Posts Tagged ‘partner ecosystems’

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Welcome to a multi-part series on The Software Insider Tech Ecosystem Model.  Subsequent posts will apply the model to these leading vendors:

  • Cisco

  • Dell

  • HP

  • IBM

  • Microsoft

  • Oracle

  • Salesforce.com

  • SAP


The aggregation of these posts will result into a research report available for reprint rights.

Business Models Converge During Recessions Buy cheap epogen online, Is your technology provider a hardware vendor or a software vendor. Does your System Integrator now provide solutions in the cloud. These questions will continue as models converge.  Hardware, kopen goedkope casodex, software, For zometa online, and system integration vendors must reinvent new models of revenue.  The economic recession has forced business model shifts at the major technology companies.  The goal - own the largest share of both the business and IT technology budget,  As these sellers attack new profit pools, buyers can expect continued convergence of business models because:

  • Hardware companies seek higher margins. Most hardware vendors face single digit margins in their core business.  To bolster margins, evista online cheap, many vendors acquired system integration firms.  For example, Order gleevec online without prescription, HP purchased EDS and Dell acquired Perot Systems.  The next logical step requires the hardware vendors to get into software.  Software margins hover from 10% to 50% depending on the market.  Expect a hardware vendor such as Cisco, Dell, or HP to acquire a SaaS based company to move into the software business.

  • Service providers build differentiated intellectual property (IP) using the Cloud, αγοράζουν φτηνά arimidex. Service providers should go on the SaaS/Cloud offensive if they want to deliver rapid innovation to customers and break the cycle of dependence on packaged apps vendors.  Service providers can take market share through SaaS by investing in white spaces in the solution road map with verticals and other pivot points that have not been well served.  In addition, Acquistare a buon mercato arimidex, expect forms of SaaS BPO to emerge as clients seek best of breed SaaS and hybrid deployments.

  • Software companies use Cloud to transform into information brokers. SaaS and Cloud deployments provide companies with hidden value and software companies with new revenues streams.  Data will become more valuable than the software in the Cloud.  Three areas of growth will include benchmarking, trending, ordering zometa pill, and prediction.

  • Companies by-pass software vendors for competitive advantage. Roper Industries acquisition of iTrade Networks on July 26th, Connecticut CT Conn., proves a key point.  Smart and innovative companies will put custom development in the cloud to meet last-mile solution needs that packaged apps vendors or system integrators fail to deliver.  Companies may also acquire software vendors if they can't build the solution.


Budget Authority Shifting From IT To Business

A recent survey of 23 companies shows that while the IT budget appear to have shrunk, the overall technology spend has increased.  Key findings:


  • IT budgets trending down. CIO's focused on cost savings and efficiency.  Among the 23 CIO's, few IT budgets have increased and most have decreased between 3 and 8 percent.  IT departments must do more with less.

  • Business technology spending up, buy cheap epogen online. Growing SaaS and cloud adoption improve the outlook by business units to procure their own solutions.  Among the 23 organizations surveyed, Delaware DE Del., most line of businesses grew technology spend by 5 to 7%.  Business leaders now call the shot on more and more technology decisions

  • IT to BT spending ratios nearing 50-50. Survey showed that the average percentage of tech spend for IT was 53.7%.  The average percentage of tech spend for business reached 47.3%.  Expect the business technology budgets to surpass IT in 2012.


The Tech Ecosystem Model Provides Multi-dimensional Insights

The Software Insider Tech Ecosystem Model examines technology solution categories on 4 dimensions (see Figure 1):


  • Tools for creation. Ordering zometa overnight delivery, This category describes technologies that can be reused to create new solutions.

  • Tools for distribution. This category describes channels and distribution models to deliver client value.

  • Value added solutions. This category describes high margin, cheap cytoxan online cheap, high value solutions for clients.  A plethora of vendors by industry, Massachusetts MA Mass., geography, market size, and role populate this category

  • Commoditized infrastructure, cheapest cytoxan. This category describes technologies that should be optimized.  A handful of vendors typically dominate this category.


Figure 1.  The Software Insider Tech Ecosystem Model

The Bottom Line For Buyers  - Use The Tech Ecosystem Model To Build Out Your Technology Roadmap And Procurement Strategy.

