Archive for the ‘SasS’ Category

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

Published on July 7, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang
In the past 2 weeks, emails from 31 software insider readers highlight a growing and concerning trend with support and maintenance contracts.  Vendors concerns about support and maintenance contract retentions has led to new initiatives to consolidate contracts.  At first glance, this may appear to be proactive and beneficial to customers.  In fact, common rationale provided by the vendor sales reps seem benevolent:
  • Reduce the time and headaches of managing multiple contracts
  • Update existing contract provisions
  • Identify areas of non-compliance.
Keep in mind sales reps have been trained to push these new programs. The bottom line - users should keep their guards up when vendor sales reps suggest bundling While the above rationale make sense, bundling often create an all or nothing situation.  Basically, it eliminates your options to go with another vendor throughout the 5 phases of the software ownership life cycle (i.e. selection, implementation, utilization, maintenance, and retirement).  Convenience of one contract will be offset by 3 scenarios why you should never bundle your support and maintenance contracts:
  • Lump sum payment. Moving to one support and maintenance contract often means that the annual fees will be paid all at once.  If push comes to shove, customers can mitigate this by asking for partial payments or more regular payment plans.
  • Third party maintenance. Customers seeking to move off of their vendor delivered support and maintenance will find themselves unable to segment out specific products and solutions.  Individual contracts by products preserve the option to cancel as needed.  In very rare cases, customers have carved out the maintenance for significantly older releases
  • Replacement strategies. Leaving contracts separate allows for easy replacement of applications.  This strategy makes most sense when customers have become a vendor's customers by acquisition.  Leaving contracts separate enables the option to switch solutions, move to a SaaS option, or create more leverage in deals with the vendor.
Be aware of these new efforts to suggest consolidation of contracts.  There are very few benefits.  Should this be suggested to you, do not hesitate to reach out for advice on strategies to mitigate risk! Your POV. In the Enterprise Software Licensee Bill of Rights V2, new rights address this issue.   But for now, have you experienced such vendor tactics?  Did you manage to segment out your contracts?  Do you need assistance with your apps strategy and contract negotiations strategy?  Please post here or send me a private email to rwang0 at gmail dot com. Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

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Tuesday’s Tip: 10 Suggestions For A Successful Open Source Apps Strategy (Based On Personal Experience Blowing Up My Blog)

Published on January 6, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang
Blogging Platforms Provide A Good Showcase For The Power And Benefits Of Open Source Over the past 3 years, I've had the pleasure and privilege of experimenting with a variety of blogging platforms.  For my day job, I use TypePad and at night I build this blog with WordPress.  (Prior to that, I used Blogger.)  Without going into the pro's and con's of each platform, I can say that blogs are by far a great example of what can be accomplished with open source.  Each blog platform builds with an open source pedigree.  Delivery is via SaaS or on-premise.  Support comes from an active community of users willing to lend a hand to help the next person out.  An ecosystem of developers builds the latest and greatest widgets that can be added to the next release and extend functionality faster than any software vendor could ever go to market.  Early adopters take one for the team (TOFTT) and provide extensive testing and report bugs.  The benefits are definitely there and as an individual blogger, I've come to appreciate the community and group effort. Personal Blog Crisis Highlights Potential Open Source Concerns For Enterprises So while on vacation the last two weeks, I decided it would be a great idea to update to the latest version of WordPress 2.7.  While I was at it, I figured there'd be no harm in updating to the latest and greatest version of my Atahualpa Theme.  After 3 months of virtually no issues with upgrades and the application of widgets, I thought this would be just another simple upgrade.  Boy was I wrong!  In fact, I managed to both hose my existing database, restore the database via disaster recovery, and then blow up my existing blog again with a screwed up deployment of the latest theme.  Not apparent to most subscribers was the fact that the website had been rendered inoperable for 2 weeks.  While content could be viewed, no new content (i.e. links, comments, posts, users, etc.) could be created.   After a week of struggling to find the right post in a support forum, testing out the latest "fix"and failing miserably, learning codex for dummies, I ended up with a plea for help in twitter.  Thanks go out to Adam Metz, J A di Paolantonio, and fellow Forresterite Jeremiah Owyang in directing me to the right professional help - John Wiseman, who actually was the pro in troubleshooting what would become evident as some serious user errors! Now all this makes me wonder what an enterprise who deploys an open source ERP or any enterprise app would have to do to:
  • Procure the right level of support
  • Determine the key selection criteria for an open source app
  • Recruit the right level of talent to maintain and extend functionality
  • Mitigate risks during upgrades or changes
Open Source Lessons Learned From My WordPress Experiences Applicable to Enterprises

