deal architect tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1404982009-11-12T10:54:01-05:00Vinnie Mirchandani on disruptive trends and economics in technologyTypePadEU and Competition in Technologytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a68752f5970b2009-11-12T10:54:01-05:002009-11-12T11:09:28-05:00The thinking in most of the tech industry is we don’t need government intervention - at least not in the enterprise side of the business. Big corporations don’t need protection. They can hold their own against the big vendors. I...Interview with Sal Allegra on IT Quality Assurancetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e201287588c246970c2009-11-12T09:44:02-05:002009-11-12T09:44:02-05:00With offshore firms offering testing teams in the thousands, I was intrigued what customers thought of Questcon’s test center right here in N. Carolina. So I asked to interview Sal Allegra, IT manager at ISO, a member of the Verisk...The Real Deal: Damon Auer and Bob Glynn on Rigid Agility or Agile Rigiditytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a686feab970b2009-11-12T09:29:43-05:002009-11-12T09:31:57-05:00This continues a series of columns from practitioners I respect. The category "Real Deal" describes them well. This time it is Damon Auer, Partner at Tribridge and Bob Glynn, co-founder of Affinity Inc, two high-class boutique consulting/systems integration firms. I...Tools: Test before you buytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6b18e7d970c2009-11-06T10:53:35-05:002009-11-06T10:53:35-05:00I first asked in the late 90s when I was at Gartner – why do testing, conversion, change configuration and other tools vendors not allow system integrators to deploy their tools for the duration of relevant phase of an implementation...NetSuite Business Cloud event feedbacktag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a65c53a3970b2009-11-06T10:45:41-05:002009-11-06T10:45:41-05:00I presented in the NetSuite Business Cloud seminar series in its final leg – in Chicago and Atlanta. The 6 week tour had previously been to London, Sydney, Manila and New York. While I did not envy some of the...If this is fake, give us plenty moretag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6a81dce970c2009-11-04T09:46:58-05:002009-11-04T09:46:58-05:00Ron Markezich, corporate VP of Microsoft Online says "we're not seeing any inclination that Zoho or Google or Zimbra or any other of those offering fake Office capabilities can replace [Microsoft Office]," And guess what – he said it as...Vendor traffic in the Data Centertag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6a7df55970c2009-11-04T08:24:17-05:002009-11-04T08:24:17-05:00Cisco adds the storage building block to its network and computing plans with a JV with EMC. HP, in turn, decides to go after Cisco’s sweet spot with new HP ProCurve offerings integrated with HP BladeSystem. Oracle, awaiting regulatory approval...More New Renaissancetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a622b8da970b2009-11-01T16:42:00-05:002009-10-26T23:44:30-04:00On the New Florence blog 12 really Maverick Ideas Mouse 2.0 The new plants in Motown Solar Decathlon Intel Risks it all (again)Not free, but reasonably priced, conference callingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a69c72b3970c2009-11-01T09:08:45-05:002009-11-01T09:08:45-05:00I have written positively about my experience with FreeConference.com for almost a decade now. You and others pay your own long-distance charges to a common conference number, usually in a rural state like Iowa. The service provider then charges termination...Windows 7: Winning Battle, Losing War?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a693ca0b970c2009-10-30T13:55:38-04:002009-11-01T21:21:18-05:00“But here's a funny thing. By the end of the week, I looked at what I was doing on the tiny screen - and found that just about everything involved software not made by Microsoft. So I'd installed the Firefox...The disruption from Global Warmingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a63dd190970b2009-10-30T12:21:16-04:002009-10-30T12:21:16-04:00A blog which focuses on disruption should highlight what Discover considers the 9 industries which will be most disrupted by climate change… Wine making Fishing Ski resorts Other tourism Insurance Forestry Mining Meat Energy I am surprised they did not...More Innovationtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a622baf4970b2009-10-26T23:45:54-04:002009-10-26T23:45:54-04:00On New Florence Starbucks’ new high-tech coffee Mainstreaming tech for the disabled Best Buy as Art Gallery One-touch Ping Diabetes system The lost art of changing flat tiresAsian Dramatag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a622afc3970b2009-10-26T23:27:40-04:002009-10-26T23:27:40-04:00No, not the Gunnar Myrdal Nobel Prize winning classic. What is going on in the Galleon case. A net of S. Asian (Sri Lankan, Indian, Pakistani) immigrants accused. By a DA who is also S. Asian (Indian) in origin. Shades...Introducing