAP must make the necessary investment in revamping the technology platforms partners build on. Should they fail in providing an easier platform, they will lose traction and adoption. Partner-led innovation will move to easier platforms to work with and business models that sustain profitability.

SAP's Efforts In Strategy To Execution Rates A "B-" For Now

Applying a quick Vendor Scorecard grading system, here is a subjective evaluation of SAP's 2009 efforts to date*:

Leadership: "B-". Leo Apotheker and Bill McDermott failed to show up again at a key event. While this was Q4 and a tough quarter, arimidex pharmacy, customer and influencer perceptions remain low on Leo given his decision to push Enterprise Support and the lack of clarity into his vision and approach to date. To be fair, he has faced a tough hurdle in cleaning up mistakes from his predecessor, Henning Kagermann, and has had to streamline research and development as well as a sprawling bureaucracy. The good news - their absence highlighted the emerging bench strength of talent within SAP. This brought some confidence to many in attendance that SAP may have the right stuff to emerge. Order zometa pill, The bad news - rumors abound on when a successor (Co-CEO) would be announced as Leo's contract expires in June 2010.

Product strategy: "B+". Sustainability, integration of Business Objects componentry, Enhancement Packages (EhP), and In-Memory apps receive praise. Meanwhile, adoption of ERP 6.0, Nevada NV Nev., remains slow. SAP cites 50% of all product instances on to ERP 6.0. However, actual customer counts may be less given the fact some customers have 25 to 50 instances of SAP. Only 3500 customers have used Enhancement Packages. Customers remain confused on the value of Business Suite 7, upset with paying twice for BW and Business Objects, and disappointed with SAP's slow approach to SaaS and onDemand. Successful relaunch of ByD in 2010 may help SAP gain traction. Customers await delivery on OnDemand offerings for Large Enterprise but can not wait much longer. InMemory Apps planned for 2014 must be delivered on-time to compete with Oracle's Fusion Apps. Despite the lack of clarity, Acheter cytoxan, SAP still has the richest set of business functions and ability to handle the greatest set of complex scenarios.

Technology strategy: "C+". Middleware strategy remains murky at best. SAP should revamp NetWeaver or junk it. NetWeaver is to Blackberry as Salesforce.com's Force.com is to iPhone. It's so much easier to build apps on Force.com and iPhone than it is for SAP's NetWeaver and RIM's Blackberry. The decision to emphasize the NetWeaver ABAP stack over the NetWeaver Java stack will leave customers and partners confused despite how much more efficient it is to build on ABAP. In addition, the lack of good business process orchestration at both run time and design time remains a critical hole for investment and gives vendors such as IBM and Cordys opportunities to sit on-top of SAP apps. Mobile strategy at first seems less emphasized with the rare mention of native apps development on Blackberry and other platforms. Nevertheless, SAP's decision to leave mobile platform integration of Blackberry and others at the NetWeaver Mobile layer may prove to be the most efficient and effective approach. The move to in-Memory will help with future development, yet customers lack confidence in SAP's execution of the Timeless Software argument, despite its best intentions. It appears that SAP will have 2 OnDemand strategies. Lighter applications will be built on Java. More complex applications to be built on the OnDemand stack.

Go to market strategy: "B+", cheap evista tablet. "Best Run Now" packages deserve credit for bringing business value from analytics into core business processes. Slow adoption can be blamed on a sales teams who treated this as a new license sales opportunity instead of an entry point to showcase SAP value. Customers could see the sales reps salivating with each interaction for a new sale. Kudos go to SAP for finally admitting failure with ByD and working hard with customers and partners to revamp efforts. SAP's marketing team remains the most innovative and effective. Just wait till they get products that keep up with their marketing.

Innovation agenda: "B-", buy evista. SAP's making in-roads in the right areas. Project Constellation, integration with Google Wave, and social networking investments highlight some movement towards disruptive technologies. SAP must rapidly productize innovations from the SAP Imagineering team, worldwide SAP Labs, Alaska AK, SAP COIL, and its consulting partners. SAP needs to tap into its ecosystem and bring out innovation.

Service and support: "C+". Customers continue to self-support and question SAP's value. As more customers consider third party maintenance, SAP will have to fight harder to demonstrate value. On the positive front, SAP's Value Academy shows promise in helping customers optimize their SAP investments. Initial discussions with Chakib Bhoudary, SAP's Chief Value Officer, Kaufen gleevec, indicate the deep level of experience and data provided. Customers will want to see how to access these services with minimal investment or redirected maintenance investment.

Customer satisfaction: "C+". Conversations with over 400 customers in 2009 highlight severe disappointment with their SAP relationship. Sales reps compensated on net new license sales no longer invest in guiding customers through the SAP offerings. Customers fail to adopt due to lack of knowledge. They no longer trust their SAP sales reps nor do they have high confidence in the system integrators to guide them to the most cost effective solution. SAP sales reps need to understand their products better. Those customers who are able to make a trip to Walldorf (WDF), find solace that the old SAP still exists with passionate and dedicated engineers. Customers appreciate the honesty in WDF about what can or can not be accomplished with SAP. However, this is not a scalable model for SAP. SAP will need to retrain and reincentivize its sales reps. Applying social enterprise methods to the great SAP ecosystem may prove to be fruitful in scaling out more personalized approaches.

Execution to date: "C-". Order capecitabine from canada, Failures abound in execution in Enterprise Support, NetWeaver adoption, ByD roll-out, Duet usage, and Solution Manager capabilities. SAP's current state is similar to Microsoft's prior to the launch of Bing and Windows 7. SAP needs a success story soon to not only raise morale, but also gain customer confidence in its ability to deliver. Jim Hagemann Snabe's efforts at streamlining and centralizing development provides at least a positive indicator.

Partner ecosystem: "A", acheter zometa bon marché. Buy evista, The team has built one of the best technology partner ecosystems in the market. The emphasis on community outreach, influencer participation, and investment in a partner's success continues to be a differentiator. SAP's ecosystem strategy should be credited with saving SAP during this round of crisis. A move towards Microsoft technologies such as SharePoint and Silverlight will help in gaining developer traction and adoption. Fix NetWeaver and the ecosystem will have a tool they can innovate from.

Overall reputation: "B". SAP carries significant brand presence in emerging markets and the SME space. Many companies equate ownership of SAP as a sign of success in their markets. Yet, existing customers have soured on the brand and continue to wonder when SAP will innovate in their requirements and not be distracted by other pursuits. In general, SAP still carries considerable brand equity which will buy it time as it reinnovates.