Mea culpa is a Latin phrase that translates into English as "my fault", or "my own fault" Source - Wikipedia

So what I'm about to list as a top 10 is probably not new to open source aficionados so don't flame but feel free to add your comments.  Truth be told - it's a list of many things I failed to do - some items were advice I often gave my clients about enterprise apps in the day job.  So, learn from my mea culpa, I certainly have!
  1. Choose a widely supported platform. Thanks to the sage advice of friends, I started with a solid hosting provider.  Props go to Media Temple for real live person support and a good knowledge base.  Equally important is an application with rich support and strong community.  I had evaluated 5 major blogging platforms and ended up with WordPress because of the richness of the tool, support community, and the wide range of widgets and theme options.

    Personal lesson learned: Reduce risk by choosing a widely adopted platform.  You'll get the benefits of a community ecosystem.  You can't pay enough money for that kind of level of support.

  2. Keep abreast of release changes. The pace of innovation is much faster with open source projects.  Releases often follow agile methodologies with frequent updates from small but powerful teams.  With so many releases and bug fixes in play, users should keep abreast of changes on a weekly basis, at a minimum.

    Personal lesson learned: The process of cramming 3 months of change information in a week was just insane.  Now I keep an RSS feed of the themes, widgets, and application updates.

  3. Contribute to the community as much as possible. The power of open source is with the community.  This assumes an active and vibrant community that benevolently shares information.  This collective urban tribe requires active participation and that means you should contribute as much as you can when you can in an effective manner.

    Personal lesson learned: Understand the community dynamics by trolling for a few weeks. Then get involved where you can with that perspective.  Contribute early before you need help and like other community organizations, you'll find a receptive and thankful core group with a long memory.

  4. Upgrade only when needed. No need to upgrade to the latest and greatest release.  Focus on key requirements and upgrade when requirements pop up.

    Personal lesson learned: Ignore all those tempting red icons that tell you to upgrade.  Consider upgrade when you have time set aside for extensive testing.  You'll live without the latest and greatest widget!

  5. Adapt a less is more philosophy. With so many different widgets from different programmers, reduction in complexity will work in your advantage.   Coding standards vary and interest among developers range from personal hobby to professional.  Certification programs are nascent and most deployment is based on reputation.  Keep in mind, most open source products are free.  So quality is based on personal pride.

    Personal lesson learned: Moving from 25 widgets down to 10 core widgets makes isolation of bugs and testing much easier.  Less is truly more in the long run.

  6. Maintain separate environments. Very obvious to an enterprise to have test and production.  Not obvious to an individual despite his/her background in the industry... ;)  Development environment would also make sense for those with heavy custom dev resources.

    Personal lesson learned: Test and production now up and running.  New widgets and upgrades will be tested before roll out to production.

  7. Test, test, test. This goes without saying.  You can never test enough.  Key approach is to test in isolated parts as widgets, themes, and other new code is introduced.  If you can find automated testing tools, put them to use!

    Personal lesson learned: Introduce new versions, widgets, and themes one at a time.  Test between new introductions.  You never know what will break.

  8. Backup often. Mistakes will be made.  However, a good backup plan minimizes data loss and is a good risk mitigation strategy.  Schedule automated backups as often as possible.