a new sponsor: salesforce.comtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a670f247970c2009-10-24T08:10:00-04:002009-10-23T20:12:02-04:00Given the disruption theme of my blog, I am pleased to welcome salesforce.com to the past and present gallery of innovators and disruptors who sponsor this and the New Florence. New Renaissance blog. One of their differentiators in the SaaS...Intacct Webinar slidestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a615c014970b2009-10-23T08:42:49-04:002009-10-23T08:42:49-04:00If you would like the slides Dan Druker of Intacct and I used for our Webinar on Wednesday – The Mandate for Cloud Financials – you can access them by registering hereSAP TCO Enterprise Advocates Webinartag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a615c7e3970b2009-10-23T04:38:00-04:002009-10-22T20:40:15-04:00Dennis Howlett, Ray Wang, Frank Scavo and I hosted a webinar on the topic of SAP TCO reduction. Lively session - we went 20 minutes over as the questions kept flowing and covered plenty of ground. And there was plenty...Many more SAP-Siemens like software renegotiationstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a66d0d30970c2009-10-22T20:14:19-04:002009-10-22T20:16:10-04:00It is a small sample, but one with gravitas. Kash Rangan and team at BofA/Merrill Lynch surveyed 21 CIO’s from major, well recognized U.S. organizations in the Fortune 1000 and across different industries and found improving success rates around their...Mark Hurd : Cancel your HP/EDS Outsourcing Contractstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a612e629970b2009-10-22T11:38:44-04:002009-10-22T11:38:44-04:00Well, he did not say that. But he came close. “”We have 1,000 hacks a day and I can’t tell you why, but they keep showing up. We wouldn’t put anything material in nature outside the firewall.” Actually he meant...SAP-Siemens: He said, she saidtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6128fb1970b2009-10-22T09:44:06-04:002009-10-22T09:44:06-04:00“SAP said Wednesday that Siemens has signed a three-year renewal of its software maintenance agreement, an announcement that would seem to quell widespread speculation that the global engineering and electronics company was considering dumping vendor-provided support in favor of lower-cost...Gartner lawsuit Putting it on a pedestaltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6646178970c2009-10-21T14:56:40-04:002009-10-21T14:56:40-04:00So, Gartner is getting sued over its Magic Quadrant. The complaint says Defendant’s wrongful conduct has had, and continues to have, the effect of destroying competition in the enterprise market for archiving. … ..In addition, Defendant’s conduct has harmed, and...A PR nightmaretag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a600cf45970b2009-10-20T07:45:21-04:002009-10-20T07:45:21-04:00In his swearing in speech, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan Preet Bharara, now in the middle of the Galleon hedge fund insider trading scandal laid out his principles: "The willingness to resign over principle; the courage to resist even...The New, Old Ethicstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a64d0915970c2009-10-19T13:33:52-04:002009-10-19T13:33:52-04:00I was remarking to someone recently all the thorny issues that are coming up with new technologies like food/biofuel tradeoffs, “God powers” with nanotech and genetic engineering and more basic ones like privacy issues and routing of traffic through neighborhoods...Introducing a new blog sponsor: Questcon Technologiestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5f1c9ae970b2009-10-18T07:58:56-04:002009-10-18T07:58:56-04:00Given the disruption theme of my blog, I am pleased to welcome Questcon Technologies which assures software value through innovative quality, test and auditing solutions. A division of Howard Systems International, it leverages years of experience and countless observations to...Webinar: Reducing SAP Ownership Coststag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a64120f8970c2009-10-15T22:08:00-04:002009-10-15T19:26:27-04:00Ray Wang, Dennis Holwett, Frank Scavo and I will be presenting the first in a series of Enterprise Advocates webinars. The first one on October 22, a week from today will focus on SAP Ownership costs. Others are planned around...NetSuite Business Cloud seminarstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5ea70a7970b2009-10-15T19:01:29-04:002009-10-15T19:01:29-04:00Will be presenting along with Zach Nelson, CEO and several NetSuite customers at the Chicago and Atlanta sessions on November 3 and 5. Come join us – details here.Fusion Applications: My questions remain unansweredtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6401bec970c2009-10-15T13:28:00-04:002009-10-15T13:28:00-04:00In July, I wrote about Fusion Apps that were being shown to a select few customers and market analysts under NDA “But he does not say what functionality he tested. I mean after 5 years of development, there should be...Marc Benioffs