The Software Insider Tech Ecosystem Model can provide a key tool in mapping out the long term apps strategy.  Use the suggested five step approach:


  1. Start by listing the vendors in each category. Jot down the names of every vendor you own into each category.

  2. Buy cheap epogen online, Identify the key business processes supported. Place business processes at the high level and line them back to the vendors.

  3. Evaluate the application portfolio.  As consolidations occur, Epogen online kaufen, business strategy should align with applications strategy.  Applications strategy will then align with procurement strategy to optimize the Business Technology Value equation.

  4. Build out your solution ecosystem plan. In some cases, you will consolidate vendors, Mississippi MS Miss.. In others, Billiga iressa apotek, you will acquire new solutions.  Sometimes, the last-mile will require custom development.  Take a balanced approach to the portfolio.  Keep in mind how you sunset legacy applications and solutions.

  5. Apply model to the contract strategy. This model applied to Seven Simple Steps To Successfully Negotiate Software Contracts will drive business value in technology projects.


The Bottom Line For Sellers (Vendors) - Use The Tech Ecosystem Model To Plan Partnerships and M&A Strategies

Use the Software Insider Tech Ecosystem Model  to determine when to partner, New Hampshire NH N.H., build, Buy casodex online cheap, or acquire a capability. Evaluate each category by:


  1. Examining the current footprint, buy cheap epogen online. Fill in the model to see what you own

  2. Identifying adjacent profit pools. Look at potential install base up-sell, cross-sell, buy casodex online legally, and attach rate opportunities.

  3. Determining potential profit margins and ROI. Cheapest epogen in the world, Look at average profit margins.  Identify and rank the top categories.

  4. Ranking opportunities by competitive threat. Determine which piece to commoditize next in the value added solutions.  Figure out which areas are high growth value added solutions to invest.

  5. Put together 3 year strategy. Face it, Michigan MI Mich., 3 years is too long but you need a time frame.  Identify acquisition prices and partnership criteria.


Your POV.

Buyers, Nebraska NE Nebr., do you need help with your apps strategy and vendor management strategy?  Ready to put the expertise of over 1000 software contract negotiations to work?  Give us a call!  Sellers and vendors, want to expedite your ability to effectively partner or test your M&A idea?  You can post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Please let us know if you need help with your next gen apps strategy efforts.  Here’s how we can help:


  • Providing contract negotiations and software licensing support

  • Evaluating SaaS/Cloud options

  • Buy cheap epogen online, Assessing apps strategies (e.g. single instance, zometa ordine on-line, two-tier ERP, Texas TX Tex., upgrade, custom dev, packaged deployments”

  • Designing end to end processes and systems

  • Comparing SaaS/Cloud integration strategies

  • Assisting with legacy ERP migration

  • Engaging in an SCRM strategy

  • Planning upgrades and migration

  • Performing vendor selection


Next In The Series

  • The Cloud

  • Cisco

  • Dell

  • HP

  • IBM

  • Microsoft

  • Oracle

  • Salesforce.com

  • SAP


Reprints

Reprints can be purchased through the Software Insider brand or Altimeter Group.  To request official reprints in PDF format, Colorado CO Colo., please contact r@softwareinsider.org.

Disclosure

Although we work closely with many mega software vendors, we want you to trust us.  For the full disclosure policy please refer here.

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

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Microsoft Continues To Embrace The Cloud And Hopes Its Partners Jump In Order cheap evista online, Microsoft kicked off arguably one of the best WPC's in history at the Washington, DC, Convention Center.  From tremendous networking opportunities to keynotes from Bill Clinton, the time was well spent despite the scorching summer heat. Arimidex generic, As expected, the key theme was Cloud, cheap epogen pill, Ordering cytoxan online without prescription, Cloud, Cloud; and Azure, capecitabine pill, Ordering capecitabine no rx, Azure, Azure.  In a quick and unscientific survey of 62 Microsoft Partners, epogen without prescription, Buy generic capecitabine, only 11 truly understood how they would adopt Azure. More importantly, cheap cytoxan, Tennessee TN Tenn., only 5 out of the 11 partners who understood Azure could figure out a viable revenue model.  The inability to come up with a viable business model on Azure could quickly become Microsoft's Achilles heel in gaining market adoption.