    Personal lesson learned: Backup all components on a frequent basis.  Make all backups before upgrades or new installations.

  9. Evangelize success. As with identifying bugs, sharing successful strategies helps strengthen the community.  Successful adoption of open source is based on best practices and experiences from others.

    Personal lesson learned: You can blog, tweet, or use any other Web 2.0 tool or social media approach.  Share the wealth!

  10. Don't be afraid to seek professional help when all else has failed. Despite all the richness of the ecosystem and support, sometimes it's no longer possible to do-it-yourself (DIY).  You may face scenarios where you are ahead of the curve and there is no support forum for your scenario.  In some cases, consider professional organizations delivering support as part of the selection criteria.

    Personal lesson learned: Keep a running list of experts on your platform.  Continuously seek references from peers about key resources.

The bottom line - open source will take some work but could be an alternative in today's economic climate Heard enough?  Contemplating open source for your enterprise apps?  Given today's economic climate, there could be a greater case and trend for open source.  If you take the plunge, keep in mind the lessons learned and be prepared for some DIY and a certain level of ambiguity.  It can work, you just need to do your homework like any other packaged apps strategy. However, I can see open source working best in enterprise scenarios when there's a common and dominant "competitor"  such as the case in operating systems with Linux vs Windows.  Enterprises need one throat to choke but maybe with this economy the views may be changing. Your POV. Have you had similar experiences with open source and support for your open source products. Post here or send me a private email to rwang0@gmail.com. Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

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Event Report: Dreamforce 2008 – Love is In the Clouds

Published on November 12, 2008 by R "Ray" Wang

Entrance to the DreamForce Expo Floor at Moscone Center, SF, CA

(Photo: Main show floor for Dreamforce 2008 at Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA. Copyright © 2008 R Wang. All rights reserved.)

Over 9,000 attendees made it to the annual San Francisco pilgrimage to hear the high priest of SaaS kickoff the event.  This year's theme focused on the future of Cloud Computing, a focus on success, and  how much Salesforce loves its customers.  Key product, technology, and partnership announcements from the November 3rd to 5th event include:
  • Force.com expands usage to new product and services. Force.com sites allows customers to publish Force.com data and apps to any site, basically supporting customer built web apps. SFDC will take care of domain, URL, RSS management, etc when customers run their Web apps on Force.com.  Other expansions include Force.com for Amazon and Force.com for Facebook.  On the Amazon front,  SFDC also will support applications being built using Amazon web services, in effect creating a mega cloud.  Facebook support allows developers to tap into the Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect. POV: Movement to expand the platform into new B2C facing markets give SFDC credibility in new social media markets as well as taking the Cloud wars to the consumer.  Consider this a continuation in the battle for dominance of IDE's in the cloud.
  • CODA showcases its financial package on APEX for the North American market. While Coda2Go was launched at Dreamforce Europe in London last May, attendees at Dreamforce 2008 in San Francisco had a chance to see first hand how the 30 year old vendor had completed its rewrite.  With enterprise financials built on this new platform, Salesforce.com customers now have more choice in financial solutions within the ecosystem.POV: Like many mid-market vendors, CODA had the opportunity to bet on the next platform and chose a SaaS approach over an on-premise middleware platform.  Most mid-market vendors bet on a Microsoft VS.NET "Rainbow" Stack, IBM Websphere,  or Progress Software.  These middleware platforms allow companies to spend 10 to 15% of budget on tools and technology instead of a staggering 33% that many would spend if they built their own middleware.  CODA's decision is market leading for the industry and is reflective of its groundbreaking historical bets on HP3000 in the 70's, VAX (DEC) in the 80's, and AS/400's (IBM) in the 90's.
  • Glovia, a Fujitsu Company, builds order management on Force.com. Customers seeking lead to billing solutions in order management can now turn to the Glovia solution for order management, inventory, fulfillment, and billing.  Glovia takes the order from Salesforce.com and brings it into the order management system giving it visibility from prospect to invoice.  Enterprises can also check status via the web or on a mobile device via Salesforce mobile. POV: Salesforce.com's ecosystem strategy allows other vendors to build key back office end to end processes.  As more companies add to the ecosystem, SalesForce will continue to gain market relevance against enterprise vendors struggling to move to a true multi-tenant on Deman delivery model.The bottom line - SaaS platforms continue to morph into cloud computing
The bottom line - SaaS platforms continue to morph into cloud computing Recent decisions by CODA, Glovia, and a host of software vendors show that the transition from on-premise middleware platforms to cloud-based platforms has begun. Application development and delivery professionals seeking new delivery models can benefit from these new platforms. Force.com is gaining momentum and given its history will emerge as one of the top 3 platforms for both customers and software vendors. The real question out there - what will vendor lock-in look like in the world of cloud computing? Will it be like the mainframe lock-ins 40 years prior? Your POV. Are you considering a SaaS deployment? Will you move to the cloud? Are you a software vendor looking at ditching your on-premise middleware platform? Feel free to share with me your thoughts. You can post here or send me a private email to rwang0@gmail.com.

