Vendor Strategy

Cloud Adoption In Asia Pacific: Strong Signs Of Progress, But Not Everywhere

Michael Barnes — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:42:58 +0000

As of late 2011, more than half the organizations we surveyed in Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) are either currently using or actively planning cloud initiatives -- 52% in fact. This number has nearly tripled since 2009.

But adoption rates alone don't tell the whole story. Vendor strategists should also be closely tracking how organizations evolve from ad hoc, disjointed cloud projects to well-defined, effectively managed cloud procurement. Our recent survey results indicate a surprising degree of maturity across the region -- along with some clear areas for growth.

Highlights:

Japanese Samurai Advances On The Indian Behemoths

Seepij Gupta — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:23:32 +0000

Japan-based NTT Data recently took a step towards expanding its IT capabilities in India, acquiring a 74% stake in Netmagic Solutions. This marks another important event in the third-party datacenter services market in India. In early 2011, Tulip Telecom acquired a data center facility in Bengaluru at a value of approximately US$46 million. This year, with this deal, NTT Communications not only gets access to Netmagic's seven Indian data centers, a platform offering public, private and hybrid cloud services, but also inherits the capability to address the fast-growing South Asia data center services market.

Netmagic's acquisition has long been speculated. The firm has the right set of service offerings, technical capabilities, and local coverage, but it lacks the financial muscle power of its competitors (including Reliance Communications and Tata Communications). Netmagic would have had a tough road ahead in the Indian market without external help. So I believe that this acquisition also comes at the right time for Netmagic Solutions.

Here is a quick look at what this acquisition brings to both companies:

NTT Communications

Stronger foothold in the Indian market with access to 1000-plus customers.
A critical piece for its Asia-focused cloud strategy and a step closer to its objective of having 20% of its total revenues outside of Japan in 2013.
Better servicing capabilities for NTT's global accounts based out of India.

Netmagic Solutions

Deutsche Telekom Demonstrates Willingness For Cultural Change As Part Of Innovation Drive

Dan Bieler — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:49:16 +0000

I attended Trend Forum 2012 last week in Bonn, effectively an analyst day where Deutsche Telekom presented its innovation strategy. There was no focus on overall group strategy. Still, innovation matters greatly as part of the repositioning efforts of telcos. As the role of telcos in the value chain is weakening, largely due to increasing competition by over-the-top providers (OTTPs), telcos need to differentiate themselves increasingly via service provision and their ability to innovate quickly and prolifically. Failure to do so will cement their status as transport utilities for OTTPs.

Deutsche Telekom's Core Beliefs focus on: a) building its platform business by partnering with software firms; b) leveraging the cloud by providing high QoS and secure connectivity; and c) leverage differentiating terminals through device management and customer experience provision. These Core Beliefs form the basis for pursuing its focus growth segments in digital media distribution, cloud storage, cross-device digital advertising, classified marketplaces, and mobile payment in addition to the core telco business. These targets match up well against our evaluation of best cloud markets for telcos.

A defining characteristic of next-generation network (NGN) infrastructure and the move towards cloud-based business models is openness. As a consequence, OTTPs increasingly deal directly with end customers across the network. Relationships between telcos and other members of value chain become more complex. Emerging cloud services by telcos need to become network agnostic to deliver cross-network solutions and ensure cloud interoperability. Deutsche Telekom has made significant progress in the recent past to adapt its strategy to these new telco realities.

Mobile Governance Initiative In India: A Step In The Right Direction, But With Caveats

Manish Bahl — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:46:55 +0000

The Department of Information Technology (DIT) of India recently launched a paper on "Framework for Mobile Governance" that aims at providing fast and easy access of public services to citizens through mobile devices. In view of the limited success of the e-governance initiative in India (low Internet and PC penetration coupled with implementation-related issues), the shift in the government's approach to using mobile as an alternative delivery medium for public services is a step in the right direction. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there were roughly 894 million wireless subscribers in India as of December 31, 2011, and it is encouraging to see that the government is finally realizing the importance of mobile in achieving its e-governance initiative. I have taken key highlights from the mobile framework published by DIT:

3 Ways Carbon Management Software Firms Can Capture The Market

Chris Mines — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:56:48 +0000

It's a challenge for every company with a software "solution" for sale: it's a solution, but for what? Are customers looking for an all-encompassing solution to a big problem, or a targeted solution for a small problem? Do they want an interconnected suite of software modules, with a common data model, common look-and-feel, and discounted price tag, or a small-bore program that will automate a currently manual process?