* A=4.0, A-=3.7., Epogen without prescription, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.7, C+=2.3, C=2.0, C-=1.7, New Mexico NM N.Mex., D+=1.3, D=1.0, D-=0.7, F=0

The Bottom Line - SAP's Turning The Corner

Credit must be given to SAP for charting a new course. A shift in the management philosophy and product direction will take years to realize, Capecitabine online kaufen, however, its not too late for change. SAP must remember its roots and become more German and less American. The renewed focus must put customer requests and priorities ahead of SAP's bureaucracy. The emphasis must focus on the relationship. When that reemerges in how SAP works with customers, partners, influencers, and its own employees, SAP will be back in good graces. In the meantime, ostaa halvalla cytoxan, it's time to get to work and deliver. Oracle's Fusions Apps are coming soon and competitors such as IBM, Microsoft, Epicor, IFS, and SalesForce.com will not relent.

Your POV.

If you get a chance, let us know:

Which SAP products do you use?

What do you think about the progress with SAP?

Are you considering alternatives to SAP?

Do you feel SAP is innovating fast, ok, or slow enough?

What do you think of SAP's new reinnovation strategy?

Feel free to post your comments here or send me an email at rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwareinsider dot org.

Other related links and good resources

SPECIAL: Video clips from the SAP Influencer Summit from SAP

20091211 ZDNet Software & Services Safari - Brian Sommer "SAP Business ByDesign Update: Multi-tenancy, In-Core Memory DB and More"

20091211 MichaelFauscette.com - Michael Fauscette "SAP Coming Out From the Clouds"

20091210 ZDNet Collaboration 2.0 - Oliver Marks "SAP: The clear path forward for the supertanker..."

20091209 ZDNet IT Project Failures - Michael Krigsman "Is on-premise ERP obsolete?"

20091209 ZDNet Social CRM: The Conversation - Paul Greenberg "SAP Business Influencers Summit: A Clear Path Forward?"

20091209 Spend Matters - Jason Busch "SAP Influencer Summit, Dispatch 1: On-Demand Differentiation and Vision"

20091209 Monkchips - James Governor " SAP: Out with the Old, Shrugging off the Tag"

20091209 Merv's Market Strategy For IT Suppliers - Merv Adrian "SAP Promises Acceleration on a "Clear Path" - Will it Be Enough?"

20091209 CIO Reinvented Blog - Prasanth Rai "Interesting Data/Statistics About SAP...(Influencer Summit)"

20091209 DealArchitect - Vinnie Mirchandani "SAP and The Boston Park Plaza"

20091209 Cloud Avenue - Zoli Erdos "Twitter in the Enterprise - Round 56745327"

20091208 ZDNet IT Project Failures - Michael Krigsman "SAP Influencer Summit: First Impressions"

Order Irresa

Published on November 2, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

Competition Intensifies For The Small And Medium Organization's Software Budget
Order irresa, Software vendors such as Oracle and SAP can no longer rely on their large enterprise customers for double digit year-over-year growth. In fact, their customers have not only reached a saturation point in being able to consume new solutions, but have also faced demands to cut their large maintenance bills. With nowhere to go, enterprise apps vendors now turn to the small and medium sized market to drive their growth plans. Consequently, billion to multi-billion dollar SMB stalwarts such as Infor, Microsoft, Sage, and Lawson are not standing still. In fact, they seek opportunities to take market share from the industry leaders while fending off challenges from sub $500M SMB vendors such as Agresso, CDC Software, Deltek, Epicor, Exact, IFS, NetSuite, QAD, and Syspro.

Small And Medium-Sized Organizations Seek Enterprise Class Solutions Without The Resource Overhead

Globalization, irresa, Iresa, regulatory compliance, and economic demands results in similar market pressures for all sizes of business. Size no longer plays a relevant role in business requirements. In fact, irresa, Iresa, a recent survey of over 100 small and medium sized organizations, shows similar needs as large enterprises. However, irresa, Irresa, small and medium-sized organizations can not afford the resource overhead required to maintain large and complex software systems. The 10 areas that drive vendor selection decisions include (see Figure 1):

Figure 1. Small and medium sized organizations seek enterprise class solutions without the resource overhead

The Bottom Line - Ten Lessons Learned Emerge From Recent Vendor Selection Trends

Invest in last mile industry focused solutions.Customers expect their vendor to speak their language. Solutions that lack vertical fluency and limited industry customer referencability will be relegated to the ERP graveyard, iresa. Irresa, Lessons learned: Demonstrate thought leadership in each vertical and lead industry discussions. Focus on a handful of verticals.

Focus on rapid implementation and realization. Gone are the days of 12 to 18 month deployments. Customers seek deployments times with less than 3 months, irresa.
Lessons learned: Consider SaaS and OnDemand options. Templates and productized roll-outs improve time to market but can't compete with SaaS solutions and onDemand offerings in demonstrating value to customers.

Expand the number of trusted partners and vendors, order irresa. Irresa, As SMB's expand across the globe, they expect vendors to invest in trusted partners for both delivery and product footprint. Customers expect partners to assist with localization in new geographies, iresa, Iresa, extend vertical solutions, and integration, irresa. Irresa, Lessons learned: Build partner ecosystems to geometrically expand reach while meeting customer needs. No vendor can deliver on all customer needs.

Deploy easy to use reporting tools and BI. Value out of the box requires BI and reporting tools to be proactive and pervasive. Users should have access to relevant and timely information along business processes, iresa. Irresa, Lessons learned: Design reporting tools with the end in mind. Start with the value of information and embed throughout the business process.

Reduce administrative complexity and ownership costs. Order irresa, SMB's seek enterprise class capabilities sans the resource overhead of traditional large ERP products. Business users need to be able to make changes and extend the system. Ownership costs such as maintenance should deliver value or be reduced.
Lessons learned: Design self-service administration capabilities from the get-go, irresa, Iresa, not an afterthought. Software maintenance needs to deliver value or be offered in tiers based on perceived value.

Apply Web 2.0 style usability. Solutions should not require extensive training. New generations of work expect the simplicity and ease of use from consumer based web applications, irresa. Irresa, Lessons learned: Invest in user experience and user interaction. Design process flow based on role-based personas.

Improve stakeholder access. Employees, irresa, Irresa, partners, and customers must gain access to key business information. Value should not be locked away from users when disconnected. Mobile remains a future growth area, iresa.
Lessons learned: Allow information to be accessed by everyone, everywhere, and at anytime. New stakeholders will need access so apps should be designed with bullet-proof role based security.