(Photo: Entrance into the show floor for Dreamforce 2008 at Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA. Copyright © 2008 R Wang. All rights reserved.) Copyright © 2008 R Wang. All rights reserved.

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Trends: VC Funding Models Favor Even Simpler Sales Cycles

Published on February 29, 2008 by R "Ray" Wang
I've been meeting a number of VC firms this past month to see if anything new had emerged in terms of enterprise software and tech service provider trends. Standard topics ranged from Web 2.0, future of SaaS, would Larry continue to be the exit strategy, and whether or not IBM would publicly come out and enter the enterprise apps space to the depreciating dollar, state of the economy and the downfall of Billary. But a few things kept sticking out in conversations on what type of software and service companies were receiving funding. Here are some must have characteristics that bubbled out:
  • Payable with a credit card and not require board approval. VC's like sales models that have a fairly regular and low barrier to entry. Some examples include subscription pricing because it targets operational expense instead of capital expense (i.e. no need to go to the board).
As one VC put it, "If they can't buy it on their AMEX and run it through as an expense, it's not worth investing"
  • Easy to consume and work like what's on the web. These new offerings, service or products, must follow more consumer user experience models. Because most of the power in the cloud beats what an enterprise has, users are now more accustomed to paradigms on the web and not the legacy apps they replace. More importantly, they must mitigate IT dependencies in not only decision making, but also support.
A serial entrepreneur stated, "We stopped pitching to the IT user 24 months ago. They remain irrelevant because we target the decision makers who want something working now and have the budget and authority to create change. They then go back and tell IT to go figure it out"
  • Drive a sense of community and free user generated content. Content remains king but not if you have to pay for it. The drive towards UGC continues and the more successful offerings have a community component. This also applies to ancillary technology services and related knowledge based companies where the users and their communities create a self service ecosystem.
An Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR) confided with me and said, "These social networks create so much user generated content that we then monetize. Why pay or invest in content when the knowledge is in the community? We just need to put the tools in there and make it easy"

The bottom line.
While we may be in the midst of an economic slowdown and even headed towards a recession, VC's continue to have faith in models that put more power to an individual user or a small team of users. Lower price points, captivating and easy to use functionality, and thriving ecosystems remain the critical success factors in receiving funding. The era of funding on-premise start ups and large consulting firms may be over. This could explain the great interest in SaaS and of course the tremendous explosion of growth in the upcoming SaaS Con event.


(The personal contents in this blog do not reflect the opinions, ideas, thoughts, points of view, and any other potential attribution of my current, past, or future employers.)
Copyrighted 2008 by R Wang. All rights reserved
(The personal contents in this blog do not reflect the opinions, ideas, thoughts, points of view, and any other potential attribution of my current, past, or future employers.) Copyrighted 2008 by R Wang. All rights reserved

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