Cloud Computing - A Silver Lining

Is it true that every cloud has a silver lining? What about cloud computing? I was reminded of the silver-lining adage recently when I noticed that several online news outlets had picked up this story from silicon.com – the thrust of which is that many companies still are not even aware of SaaS.

Sometimes we may lapse into thinking that we’re a bigger deal than we really are; and this forces us SaaS vendors to work that much harder to earn validation in the marketplace.

This article quotes statistics taken from a study conducted by BT (British Telecom), “One of the problems that we've unearthed in a survey that we did recently was about 81 per cent of customers we spoke to didn't really know about software as a service…”

This quote was from Chris Lindsay from BT, who goes on to say, "It's quite eye-opening really in terms of the lack of awareness but [also] the benefits are very clearly spelt out by the customers who have adopted the services…"

So the bad news is that 81% of companies (in the UK anyway) aren’t familiar with SaaS as a delivery model, but the good news is that, if they were familiar with it, they’d like it.

Unfortunately, several other online media outlets picked up this story and trumpeted it from the rooftops, using the somewhat sensational (and misleading) headlines such as, “Business Not Taking to SaaS”, “Businesses Still Clueless Over SaaS”, and “Businesses Still in the Dark About SaaS”.

What this tells me is that we – as an industry – still have a lot of work to do in order to get the word out on the SaaS delivery model in general. I think, too often, perhaps we forget that Silicon Valley doesn’t extend worldwide yet – in different parts of the world, the market penetration and mindshare that SaaS has claimed varies wildly depending on the geography you’re talking about.

Remember that the study in question was conducted in the UK, and there was some great news out of that region earlier this week, when TechWorld (billed as “The UK’s infrastructure and networking knowledge centre”) published this article that found a majority of companies planned “to adopt SaaS within five years.”

Neil Barton, director at Hostway, said: “Companies are certain that SaaS will make their application usage more c006Fst-effective because of the reduction in software management costs, and the ability to eliminate buying too many or too few software licenses.”

I agree with Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies who said, "I think (SaaS) adoption is far more advanced than is being readily reported.”

What SMBs are most concerned about is the functionality, Kaplan said. What they're finding is it's not just simpler and less expensive, it also adds a whole layer of application opportunity they couldn't get from legacy apps.

"A lot are having a revelation."

So perhaps that’s the silver lining to this particular cloud?

If not that, then perhaps the news yesterday that Symantec had agreed to buy MessageLab’s SaaS business unit for $695 million. Clearly, Symantec’s CEO John W. Thompson expects to make a major push into the SaaS market immediately. Reaction from industry media members was positive, as TheStreet.com and Forbes both published articles lauding the acquisition – one titled “Symantec Adds to Web-Software Arsenal”, and the other cleverly titled “Symantec Has Its Head in the Cloud”.

I think we’ve only seen the beginning of large companies looking to strategically make inroads into the SaaS/cloud-computing market. It makes too much sense to ignore, especially in these trying times.





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Are We Hearing the Death Rattle of On-Premise Software?

Lately, I’ve been somewhat bemused when I see a small subset of the SaaS buzz that is registering out on the fringes of the blogosphere.

There seems to be an undercurrent of negative sentiment toward the on-demand world these days, and while I’m bemused, I’m not surprised.

I don’t want to confer validation on any of these ridiculous statements by calling them out specifically – though Jeff Kaplan (founder of THINKstrategies) does a very nice job of echoing some of my sentiments in this insightful article that was recently published on SeekingAlpha.

You’ve got people predicting the imminent demise of the SaaS market. Some folks would describe a prediction like that as ‘fuzzy thinking’ – and they’re half right; it’s fuzzy, but it’s not thinking.

The SaaS market is expanding like a balloon at the moment, which is why analysts are quoting growth rates of more than 100% in the next two years.

There are other recent examples of people attempting to throw water on the SaaS flame, but in my mind this fire will not be quelled – in fact, we’re not far from it becoming a raging inferno. However, this hasn’t stopped the haters from hating.

Is this not the *definition* of a ‘disruptive technology’? “…a technological innovation, product, or service that uses a "disruptive" strategy…to overturn the existing dominant technologies or status quo products in a market.”

HOW LOW-END DISRUPTION OCCURS OVER TIME (source: Wikipedia)

That’s what we’re seeing at the moment, I think – the ‘status quo’ vendors in the software space have become roused from their slumber and are reacting angrily to this challenge to their supremacy. So let’s call it what it is: the Death Rattle of the on-premise software world.

"If we are really dying, let us hear the rattle in our throats and feel
cold in the extremities; if we are alive, let us go about our business."

--Henry David Thoreau, ’Walden’(1854)

Webinar Recording Available: The Business Case for On-Demand Sales Performance Management Analytics

CRM applications have revolutionized the selling process, organizing pre-sales data that reps and management need to manage the sales pipeline. But what about “post-sales” data? There is a ton of information produced at the time of sale that is effectively orphaned—information on what a customer actually bought, the final price, the commission paid, the territory where it was sold, etc. This is data that, if collected and cleansed, can be used to increase sales performance and maximize profits going forward.


In this Webinar, Xactly’s Karen Steele and THINKStrategies’ Jeff Kaplan will discuss how post-sales analytics can provide new and strategic insight into an organization’s selling patterns, commission spend, product performance, sales rep and team performance, and sales plan effectiveness. They will examine how post-sales data—traditionally scattered across a variety of disparate systems including ERP, HR, and Payroll—can be now be integrated and analyzed with an eye towards enhancing business strategies, changing sales rep behaviors, and super-charging sales organizations.

View Webinar

Upcoming Webinar: The Business Case for On-Demand Sales Performance Management Analytics

The Business Case for On-Demand Sales Performance Management Analytics with Xactly and THINKStrategies

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT

Register to learn more:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/415893690

CRM applications have revolutionized the selling process, organizing pre-sales data that reps and management need to manage the sales pipeline. But what about “post-sales” data? There is a ton of information produced at the time of sale that is effectively orphaned—information on what a customer actually bought, the final price, the commission paid, the territory where it was sold, etc. This is data that, if collected and cleansed, can be used to increase sales performance and maximize profits going forward.

In this Webinar, Xactly’s Karen Steele and THINKStrategies’ Jeff Kaplan will discuss how post-sales analytics can provide new and strategic insight into an organization’s selling patterns, commission spend, product performance, sales rep and team performance, and sales plan effectiveness. They will examine how post-sales data—traditionally scattered across a variety of disparate systems including ERP, HR, and Payroll—can be now be integrated and analyzed with an eye towards enhancing business strategies, changing sales rep behaviors, and super-charging sales organizations.

Participants will take away:

• Best practices for integrating and analyzing post-sales data to optimize sales performance.
• An understanding of how post-sales data can be leveraged daily by reps within their CRM applications to maximize profits – for the company and for themselves.
• A view of the broad scope of business processes that benefit from post-sales analytics – from sales compensation management to territory and quota management to pricing management and sales forecasting/planning.

Speakers:

Karen Steele, Vice President of Marketing, Xactly Corporation
Karen Steele is responsible for managing all aspects of Xactly's worldwide marketing.

Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director, THINKstrategies
Jeff Kaplan is the founder and managing director of THINKstrategies (www.thinkstrategies.com), a strategic consulting firm that helps IT enterprise decision-makers with their sourcing strategies; solution providers with their marketing strategies; and venture firms with their investment strategies.

Register to learn more:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/415893690