Embed Microsoft Office Integration, order irresa. Irresa, Ability to use productivity tools should be a given. Customers seek the ability to seamlessly integrate.
Lessons learned. Success requires the design Office integration to be both a user interface and gateway into applications. Clunky interfaces into Microsoft fail in adoption.

Deliver worry free updates, irresa. Customers should be able to update and upgrade software without significant time spent testing integrations and taking down the system.
Lessons learned. Design application management into the system design. Consider the business impact of down time.

Provide financing options Order irresa, . Customers now expect vendors to provide financing to facilitate license purchases. In many cases, clients seek financing to preserve cash position and add additional services such as training and implementation.
Lessons learned. Use financing as deal enabler to drive not only license growth, but also larger deal sizes. Financing is a weapon.

Your POV

Prospects and customers - do these requirements ring true? Vendors -where are you with your SMB strategy. Let us know how we can assist. Please post or send on your comments to rwang0 (at) gmail (dot) com or r (at) altimetergroup (dot) com and we’ll keep your anonymity.

.

News Analysis: Microsoft Dynamics AX Acquires IP For Four Industry Solutions

Published on September 22, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

Microsoft Dynamics Demonstrates Continued Industry Solution Investment screen-shot-2009-09-22-at-42642-am

Today's announcement focuses on the Microsoft Dynamics AX product line. Key facts include:

IP acquisition only. Microsoft acquires the intellectual property (IP) for three four industry solutions. These solutions build on the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform. Microsoft has not acquired the companies or personnel. Fullscope, Inc.; Computer Generated Solutions, Inc.; LS Retail, and To-Increase (Columbus IT) remain fully independent and partners within the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem. POV: Unlike other mergers and acquisitions, Microsoft embeds proven and market tested solutions into the core code base. IP acquisitions provide immediate value without the typical hassles of post-merger integration. Placing the IP into the main Microsoft Dynamics AX code line ensures consistency.

Commitment to upper mid-market requirements. Mid-market sized businesses require deeper levels of vertical and industry functionality. Today's announcement demonstrates a commitment to expanding manufacturing, service industries, and retail capabilities. POV: Last mile solutions make or break upper-mid-market organizations. Creating a broader set of common industry capabilities that sit on top of core Microsoft Dynamics AX accelerates both Microsoft and its partners ability to extend vertical capabilities. Theses solutions come from partners with proven records in delivering to customers.

Acquisition Focuses On Industry IP From Proven Partners Partner IP selected for acquisition represents the most successful and recognized solutions within the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem. Customers can immediately access professional services and process manufacturing capabilities. Retail solutions will be shortly announced. Key details for the three industries include:

Process manufacturing from Fullscope, Inc. The process manufacturing solution encompasses the entire process manufacturing life cycle and addresses engineer to build. Key verticals supported include chemicals, food & beverage, life sciences & pharmaceuticals, pulp & paper, and primary metals. Fullscope garners many Microsoft awards including Partner of the Year for 2007 to 2009.

Professional services from Computer Generated Solutions, Inc. The professional services solution provides project based solution (PBS) capabilities that track time and expense, improve project profitability, and optimize resource utilization. Key verticals supported include advertising & marketing, architecture & engineering, government contracting, legal services, and management & IT consulting services. CGS was recognized as a 2007 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle member.

Retail solutions from LS Retail EHF and To-Increase (Columbus IT)*. The LS Retail solutions focus on delivering end to end retail and POS integration to Microsoft Dynamics AX. Key features include 6-level item hierarchies, auto item creation, pricing management, purchasing, distribution, loyalty programs, concession management, and hand held support. The solution is optimized for fashion retailers though other verticals have successfully deployed this product. To-Increase A/S, the software development arm of Columbus IT, provides Retail Chain Management solutions. Key features include both front office (CRM) and back office integration. The solution includes features such as centralized campaign management, pricing management, inter-company trade, integrated return management, credit risk management, multi-currency, and online Axapta POS integration. Columbus IT has seen succes in key industries such as Furniture, Gas Stations, Groceries, Healthcare & Cosmetic, and Sports and Fashion.*

The Bottom Line - Microsoft Dynamics AX Users And Partners Can Expect More IP Acquisitions Building off the experiences from Industry Builders Initiative (IBI) and Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CfMD), the latest strategy by the Microsoft Dynamics team to accelerate industry vertical innovation for customers and partners provides a pragmatic approach. Customers expect Microsoft to take the lead in orchestrating common industry capabilities while also providing a stable platform for core Microsoft Dynamics AX capabilities. Acquiring the IP of proven solutions in the market plays to Microsoft's strengths by leveraging the ecosystem for innovation while embedding key common business processes. The result - a more predictable roadmap and a single architecture for customers and partners to expand on. Pending the success of these IP acquisitions, one can expect more to come as this becomes the model to most efficiently deliver on industry vertical innovation. Your POV As an SMB, do you feel Microsoft has the right level of depth in its industry offerings? Are you in the midst of an SMB ERP vendor selection and are confused by all the choices? As a partner, do you feel this approach is fair to your investments? Look forward to your comments or hearing from you. Post your comments or send a direct email to r at altimetergroup dot com or r at softwareinsider dot org. * (added 9:23 am GMT-8:00)

Monday’s Musings: Why On-Premise Vendors and SI’s Should Go on the Offense with SaaS

Published on July 13, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

On-premise vendors still see SaaS as a loss leader due to huge ramp up and punishing revenue recognition rules When it comes to the topic of SaaS, many on-premise vendors appear to be living in denial, hoping that SaaS fails, and/or creating confusion in the market place. These tactics have merit as a shift to SaaS requires plenty of work with minimal return and a destruction - disruption of the current business model. In conversations with 61 vendors and building off of SaaS evangelist Jeffrey Kaplan's post (July 2, 2009, Seeking Alpha - "From the Vendor's Point of View: Why SaaS Sucks"), vendors who have made this transition or have started the investment put in heavy lifting in these activities must:

Re-architect apps
Find balance between configuration and optimization of SaaS platform
Design product road map and rollout strategy
Determine SLA's
Identify a hosting strategy
Craft pricing and licensing policies
Harmonize SaaS pricing with On-premise and other models
Create go to market strategy
Alleviate channel conflict with partners, resellers, distributors