A photo collage of the event can be seen below (see Figure 1):

Figure 1, Texas TX Tex.. Iressa kopen, Microsoft WPC 2010 Flickr Feed



Source:Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC, order evista pill. All rights reserved, order cheap evista online. Billiga zometa apotek,

The Bottom Line For Buyers (Clients) - Expect Azure Solutions To Take Some Time To Mature

Microsoft delivers its solutions via an indirect selling model - partner ecosystems.  Adoption of technologies by Microsoft's partners will determine what key features will be delivered to customers.  Given that Microsoft just began marketing Azure and the Cloud to partners, and partners must determine an appropriate business model, Vermont VT Vt., Ordering cytoxan no rx, customers can expect a trickle of solutions in the next 12 months.  The majority of partners must find the right business model and this could take the next 2 to 3 years to come to fruition.

Your POV

Microsoft customers, ostaa halvalla zometa, Generic epogen, what’s your view on SaaS vs Cloud and Azure?  Ready to embrace Azure as a deployment option from your partners?  Are you looking at private, public, Kansas KS Kans., Buy zometa online cheap, or hybrid cloud options?  Add your comments to the discussion or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Please let us know if you need help you and your clients with SaaS/Cloud strategies.  Here’s how we can help:


  • Crafting a next gen apps strategy

  • Short listing and vendor selection

  • Contract negotiations support

  • Market evaluation

  • Implementation partner selection

  • Connecting with other partners

  • Sharing best practices

  • Designing a next gen apps strategy

  • Providing contract negotiations and software licensing support

  • Demystifying software licensing


Reprints

Reprints can be purchased through the Software Insider brand or Altimeter Group.  To request official reprints in PDF format, Koop korting cytoxan, Buy cytoxan without prescription, please contact r@softwareinsider.org.

Disclosure

Although we work closely with many mega software vendors, casodex without prescription, Ordering zometa, we want you to trust us.  Microsoft is currently a retainer client of Altimeter Group but not a client of Insider Associates, LLC.  For the full disclosure policy please refer here, order arimidex online. Goedkope cytoxan apotheek, Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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High Cost Of Ownership And Changing Requirements Drive SAP Users To Seek Optimization Solutions

As users await SAP to regain its mojo (see Dennis Howlett's post) and implement it's "Voice of the Customer" strategy Buy cheap gleevec online, in 2010, users must continue to reduce their cost of ownership and complexity (see Figure 1).  In addition, rapidly changing business requirements require some users to seek SaaS alternatives, additional point solutions, and extensions.

Figure 1.  Cost Reduction Top of Mind for SAP users

What SAP users want from SAP

Consequently, vendors providing SAP optimization and extension solutions represent one of the fastest growing parts of the $78.7B (2009 Altimeter Group estimate), Illinois IL Ill., 850,000 person strong SAP service partner and developer ecosystem.   SAP users already embrace many of the solutions from vendors on this inaugural SAP Optimization List as part of their business value oriented apps strategy. The living list covers seven areas including:

  1. application extension and usability;

  2. application life cycle management;

  3. archiving, storage, buy cheap gleevec, and data management;

  4. license management and optimization;

  5. Microsoft Office integration;

  6. third party maintenance; and

  7. virtualization


1. Application Extension and Usability

Users often complain about the poor usability of SAP solutions.  These solutions allow users to change their user experience with SAP.  In some cases, Order arimidex, the solutions provide composite app creation capabilities in other tool sets to inter-operate with SAP.


  • Adobe - provides interactive forms for the SAP environment in both an off-line and on-line deployment.  Submitted forms are then entered into SAP.  Forms can include validations and other secure features.

  • ERP-Link - allows users to extend the SAP environment for business intelligence, document management, content management, Connecticut CT Conn., and composite application creation using Microsoft tools.  The i_Net platform creates SAP-Microsoft interoperability.

  • GuiXT - provides users with the ability to deliver customized user interfaces in SAP applications.  GuiXT is often used by clients to simplify screens and user flows without impacting SAP code.


2. Application Life Cycle Management

Whether it may be instance consolidation, upgrades, test data management, or performance planning, these vendors ease the process of managing the SAP application life cycle, buy cheap gleevec online.