Playbooktag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5e95d35970b2009-10-15T13:08:09-04:002009-10-15T13:08:09-04:00I got a review copy of Marc’s new book – Behind the Cloud – out on the 19th. It is full of details about his personal and professional philosophies. Organized into 111 “plays” of a little over 2 pages each,...Webinar: The Mandate for Cloud Financialstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a63a20c0970c2009-10-14T06:41:00-04:002009-10-14T00:43:16-04:00Dan Druker of Intacct and I will be running a webinar on October 21 starting at 12 noon eastern. My theme is "There is a difference" when comparing cloud applications to on-premise solutions. See you there!OOW: Pleasantness and Disappointmentstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5e39f15970b2009-10-14T00:45:00-04:002009-10-14T00:31:17-04:00As I leave OOW a few random thoughts Most enjoyable - time spend with customer reps. market watchers like David Dobrin, Paul Greenberg, Frank Scavo, Ray Wang, Ameed Taylor,Tom Wailgum, Bruce Richardson, Thomas Otter and many more; vendor reps like...Physics and Democraciestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a639f885970c2009-10-13T23:54:54-04:002009-10-13T23:54:54-04:00Hundreds voted with their umbrellas as they waited in line in the vertical rain outside the Novellus Theater, away from the main OOW event today, to listen to Marc Benioff and Michael Dell. Dell said "physics doesn't care about economic...Cl -OOW-d Computingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6379f17970c2009-10-13T12:52:21-04:002009-10-13T12:52:21-04:00Larry Ellison may mock clouds, but as Frank Scavo and I visited a booths at Oracle OpenWorld (he has a video here) we found amazon has the booth closest to the entrance in Moscone West, salesforce.com has one of the...Does HP not have any customers?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5dda03e970b2009-10-12T15:41:09-04:002009-10-12T15:41:09-04:00It was good to see Safra and Charles invite 6 CIOs from around the world and honor them. As some of you know when I present I like to have CIOs and other buyer representatives in the audience stand up...Oracle Applications - where customer money is goingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5dd2495970b2009-10-12T13:27:27-04:002009-10-12T18:03:26-04:00Safra Catz kicked off her joint pitch with Charles Phillips at OOW saying the hard work begins at our customers after we ship the code. And I thought, yea, she is going to talk about easing application upgrades, lowering costs...Spending on things that mattertag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5dce6eb970b2009-10-12T12:21:40-04:002009-10-12T12:21:40-04:00I am at OOW as a guest of Oracle. When I checked into my hotel last night, the check-in lady offered me a great deal. If you take a room with a queen sofa bed, you will save $ 200...OMG! ROFL!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a62c8510970c2009-10-10T08:59:12-04:002009-10-10T08:59:12-04:00I giggled my way like a teenager through this video which makes fun of everyone in the industry. And I could only understand 75% of the accent and hand gestures – naturally since it came across the pond from Dennis...They have us mistaken for The Watchmentag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a62aee2e970c2009-10-09T19:28:02-04:002009-10-09T19:37:08-04:00As we announced the launch of The Enterprise Advocates, Jon Reed stuck to our description of “buyer advocates”. Others set way -high expectations Michael Hickins at “The Faster Times” calls us “superheroes” Jennifer Leggio at ZDNet calls us “the avengers”...My integrity as an analysttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a62a18ed970c2009-10-09T14:33:49-04:002009-10-09T14:33:49-04:00My former colleague Tom Bittman blogs “As an analyst at Gartner, I can’t describe how angry I get when I read bloggers spouting as “fact” their opinion that I and my teammates have no integrity. That we can be “bought.”...SAP versus NetSuite: Not so fast!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a5cdd0d7970b2009-10-08T11:19:34-04:002009-10-08T11:19:34-04:00My fellow Enterprise Advocates Frank Scavo and Dennis Howlett think NetSuite is overreaching by comparing itself as an option to SAP. As Dennis points out “If and when SAP puts its foot on the marketing gas pedal, NetSuite will find...Third party maintenance is really 4 decades oldtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a6243c12970c2009-10-08T10:18:25-04:002009-10-08T10:18:25-04:00Rimini Street just announced general availability for its support of SAP applications. And I get plenty of incredulous queries – how can they do that? Just like I have since I first talked in 2005 about Seth Ravin and his...More New Florencetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8345190da69e20120a614e3db970c2009-10-08T01:02:00-04:002009-10-05T11:09:54-04:00On the innovation blog Electronic Connoisseurs Futuristic Alpine Hut Astrography by night Rwanda’s “Mobile Web” Oxo’s new markets