After all this work to be ready for SaaS deployments, vendors also discover that FASB SOP 97-2 software revenue recognition rules prohibit them from immediately recognizing multi-year contracts. Even worse, subscription revenue can only be recognized on a month-to-month basis - leading to a long road to profitability. In fact, vendors such as Lawson, estimated a 7 to 10 year break even period for a full SaaS model. No wonder Harry Debes was fired up on how SaaS could be a fad in his interview with Victoria Ho at ZD Net last year. In private, most software executives also echo such sentiments and wholeheartedly agree with his comments about the business model challenges. Yet, SaaS adoption moves beyond the Tipping Point in 2009 However, the confluence of recessionary forces, stalled innovation from many on-premise software vendors, and success of early SaaS pioneers such as SalesForce.com and NetSuite has put Software-as-a-Service into the mainstream. Vendors can no longer resist the move to SaaS without negatively impacting their license sales and customer mind share. Additional facts highlight the shift:

Forrester State of Enterprise Software 2009 survey results confirm significant adoption rates from 2008 to 2009. Of 1000 IT executives and decision-makers, 24% were interested/considering, 11% implemented or planning to expand, and 5% piloting SaaS solutions (see Figure 1).
Clients continue to vote with their budgets despite marketing FUD by many on-premise vendors on the perils of SaaS. Success Factors' win at Siemens for 420,000 employees, Workday's win at Flextronics for 240,000 employees, and Ultimate Software's win at P.F. Chiang's for 30,000 employees reinforces how SaaS is more than CRM and SMB.
Concerns over SaaS have dropped significantly over the past year. Successful deployments mitigate concerns and highlight the attitudinal shift towards acceptance. Major decreases include integration issues (43%), total cost (31%), lack of customization (31%), complicated pricing models (30%), performance (23%), can't find the specific application (20%), security (17%), and lock in with existing vendor (17%) (see Figure 2).

Figure 1: Users expect to increase SaaS adoption in 2009 Source: Forrester

Figure 2. Concerns over SaaS have dropped significantly over the past year Source: Forrester

Defensive SaaS strategies by vendors miss the opportunity to take market share. As customer's continue to demand SaaS solutions for rapid deployment, pay-as-you-go pricing models, and timely innovation, traditional on-premise vendors without a SaaS offering must now explain, defend, or develop their own SaaS story. Concerns about the impact of SaaS have many vendors in defensive mode. Defensive strategies have included:

Creating counter marketing about SaaS and the viability of the market
Responding with hosting options and financing options
Building SaaS options for a limited set of popular SaaS solutions such as sales force automation (29%), strategic HCM (29%), and customer service and support (27%) (See Figure 3.)

At first glance, mega vendors such as SAP and Oracle have started with the first two points and are evolving to the third. They aim to counter the success of Ariba, SalesForce.com, Success Factors, Taleo, Workday, and Ultimate Software with their own offerings. SAP's OnDemand for LE release and John Wookey's ComputerWorld UK interview by Mike Simons, confirms that the strategy will include "CRM on-demand and e-sourcing, with expense management set for a 2010 release." Wookey's approach appears to first shore up areas where SAP customers have been defecting and then worrying about what's next (see Note 1). Meanwhile, discussions with Oracle product teams also hint that a release of 5 to 9 SaaS offerings to complement Oracle Siebel CRM OnDemand offerings could be announced soon. This defensive strategy shores up competitive SaaS solutions such as incentive comp, procurement, and strategic HCM.

Figure 3. Rate of adoption of key SaaS solutions show significant interest in CRM and other areas Source: Forrester

The bottom line -SaaS gives software vendors and system integrators an opportunity to take market share. Instead of playing defense, vendors should look at the opportunity to take market share through SaaS. SaaS vendors and their investors have realized they can target any install base and win by providing compelling functionality. Why shouldn't on-premise vendors bite the bullet and go on the offense? To make this work software vendors would want to take advantage of their partner ecosystems and customers to extend capabilities beyond what's being delivered in on-premise. Vendors must make an initial investment in a SaaS/PaaS platform, agile development methodologies, and integration technologies to support hybrid deployment options. From there, white spaces in the product road map will provide direction into the future opportunities such as vertical and other pivot points that have not been well served. SAP's acquisition of Clear Standards for carbon compliance, NetSuite's acquisition of OpenAir for project based solutions, and Intuit's acquistion of Entellium for CRM highlights examples of going on the offensive with SaaS. Of equal importance, system integrators can shift the balance of power and deliver new IP via SaaS solutions while reducing their dependency on the mega vendors.

Recommendations: 7 best practices for crafting a SaaS strategy at an on-premise vendor Imagine you could start from scratch and build a new software company. That's the question I posed to 61 software executives this year. Most stated they would start with a SaaS deployment option for the scale and the business model. Now what to do if you are an on-premise vendor? Answer - build a separate SaaS software division within an on-premise software company. This could be the next trend among the on-premise vendors for both investment and revenue recognition reasons. What would be a good strategy:

Reuse similar business process parts as the on-premise product

Harmonize the data model and common objects

Build a brand new RIA based UI and UX

Assume that all data sources will be heterogenous

Design the product to run stand alone

Attack white spaces of new growth in a competitor's install base

Keep a PaaS platform in mind to attract partners and customers to extend the solution

Your POV. Totally turned off by SaaS? In the midst of a SaaS strategy? Ready to embark on a SaaS strategy? If you need assistance, don't hesitate to reach out? Please post your point of view here or send me a private email to rwang0 at gmail dot com. Note 1: The large enterprise (LE) SaaS platform will not come from NetWeaver or SAP's SME Business by Design (ByD) technology, but come from the acquired Frictionless platform. While this may leave some SAP customers concerned, Wookey and product super stars Kevin Nix and Peter Lim (of Siebel fame) counter by highlighting where SAP components will be reused and highlighting the home base integration advantage.