  • Hayes Technology - assists customers with replicating production application data for dev, Buy epogen overnight delivery, testing, and training environments.  Gold Client allows organizations to replicate the data sets they need in SAP configuration, master data, and transcational data.

  • Hyperformix - builds on SAP internal monitoring capability, αγοράζουν φτηνά zometa.   Organizations gain a performance monitoring tool that identifies hardware, infrastructure, Virginia VA Va., and architecture optimization opportunities.

  • Intellicorp - provides an artificial intelligence based optimization solution called Live Compare that compares version of SAP for use in testing, upgrade planning, and other life cycle activities. The solution helps clients understand their pre and post environment.

  • Panaya - delivers a SaaS based optimization tool for SAP upgrades, Iowa IA, enhancement packages, and ABAP code cleansing.  Customers generate a code analysis to determine differentials between versions.  The tool proactively tells user what will break, Rhode Island RI R.I., how to fix it, and where to test.

  • Tidal Software - optimizes the allocation of SAP support resources through a root cause analysis methodology.  Performance, IT Process, and Workload automation solutions address both day to day and upgrade scenarios such as a system refresh.

  • West Trax - uses a benchmark tool based on over 300 clients in 13 industries to determine system optimization opportunities for upgrades and  consolidations.  KPI Scan, iressa online cheap, KPI Optimizer, and KPI QA help organizations identify opportunities, Lowest price arimidex, make suggestions, and assist with compliance.


3. Archiving, Storage, cheap gleevec from canada, and Data Management


  • EMC - provides content management and archiving solutions to support compliance requirements.  Other capabilities include cloning, backup, Kopen goedkope casodex, and recovery, and information protection.

  • IBM Optim - delivers a suite of integrated data management solutions that includes data privacy, test data management, archiving, ordering gleevec online without prescription, retention and E-discovery, and upgrade consolidations.


4. License Management and Optimization
Buy cheap gleevec online, Solutions in this category focus on helping clients manage their license usage.  Many large enterprises lack the understanding of how much shelfware may be in production.  In addition, the used software market provides users with opportunities to unload or acquire older releases of software. Rhode Island RI R.I.,

  • Flexera (formerly Acresso, Macrovision) - helps clients with a software solution to understand usage, ensure compliance, centralize updates, buy evista without prescription, predict future demand, and improve contract negotiation leverage.

  • SUSEN Software - provides a market place to buy and sell used software or shelfware.

  • UsedSoft - supports a market place to buy and sell used software or shelfware.


5. Cheapest zometa in the world, Microsoft Office Integration

Organizations require easy ways to leverage Microsoft Office as an interface into SAP.  Common scenarios include Outlook, Excel, Access, and Word integration, köpa gleevec online.


  • SAP Duet - represents a solution in joint partnership between Microsoft and SAP to provide interoperability.  Current users complain about the slow pace of innovation and high cost.  A new version addressing these issues will be out in 2010.

  • Winshuttle - facilitates data exchange between SAP and Microsoft Excel or Access.   Winshuttle's data management tools automate data entry, Price of gleevec, data download, and reporting tasks for the entire SAP BusinessSuite 7.


6. Third party maintenance

Customers seeking relief from maintenance choose solutions that provide maintenance, tax updates, and regulatory changes for often half the cost of existing SAP maintenance prices.  The clear leader in the market is Rimini Street though some other system integrators have been quietly providing such services, buy cheap gleevec online.


  • Rimini Street- delivers maintenance options for SAP customers who do not seek to upgrade but would like to keep their existing systems up to date with tax, compliance, cheapest capecitabine in the world, and other break-fix issues.  Rimini Street's charter program has met significant success with over 100 client cases for SAP customers.

  • Your System Integrator of Choice - The recent Siemens SAP maintenance contract negotiations revealed that other vendors such as IBM and HCL were bidding for the maintenance business.   Many SoftwareInsider readers have shared with us that many system integrators, especially those in Europe provide such services.


7. Farmacia epogen barato, Virtualization

Virtualization allows organizations to consolidate server infrastructure costs for development, testing, training, and production environments, buy arimidex no rx.


  • EMC - provides virtualization solutions that include high availability (HA), backup and recovery (BR), Ohio OH, and cloning.

  • VMWare -  reduces an organizations physical infrastructure footprint with its solutions.  VMWare provides additional solutions that deliver high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR).  In addition to cost savings, many Software Insider readers report performance improvements.