As also seen in the July 14th, 2009 SandHill.com"Moving to a SaaS Offensive"

News Analysis: Oracle Launches Fusion Middleware 11g

Published on July 1, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g launch starts countdown to 100 days of innovation until Oracle Open World In short, Oracle is putting forth a suite of middleware solutions that not only enable developers and software publishers to build their future solutions, but also deliver the middleware tools that will serve as the foundation for its go forward Oracle Fusion Applications. There are a number of product updates in this Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g launch. They include the Oracle Application Grid, Oracle SOA and Process Management, Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle ADF 11g, Oracle Applied WebCenter, Oracle Identity and Access Management, and Fusion Middleware Enterprise Manager (Note: the version of Oracle Enterprise Manager to manage Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g is 10g R3, this is the version currently available. - added 7/6/2009) What's positive about this release is the number of customers who have already tested and proven that these solutions can work. In each one of the components, there are a list of customers who already use these solutions in their production environments. Here are some high level product details:

Oracle Application Grid puts forth a foundation built on the Oracle WebLogic Suite (i.e. Oracle WebLogic Server 11g ) that adds GridLink for RAC, enterprise grid messaging, real operations automation, real operations insight, active cache, and enterprise manager. high availability - added 7/6/2009 POV: Oracle pulls together their integrated platform for application development in a high performance computing SOA world. This will prove to be the Oracle internal foundation for hosting and other OnDemand capabilities.
Oracle SOA and Process management infrastructure brings together technologies such as Oracle JDeveloper, Oracle BPA Suite, Oracle BPM Suite, Oracle BAM, Oracle BPEL Process Manager, Oracle CEP, Oracle Service Bus, Oracle Enterprise Repository, Oracle Services Registry, and Oracle Web Services Manager. POV: These common infrastructure components provide a way to mediate, orchestrate, manage business events and processes that support external integration, process governance, customizations, and change. These will prove critical in hybrid deployments that bring the Web 2.0 world to Enterprise 2.0
Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle ADF 11g -the new team center and application development framework provides desktop integration to Microsoft Office and Java apps; new ADF Faces such as hierarchy viewers and carousels, SCA/SDO integration, and mobile development. POV: Hopefully, Oracle customers can benefit from a richer set of dev tools that can be used in custom development and for Fusion Apps. This could provide the foundation for extending Oracle Fusion Applications or building apps on JDeveloper in a PaaS platform.
Oracle Applied WebCenter- solutions pulls together their Oracle WebCenter becomes the backbone collaboration infrastructure and Oracle Fusion Middleware architecture for collaboration in content management, business process management, and analytics. POV: Oracle customers get treated to a unified environment to deliver a consistent user experience for a Web 2.0 and more social enterprise experience. The new release of Applied WebCenter may provide customers a unified UI strategy they have been looking for.
Oracle Identity and Access Management 11g includes enhanced features in areas such as identity management, provisioning and role management, web access management, Federation, entitlements management, fraud prevention, applications centric, and identity platform. POV: Oracle focuses on addressing reliable security, regulatory compliance, and help desk efficiencies for identity and access management. Customers seek this level of single accountability and role based access as they keep adding SaaS and other deployment options. With best of breed coming back in the form of SaaS, enterprises must move beyond single sign on (SSO).
Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Manager builds management and monitoring across the stack including apps, middleware, database, and Virtualized Host/ OS / Network POV: Oracle showcases a more unified attempt at managing the entire Oracle stack and environment. Will it replace your HP, BMC Remedy or IBM Tivoli tools? No. Not completely, but it's a good start.

The bottom line - Oracle raises the stakes in the stack wars with IBM and showcases its middleware foundation for Fusion Apps Announcements today by Charles Phillips and Thomas Kurian provide insight into the compendium of Oracle product investments in Middleware. Oracle Fusion Middleware provides the critical "glue" to tie Oracle's acquisitions back into a cohesive IT strategy for not only its customers but also Oracle's "Red Stack". The stack wars with IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle focus on gaining the greatest percentage of the IT budget. Oracle's investments today and pending acquisition of Sun will change the landscape from a perceived apps rivalry with SAP to more a stack competition with Microsoft and a battle for the IBM "Blue Stack". In fact, as Oracle continues to acquire and invest in the service based industries IBM dominates today, expect Oracle to make the case for a "Red Stack" and create "Purple" stacks in the years to come. The eventual prize - converting IBM "Blue Stack" clients to the "Red Stack". Don't expect IBM to stand still so let's see what the next move is in the continuing Stack Wars! Your POV What do you think about Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g? Vaporware or real competition in the stack wars? Will you be more compelled to bet on Oracle as part of your apps strategy? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com and we’ll keep your anonymity. Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

Wednesday’s Whispers: Corporate Whispers and Monthly Market Trends – June 2009

Published on June 24, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

CORPORATE WHISPERS AND MONTHLY MARKET TRENDS* Starting this month, we'll be splitting the trends in Corporate Whispers from the People Whispers series. Catch the latest monthly random thoughts, trend points, and corporate trends. Hearing from twitterati, software execs, and industry experts about: User trends

Recent win by SUSEN Software over SAP enhances validity of the used software market in the EU. Other players like Used Software have battled Microsoft to open up competition in the market. Many CIO's hope that Nellie Kroes at the EU will investigate the lack of third party maintenance options and anti-competitive behaviour in some segments of enterprise software (i.e. Oracle DB, SAP, etc.) before her term expires.
Hybrid deployment options continue to gain ground. Conversations with over 101 software decision makers highlight a shift from single source vendor strategies. Move to support hybrid deployments benefit enterprise service bus and integration providers such as Boomi, Pervasive, and Informatica.
Japanese CIO's finally realizing that they need to break free from their existing ERP software vendor relationships. SaaS options now in consideration. Recent advancements by NTT to host Zoho, Siemens' 420K employee move to Success Factors, and Flextronics 240k employee deal with Workday have shifted perception that SaaS can't solve large enterprise requirements.
Conversations with over 100 EMEA decision makers show a big push to move away from a single source vendor strategy. Third party maintenance, virtualization, SaaS, Open Source, and BPO top lists of planned initiatives in 2009/2010.
Support for Apple Macs in corporate environments gaining significant traction. Despite shipment gains, lack of real corporate support models (i.e. go to the Apple Store to fix your MacBook) do not engender the backing of corporate IT support departments.

Software vendor and system integrators trends

Ratios of new license to maintenance revenues shift from 1:2 to 1:4 and in some cases 1:5. Enterprise software vendors now in a better position to convert perpetual business models to subscription business models. Do they have the guts and board approval?
Enterprise software vendors slowly adopting Web 2.0 and consumer tech innovations. Look for improved developments from IBM WebSphere, Microsoft .NET, Oracle Fusion Middleware in the next 6 to 12 months
New Stack Wars will focus on PaaS (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure Services Platform, Google App Engine, NetSuite Business Operating System, Sales Force Force.com platform) vs On-Premise (HP, IBM WebSphere, Microsoft .NET, Oracle Fusion Middleware,) vs Open Source Stacks (BitRock, Covalent, Novell, OpenLogic, Optaraos, Red Hat & JBoss, rPath, Simula Labs, SourceLabs, SpikeSource, Unisys, Virtuas, and Zend.)
Indian System Integrators competiting for market share in Europe, Middle East, and Africa as they shift away from the North American market.
Many enterprises have looked into acquisition and partnerships withAll Scripts - Misys, Cerner, Epic Systems, McKesson, MEDITECH, , NextGen, and Siemens Healthcare (Shared Medical Systems) in order to get in on the proposed healthcare and electronic medical record (EMR) proposals.
One of the first SaaS busts has occurred with LucidEra going under and competitor GoodData offering free safe harbor. Is now the time to make sure SaaS escrows exist?

Your POV Got a scoop or something to share? What are you hearing in the market? 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 © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

News Analysis: Used Software Rights Upheld In SusenSoftware Win Over SAP

Published on June 21, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

A new secondary market for used software has emerged Some time back in December 2006, we wondered why enterprises could not resell unused and used software and transfer related services to a willing buyer under a perpetual license. Enterprises could resell hardware, telecom equipment, and other services contracts. So why couldn't a licensee retain the right to sell their software in the secondary market? In addition to licenses, this could include maintenance agreements, support contracts, training, and consulting services to either an unrelated third party, joint venture, partnership, or subsidiary. In fact, we even put this in as the 36th right in the landmark Enterprise Software Licensee's Bill of Rights. Well, since that time, several German vendors such as Preo Software, SusenSoftware and UsedSoft in EMEA have pioneered such a capability in the German market. Recent lawsuit with SAP highlights some tactics vendors have tried to mislead customers German copyright law (UrhG) upholds the principle of the "Exhaustion Rule", which means that the developer's copyright expires at the time of sale. This legal foundation was upheld in the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on July 6th, 2000. In summary, a developer can only make money on the initial sale and any attempt to restrict trade of used software through specific trade terms conflicts with the exhaustion rule. Experts cite that this rule applies throughout the EU and Switzerland based on recent case law. In the most recent case against SAP, apparently an SAP employee told a customer that they must seek permission from the software vendor to purchase used software. Based on a previous ruling between UsedSoft and Microsoft in the Hamburg courts on June 29, 2006, vendors can not mislead customers on the legality of used software. In specific, "It is forbidden (416 O 103/08) to the software producer to spread misleading statements for the legal standard of the using software trade". The provisional order won by SusenSoft over SAP also reinforces the previous legal challenges. Ruling also applies to the U.S. To date, the "Exhaustion Rule" also known as the "First-Sale" doctrine has been upheld most recently in the June 2nd 2008 case of Timothy S. Vernor v. Autodesk Inc. In fact the specific ruling cites, "This doctrine is stated in the following statutory provisions: “Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106(3) [17 USCS § 106(3)], the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord.” 17 U.S.C. § 109(a). Because a first sale exhausts the copyright holder’s distribution right, future distributions of the copy do not implicate the Copyright Act. Opinion, p.7, citing United States v. Wise, 550 F.2d 1180, 1187 (9th Cir. 1977). A first sale does not, however, exhaust other rights, such as the copyright holder’s right to prohibit copying of the copy he sells. Id. For example, the first sale doctrine permits a consumer who buys a lawfully made DVD copy of “Gone With the Wind” to resell the copy, but not to duplicate the copy. Id. The bottom line - consider the secondary market as part of your long term apps strategy Enterprises seeking to optimize enterprise software costs may want to consider the used software or secondary market as an option. It appears that the legal precedents have been set in EMEA (we're hearing mixed things in the US (revised 6/22/2009 8:05 am PT). Now may be the time to pick up additional SAP R/3 4.7, Oracle 11i EBS, or Infor Baan 4CIV licenses! Resellers, VARs, and distributors should take the opportunity to create this new market. Pressure from vendors will most likely be limited as the sentiment in the courts now side with the customer. Your POV Wondering when you can unload your used software licenses? Are you looking to unload an acquired entities assets to use? Would you want to benefit from the secondary enterprise software market? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Related research and links June 12, 2009, Channel Partner, "Used software - SAP suffers defeat" June 9, 2009 Channel Partner, "UsedSoft obtains a provisional order against Microsoft" December 22, 2008, Forrester Research - Peter O'Neill "The Spread Of Remarketed Software Could Be A European Response To The Economic Crisis" June 2, 2008, Law Updates - "Federal Judge Approves eBay Auction of Copyrighted Autodesk AutoCAD Design Software" December 18, 2006, Forrester Research - R "Ray" Wang "An Enterprise Software Licensee's Bill of Rights"

Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved. * This post provides an alternative that must be vetted by proper legal professionals. Please consult your own legal counsel for specific advice on legalities.

Quips: The Fervor Over Vendor Sales Tactics

Published on April 17, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

Blogosphere highlights broken software vendor business models What a crazy few days in the blogosphere! Economic pressures force clients to become more attuned to the business models of software vendors. Vendors have amped up sales tactics as they face earnings pressures. Fellow colleagues in the analyst/blogger/media world have responded in full force to the observations we see as hurting both the vendors and clients in the software industry. In fact, these recent posts stem from a love of the industry. They serve as warnings that something must change. Nothing resembles spite, just a hope that the industry will shift and respond with a win-win. Vendors please take note as this is not an attack on you, but an out for you to change the business and make a case with your investors. End users will also have to play their role. Industry luminaries add their insight and wisdom Michael Hickins kicked it off with his April 15th post on “SAP, Oracle Abusing Customer Relationships”. Says the BNET guru, "Indeed, most customers have a love-hate relationship with their vendors that is heavily weighted towards hate". Shortly after, Dennis Howlett on April 16th then piled on with a piece about how the spin from the major vendors MISO (i.e. Microsoft, IBM, SAP, Oracle) is out of control. Says Howlett, " MISO PR wants to massage, control, dumb down or just ignore but when you’ve got fearless analysts... in play what can they realistically do to combat the ever increasing stream of criticism coming their way? The usual answer is to summon up the vendor/analyst/journalist/blogger relationship but that’s starting to wear thin as a veiled threat. There are just too many sources prepared to spill their guts. See more in his post about “Enterprise vendors: in pursuit of reality". Thinking that most of the storm had passed, today (4/17/2009), both Industry Guru Michael Krigsman and Star Analyst James Governor brought some fresh and related perspectives. Michael in his piece on “Ugly Enterprise Sales Tactics” took a view that as a client advocate analyst, "... it’s also important to recognize Ray’s bias. Although he’s one of the most knowledgeable, diligent enterprise analysts out there, Ray’s role is to protect his clients, and he does benefit from negative press about vendors". Rounding out the day James Governor brought his point of view with “Enterprise Software Sales as Corporate Pathology: The World’s Greatest Dog and Pony Show”. He was inspired by his colleague "...in a post about Zend’s new enterprise PHP server Stephen my business partner summed up the tragedy of enterprise software sales so well I thought to myself I really need to reiterate it..." He built on Krigsman's points and added "Here is the bottom line. We already thought vendor sales tactics were aggressive in a market that was growing for pretty much everyone - so what about now, in a downturn? Frankly things are worse now. Maintenance fees are hiking while customer profits are disappearing. Aggressive tactics are the norm." The bottom line -vendors can achieve win-win's but clients must also do their part There is good news insight. Harmony among clients and vendors can be found in Jon Collins , Neil Macehiter, Dale Vile, and Neil WardDutton's book "The Technology Garden: Cultivating Sustainable IT Business Alignment" (Note to Dale Vile at Freeform Dynamics, Limited: please send me a cut for each referral j/k..) Other factors in play include points about Total Account Value. On an April 5th post, we added,"This illustrates the case why the industry needs a frank dialogue to clients about the true cost of ownership; how Total Account Value (TAV) impacts the vendor; and what ramifications exist for recession time software vendor business models. Clients will play a role. In today’s economic climate, industry leaders need to lead in striking the right balance with customers, or face more "Le Rebellions". If they over step their push for discounts, they may force greater consolidation, leaving them with fewer choices and potentially higher long term prices. If they fail to receive value from the software, well, they too may go bankrupt. The software industry should take this as a notice to change or be changed. New business models will emerge to meet end user client needs. Good luck and please heed this with the best of intentions. We all need a win-win. Your POV. Software customers would love your comments about vendor sales tactics. Vendor sales reps, chime in with your point of view. You can post here or send me a private email to rwang0 at gmail dot com.