The Bottom Line - Lots Of Proven Solutions, Expect More Details In Future Friday's Features

Over the course of the next 6 months, we will be profiling many of these vendors.  Key questions that will be answered:


  1. What's the appropriate use case?

  2. What other customers have used these solutions?

  3. What are sample ROI's achieved?


Meanwhile, let's see what news, programs, and innovations develop at SAP's Field Kickoff Meeting (FKOM 2010) the third week of January.

Your POV.

Have you worked with any of these vendors?  Feel free to share your experiences.  Am I missing anyone?  This list will be continuously updated so please share with us your thoughts.  Feel free to post your comments here or send me an email at rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwareinsider dot org.

Copyright © 201o R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Boston Park Plaza Lobby Buy evista, nTag at SAP Summit Schwarz and Becher The Future Leadership of SAP?
(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.


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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"


Copyright © 2009 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Buy capecitabine no prescription, Day 1 Brings 40,000 Oracle Faithful Into San Francisco For Red Stack Indoctrination

Oracle Open World Moscone WestRegistration at Moscone WestOracle BMW Racing Yacht Keynote hall at MosconeExadata display


(Source: R Wang & Software Insider POV, Copyright © 2009  All rights reserved.)


Interesting tidbits from Day 1 include:


  • Oracle tells SaaS providers they can use a new SaaS/Cloud computing model to purchase a limited number of Oracle products in a "pay as you grow" manner.

  • Attendees propagating rumors about Fusion Apps being announced on Wednesday in Larry's keynote.

  • Customers discussing how Oracle now leads CRM sales with CRM OnDemand before any other on-premise product.

  • Dell confirmed to be selling SalesForce.com products in the SMB channel.

  • EBS customers who have upgraded to 12.1 still having a tough time getting the new account and multi-org structures down right.  Many system integrators suggest that its best to do a reimplementation.

  • PeopleSoft customers buzzing about the new 9.1 release.

  • Oracle waiting for Sun deal to close to make next set of acquisition.  Charles Phillips tells partners, there's more to buy.

  • The roving Rimini Street billboard is back!


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Your POV.

We'll be roving around asking some questions during Open World.  If you get a chance, let us know:


  • Which Oracle products do you use?

  • What release of Oracle DB are you on. When will you migrate?

  • Are you using Oracle BI Tools with non-Oracle data, ordering epogen pill. Lowest price iressa, or vice versa?

  • Do you use RAC. Do you use RAC, Um evista online. Buy epogen no prescription, Do you know about Exadata and would you consider it?

  • When will you consider Fusion Apps?

  • Is the delay in Fusion Apps, affecting your timing for software upgrades?

  • Are recent maintenance price hikes having an impact?

  • When do you plan to adopt Fusion Middleware?

  • How much will Fusion cost you in reimplementations?


Feel free to post your comments here or send me an email at rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwareinsider dot org, iressa price. Ordering cytoxan online,

Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

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Oracle Gets More Serious About Meeting Partner Needs

Buy cytoxan online cheap, OPN main stageCharles "Chuck" Phillips welcoming OPN attendeesAndrew McAfee presenting from his latest Enterprise 2.0 book2009 Oracle Open World Materials


(Source: R Wang & Software Insider POV, Copyright © 2009  All rights reserved.)

Oracle Open World kicked off today with major announcements that beef up the 21,000 member strong Oracle Partner program.   Throughout the day, αγοράσετε epogen έκπτωση, South Dakota SD, Oracle executives kept reminding everyone that path to success would be specialization and that Oracle partners played a key role in driving revenue.  In fact, partners contributed to 59% of North American Revenue in fiscal year 2009.  Key takeaways include:


  • Oracle PartnerNetwork Specialized Program.  Oracle revamps its program to create four partner levels including Oracle Remarketer, New Mexico NM N.Mex., Idaho ID, Silver, Gold, cheap generic casodex, Maine ME Me., and Platinum.  Status must be earned across Oracle's 35 apps, middleware, North Carolina NC N.C., Comprare iressa sconto, database, and industry solutions.  The higher the status, billige capecitabine Apotheke, Acquistare online iressa, the more engagement Oracle will provide.