Follow these industry luminaries on twitter as you can be sure there will be more POV's about what's next:
James Governor - monkchips
Dennis Howlett - dahowlett
Michael Hickins - michael_curator

Michael Krigsman - mkrigsman
Dale Vile - dale_vile

(Please note that modifications were made to this blog post between its original post at 2:28 pm and the update at 8:58 pm. I was on a plane and of course had to re-edit!) Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

Event Report: Reflections On Microsoft’s Convergence 2009

Published on March 21, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

Over 7000 customers, partners, Microsoft staff, and paparazzi made the pilgrimage to New Orleans to hear the latest and greatest from the Microsoft Dynamics team. The great band, surface computing demo, and festivities in New Orleans wiped out most of the gloom and doom of the economic recession and negativity towards continued reckless US government spending. Attendees were upbeat, optimistic, and energetic. One explanation for this sense of "can-do" attitude among attendees can be based on how Microsoft has successfully transformed itself into a value and innovation alternative to the large ERP vendors moving into the small-medium enterprise/business (SME/SMB) space.* Customers such as National Air Cargo state a 25% increase in employee productivity, GFK talks about is 50% less time spent on financial reporting, and Champion posts 60% faster order processing times using Microsoft Dynamics products. Conversations with Rick Harkins and Robert Dills of the Cleveland Red Cross highlight the ease of use and rapid implementation time. Customers of Hitachi consulting expressed both Microsoft and Hitatchi's commitment to getting the job done right and the close relationships with the Microsoft Dynamics product teams. In fact, in more than a dozen customer conversations at this year's event, these born again ERP evangelists exclaimed, this is the "kinder and gentler" ERP company. One other attendee professed, "I know, I know, its Microsoft but they aren't the big bad wolf in the enterprise applications space". Another demonstration of care for customer and corporate responsibility includes the generous volunteerism with Habitat For Humanity in bringing over 400 employees, attendees, and partners to rebuild homes in New Orleans as part of the pre-conference activities. Users And Partners Express High Levels Of Satisfaction In a quick two question survey of 71 ERP users at this year's Microsoft Convergence event, respondents from all industries and Microsoft Dynamics ERP product lines praised Microsoft Dynamics for the following when asked " What features or qualities do you find positive about Microsoft Dynamics ERP"

Office integration (n=66 or 92.9%)
Usability (n=64 or 90.1%)
Product quality (n=60 or 84.5%)
Implementation time (n=59 or 83.l%)
Total cost of ownership (n=57 or 80.2%)
ROI or overall value (n= 55 or 77.4%)
Extensibility (n=53 or 74.6%)
Easy to learn (n=52 or 73.2%)

And of course, a few found opportunities for improvement in Microsoft Dynamics for the following when asked the converse question, "What features or qualities do you find negative about Microsoft Dynamics ERP":

HR/payroll capabilities (n=61 or 85.9%)
Finding the right Microsoft Partner (n=56 or 78.8%)
Upgrade path or ability to easily upgrade from older releases (n=51 or 71.8%)
Mobile options (n=45 or 63.3%)
Deployment options such as SaaS and Hosting (n=38 or 53.5%)

2009 Convergence Highlights Progress In Delivery Of The Promised Road Map Key design elements across all product families include a people centric approach with a strong foundation on user experience research, the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model (61 user profiles), and a Role Tailored Design. With the death of Project Green (the convergent product lines project), Microsoft moves forward from the lessons learned and upholds its promises across the 5 major product families:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM pushes forward to cover the large enterprise and small business. One can say that Dynamics CRM was the star of this year's event from demos to product announcements. Over 16,000 customers, 800,000 users, from small to enterprise organizations in over 80 countries now use the product in over 25 languages. As the product progresses towards CRM '5", the CRM 4.0 March 2009 update includes accelerators for analytics, eService, Event Management, Enterprise Search, Business Productivity, Extended Sales Forecasting, CRM Notifications, and Sales Methodology Support. Other capabilities include Up-time SLA, Internet Lead Capture, Cloud Integration Services, and Quick Start Tools.
Launched in April 2008 for the US and Canadian markets, CRM Online continues to build closer alignment with Microsoft Online via integrated services, shared billing, and provisioning. Release 2 delivered in September 2008 adds Internet marketing and supports up to 2000 users per organization. Deployment options include on-premise, hosting via Microsoft's data center, or subscription to CRM as as Service from Microsoft's data center. Release 3 will focus on improved business analytics. As proof of its ongoing value, Microsoft announced a 75% savings on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for $9.99/user for 6 months if users signed up and activate by May 1st 2009
Microsoft Dynamics AX delivers key mid market, industry specific, and globalization requirements. Released in June 2008, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 represents the latest release built on top of two important .NET libraries: Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). Usability enhancements bring Enterprise 2.0 capabilities. Further, Dynamics AX represents logical organizational models through improved data structure modeling. Some examples include Multi-Sites that model advanced internal supply chains, trading partners which model stakeholders such as customers and suppliers, and Shared Services that model inter company relationships. Microsoft Dynamics AX continues an industry strategy focused on discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, wholesale/distribution, retail, and professional services. Public Sector will be revealed in Dynamics AX '6'. Though Microsoft Dynamics does not provide multi-tenant SaaS options, the Software plus Services approach delivers new retail customer deployment options for services such as online payment processing and payment services that work on the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) price list, (a.k.a. subscription pricing models).
The latest service pack, SP1, provides over 330 fixes, 5-DCR's, and supports over 42 languages and language variants. New features include project time management, intelligent data management, Microsoft Dynamics Mobile, Lean Manufacturing, and the Environmental Sustainability Dashboard. Key enhancements in SP1 include electronic signatures, left right date support, time zone patching, and enterprise portal deployment. Technology support includes Microsoft Dynamics Mobile, Windows Essential Business Server 2008, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. In Q2, the product will be available in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Brazil will have availability in Q3.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 adopts key enabling technologies. Launched November 2008, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 moves from a two-tier to a three tier architecture. As part of the new release, the product adopts the role tailored client, new reporting capabilities, and more web services enablement. The product currently is in an ISV Beta Access Program with more than 70 ISV's and 15 Technology Adoption Program (TAP) participants representing 7 countries and 8 verticals. Initial usability results cite 22% more success in performing tasks and 23 point higher satisfaction rate with the new product when compared to the NAV 5.0. Over time users can expect mobility updates and support for additional countries. For a more detailed perspective on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, check out a fellow industry star analyst of SMB ERP, PJ. Jakovljevic at Technology Evaluation Centers.
Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 expands access and reach. Major themes include usability and productivity, access to information, and communication and collaboration. GP 10 delivered UI improvements including Action Panes and Lists. Other enhancements included Excel and SRS reports, and work flow and search. GP 10 FP adds Rapid Install, Configuration, Migration; Excel Report Builder; Project and Field Service. New for 2009 will be SP4 which adds Microsoft CRM capabilities.
Microsoft Dynamics SL 7.0 extends collaboration and role-tailored productivity. Microsoft Dynamics SL offers a project based solution in the North American market. Key investments include SL 7 FP and SL SP 2 delivered in Q4 2008, improved project manager productivity, and performance enhancements. SL 7 FP enhances collaboration with access to project, customer, and vendor related documents. The system adds work spaces and document repositories when new projects are created or when vendors or customers are added. Project managers gain improvements with new flexible period time reporting and integration with Office Project 2007. Usability enhancements reduce the time to create service tasks and financial tasks.

Microsoft Dynamics Offers Stability And Business Assistance In Today's Market As one of the Big 4 (i.e. IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP), Microsoft's investments in its Microsoft Dynamics product line remains extensive and steadfast. As companies begin to worry about the financial viability of their software vendors, Microsoft continues to:

Invest in R&D and innovation. As other vendors begin to cut R&D in the face of global contraction, expect Microsoft to buck the trend and honor its commitments to deliver on its road map as promised. With more and more consumption of .NET components, Microsoft can take advantage of its technology stack to deliver future innovations in search, data management, content management, and other productivity tools. Key innovations such as XRM for property management, complaint management, citizen management, dealer management and contractor management also highlight the other advancements to come.
Prove value to the customer. Various programs to help deliver value were announced at Convergence including new financing options and the "Unleash Your Potential" program. With SME/SMB customers facing liquidity issues, Microsoft Financing delivered a 0% Financing Offer that ended March 20th, 2009 on top of its Business Ready Licensing simplification programs. The new Smart Pay offer allows customers to buy now and pay 6 months later with 24 or 36 month terms so long they take action by June 30, 2009. Unleash Your Potential provides customers with a best practice business solutions road map to accelerate design time and improve implementation outcomes.

The bottom line - Microsoft Dynamics should be considered in short lists Whether it be usability, functionality, integration with other services, or global availability, Microsoft Dynamics family of enterprise applications continue to improve with each release. Large enterprises looking at costly upgrades of legacy ERP and CRM systems should consider the option of Microsoft Dynamics as an alternative in their divisions or subsidiaries. Small and mid market customers will immediately benefit from usability and integrating with Microsoft Outlook and should leave Microsoft Dynamics in their short lists. Your POV How was your Microsoft Convergence experience? How do you feel about your Microsoft Dynamics products. Post your comments here or send me a private email to rwang0 at gmail dot com. Thanks and looking forward to your POV!

Other useful coverage links on Microsoft Convergence 2009

March 18, 2009, Technology Evaluation Centers - P.J. Jakovljevic "The (NA)Vision of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 – Part 2

March 11, 2009, IDG News - Chris Kanaracus "'Dynamic' Businesses Will Survive Recession"

March 10, 2009, Tech Target- Barney Beal "Microsoft commits to customers as it updates Dynamics CRM Online"

March 10, 2009, Beagle Research Group - Denis Pombriant "Microsoft Convergence Starts In NOLA"

March 8, 2009, IDG News - Chris Kanaracus "Dynamics users ready to network, solve problems"

*Other purpose built ERP options include Microsoft "Rainbow Stack" competitors Agresso, Epicor, Exact, Sage, and Syspro, SME vendors such as Lawson, IFS, Infor, and SaaS options such as NetSuite and Workday. Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

Vendor Event: Microsoft 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference

Published on March 13, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

Title: Vendor Event: 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference Location: New Orleans Convention Center, New Orleans, LA Link out: Click here Description: Join us in New Orleans, Louisiana, for the 2009 conference, July 13–16, to celebrate the year’s accomplishments and map a path to continued success for the future. About New Orleans New Orleans, one of the most vibrant cities in the United States, is nestled in southeastern Louisiana along the majestic Mississippi River. Founded in 1718, New Orleans combines a thriving music scene—featuring some of the best jazz music—with world-class dining representing the region’s rich cultural history. And the sights are unmatched—from the famous French Quarter and the gorgeous architecture of the Garden District to museums like the National World War II Museum and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art—both of which are affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. The streets overflow with elegant galleries and exotic exhibits. Whether you come for the learning and networking or to indulge in the arts and cuisine, you will surely enjoy another great partnering experience at the 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference. Watch this video to learn more about New Orleans from Microsoft partners in the area. Start Date: 2009-07-13 End Date: 2009-07-16