    POV: Partners and customers will benefit from a distinct status program.  OPN Specialized will force partners to invest in a few differentiated competencies.  With 3000 products, Oracle feels partners wlll need to go deep in order to win in the market place, where to buy cheap gleevec. Ordering casodex from canada, However, forcing partners to stay specialized will leave them vulnerable as Oracle Consulting Services will still have capacity to provide a full service of solutions.  At least Oracle eases the transition by smartly decoupling education from certification, buy arimidex without prescription. New Jersey NJ N.J.,   Partners can opt to take the certification exam without having to take unnecessary training.   This should help some larger partners to keep their competencies.




  • Oracle Partner Business Center.  Oracle demonstrates its commitment to supporting customers by expanding the Partner Enablement 2.0 program.  Key features include a global Twitter support channel, 24/7 support in 24 different languages, Om cytoxan online, Billige cytoxan Apotheke, and access to partner business consultants.  Access to support will be based on partner levels with Platinum partners receiving inbound call and e-mail assistance, support service request logging, cheap iressa, Cheap arimidex from canada, pro-active outbound engagement including business and administrative support and priority renewal, and dedicated virtual account management and channels to assist with joint business plans and top priority renewals.

    POV:  Oracle's putting its money where its mouth is.  No longer an all hat no cattle partner program, Rabatt kaufen capecitabine, Ordering capecitabine online without prescription, last year Oracle claims to have conducted 44,530 apps and 16, Osta iressa online, Georgia GA Ga., 423 tech training sessions.  Partners expect the new business center to serve as a key enablement resource and a significant improvement over the patchwork program of previous years.




  • Oracle Exadata Partner Program.  Partners will be able to resell Exadata Storage servers and Sun Oracle Database machines starting December 1st, 2009.  Oracle will be providing enablement resources to expand the solution offering into verticals as well as key horizontals such as data warehousing and business intelligence, Maine ME Me.. Jotta iressa verkossa, Oracle plans to provide training materials via a new Exadata Knowledge Zone that will include Guided Learning Paths.

    POV:  At the partner keynote, Charles Phillips reemphasized how Oracle will be the first company to go from apps to disk.  As Oracle attempts to attack TCO by owning the wh0le stack, Nebraska NE Nebr., expect its competitors to respond to this new stack play with more diversified partnerships among Oracle's competitors.  Oracle's strategy is brilliant but they will not be left to their own devices by its new competitors in hardware and software.



Your POV.

A few questions to partners:


  • Are you a partner with Oracle?

  • How do you feel about the changes to the partnership program?

  • As an acquired partner what do you think Oracle does well, poorly?

  • Are you a Sun Partner moving to Oracle?


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

Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

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

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 saas-deployment-2009 Source: Forrester
Figure 2.  Concerns over SaaS have dropped significantly over the past year 2009 Enteprise and SMB Survey - SaaS Concerns Declinet 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 2009 Enterprise and SMB Survey SaaS Interest 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:
  1. Reuse similar business process parts as the on-premise product
  2. Harmonize the data model and common objects
  3. Build a brand new RIA based UI and UX
  4. Assume that all data sources will be heterogenous
  5. Design the product to run stand alone
  6. Attack white spaces of new growth in a competitor's install base
  7. 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"
Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

Monday’s Musings: Industry Vertical Pivot Points Still Matter Most

Pivot points represent a market segmentation approach used by many companies to determine market demand, define new products, assign sales territories, service customers, and put boundaries around customer sets.  Since September 2009, over 500 enterprise software decision makers were asked which one pivot point would they prefer their software vendor focus on.  The four key pivot points include market segment, geography, industry, and role.  To elaborate:
  • Market segment - standard definitions of size whether it be by revenue (e.g. $0-249M, $250-499M, $500-999M, $1,000-4,999M, $5,000-9,999M, $10,000-19,999M, >$20,000M)  or by employee count (e.g. 0-49, 50-99, 100-249, 250-499, 500-999, 1000-2499, 2500-4999, 5000-9999, 10,000-19,999, 20,000-49,999, >50,000).
  • Geography - physical and cultural location of where primarily business is conducted (e.g. North America, South America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, CIS, Middle East, North Africa, Africa, India, Greater China, APAC, Oceania, ANZA, etc.)
  • Industry - industry expertise or vertically related business functions often generated by SIC code or broad categories (e.g. Discrete Manufacturing, Process Manufacturing, Retail/Wholesale Distribution, Services, Public Sector, Healthcare/Life Sciences)
  • Role - classification by job functions and titles (e.g. CEO, COO, CFO, CMO, VP of HR, VP of Security, Architect, Chief Legal Officer, etc.)
Respondents were forced to choose the one pivot point they felt would be most relevant to their needs.  The results are as follows:
Pivot Point Preferences

(Survey of 527 enterprise and sme/smb software decision makers from phone, tweets, email, and in-person interactions from September 2008 to June 2009

The bottom line - end users should demand vertical expertise The message resonates loud and clear - users seek more vertical expertise from vendors.  Making minor extensions to support an industry may not be enough in today's market.  As industry requirements increase and require software solutions to provide support, end users must demand greater levels of innovation and investment into vertical specific requirements.  Given how much money has been spent on maintenance and support, end users should take an active role in building the right level of dialogue with vendors:
  • Request to join customer advisory boards. Often customer advisory board members have insight into the product direction and future functionality decisions.  Some vendors such as SAP, Oracle, Lawson, and Microsoft hold regular advisory board meetings with end users, senior management, product teams, and analysts to define, prioritize, and test requirements.  These meetings often result in a status report on priortiziation and progress in delivering the requested functionality.
  • Influence existing user groups. User groups may already provide industry specific forums where the vendor and the end users have existing channels of dialogue.  Determine how quickly it has taken a vendor to deliver on promised functionality.  If it's been more than 12 months and its a common request among 80% of the users, then it's time to rally the end users for some change/
  • Rally around industry trade groups. Take the time to see what standards have been set by industry trade groups.  As vendors modernize their software architectures to support web services and SOA, trade groups could provide a key opportunity and forum to define common business process, architecture, and meta data standards.
The bottom line - vendors should keep focusing on verticals and micro-verticals By a 3 to 1 margin, software decision makers resonate most with verticals.  This continues a trend where customers seek deeper functionality by verticals and micro-verticals in their solutions.  Vendors should take the following 5 actions to improve vertical relevance:
  • Focus on a select number of verticals based on vendor size. Most software vendors under $500M have the bandwidth to focus on 3 to 5 verticals while those between $500M and $1B can handle 7 to 9 verticals.  Agree on what you will not be focused on and treat other sales as opportunistic.
  • Build a road map of capabilities that should be part of the vertical solution. Identify the complete functionality of business processes that should be supported.  Include both internally built and externally provided solutions.
  • Identify solution centric ecosystem ownership. Given the myriad of combinations and customer requirements to deliver the last-mile solutions, not one single software vendor can deliver all aspects of a solution.  Determine what part of the value chain will be delivered, externally sourced, or provided by a partner.  Keep in mind some customers may choose to extend on your platform as well.
  • Enable easy access and extension of the core platform. Design the solution with partnership and extension in mind.  Ecosystems provide the fastest way to build adoption of your software. As users and partners add IP and innovation to the core product, vendors gain natural barriers of entry and exit in a specific vertical and micro-vertical.  Customers may also seek to band together to build solutions or have a partner extend and industry solution for them.
  • Tie the pivot points together. One final point - don't make the mistake of just focusing on a vertical or one pivot point.  Take the time to cross segment by the other pivot points.  Vendors often find that these verticals may not fit as neatly across the board and that's okay.  Some solutions such as risk and compliance may have inherent appeal across a role such as a CFO and span verticals.  Keep in mind pivot points provide a guide but use common sense when building natural segments.
Related research of interest May 7th, 2007 "Solutions-Centric Ecosystems Disrupt The Enterprise Software World Order" August 22, 2007 "Avoiding Failure In Technology Partnerships" September 3, 2008 "How To Select A Software Partner Solution Offering"
Your POV. Got a similar view on pivot points?  Disagree on this assessment? As an end user which pivot point matters most to you and has your vendor delivered?  As a vendor, have you started to focus more on industry verticals? Identify yourself as a vendor, end user, media professional, etc.  To learn more about how to build your solution centric ecosystem, design a partner program, or extend your industry vertical strategy, feel free to reach out.  Post here or send me a private email to rwang0 at gmail dot com. Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.