For the suppliers of enterprise carbon and energy management (ECEM) software, this age-old problem is especially challenging since the range of potential functionality is so broad, and the array of potential stakeholders, influencers, and buyers is so wide.

Consider the "word cloud" depicted in Figure 1 below, which shows a subset of the labels for such software.

And in parallel, the motivations of potential buyers of ECEM shown in Figure 2 below:

Click image for larger version

Since most companies do not face cut-and-dry regulatory requirements for emissions reporting, matching up the motivations of the buyers with the functional scope of the product sellers is a time-consuming exercise of workshops, pre-sales consulting, assessments, and, inevitably, drilling a lot of dry holes.

Is Dell Finally Ready To Strengthen Its IT Services Activities?

Fred Giron — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:04:59 +0000

In an interview with the Economic Times in India, Dell announced yesterday that it was readying a war chest of about US$1 billion for IT services related acquisitions in India. Here is why I think this announcement is important for Dell:

First, Dell needs to continue strengthen its global delivery network and industrialization capabilities. Dell bolstered its IT services market position with the Perot Systems acquisition in 2009. Since then, the company has made clear its development ambitions in India from an offshore perspective -- including during the first analyst event they hosted in India in September 2011. The company lags far behind the services behemoths, including IBM, which has more than 100,000 staff in India working for international clients.

The India domestic market is also becoming a top priority for all major tech vendors. Forrester expects this market to grow by 20% in 2012 in local currency (see my recent report on the future of IT services in India). Japanese companies like NTT Data have launched aggressive inorganic growth strategies to tap this booming market (Dimension Data in 2010 -- which was at the time part of the top 10 IT services firms in India via its Datacraft subsidiary -- and more recently Netmagic Solutions). And Forrester expects more Japanese investments in the coming few months.

While IBM, HP, and Wipro Infotech are leading the IT services market in India, Dell is still marginal in terms of system integration and managed services activities. So it's high time that Dell strengthens its presence in India.

IBM Lotusphere 2012 – What's In A Name?

Michael Barnes — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:15:08 +0000

So I made the trek from Singapore to Orlando for Lotusphere the week of January 15^th and it proved well worth the time and effort. It was actually one of the best events of its kind I've attended in years -- and I've attended loads. IBM expanded the focus well beyond the "legacy" Lotus brand. In fact, this was a social business event from start to finish, with IBM linking its much broader social computing portfolio to business process improvement and value creation.

The focus and scope has clearly grown beyond the current event branding. But putting event naming issues aside for the moment, below are some key takeaways:

Smartphone OSes In Three-Way Tie Among Global Information Workers

Frank Gillett — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:35:57 +0000

My blog post Apple Infiltrates The Enterprise: 1/5 Of Global Info Workers Use Apple Products For Work! got lots of visibility because of how hot Apple is right now, but our data is much broader than just Apple. Our Forrsights Workforce and Hardware surveys have lots more data about all types of PCs and smart devices that information workers use for work, including types of operating systems -- and we even know about what personal-only devices they have.

For example, as of the fall of 2011, the top three smartphone OSes have essentially the same share of the installed base of smartphones used for work by information workers across the globe (full-time workers in companies with 20 or employees who use a PC, tablet, or smartphone for work one hour or more per day). See the chart below and the reference in the Monday, January 30, New York Times article on Blackberry in Europe.

This data shows the time lag in installed base users of smartphones used for work versus the story coming out of smartphone shipment trends, which focus on the ongoing competition between Android and Apple's iOS. So even though Blackberry share of sales has slipped, it's still the smartphone used for work by 26% of information workers across our 17 country sample, second only to Android at 27%, with Apple iOS at 24%. The rest is a grab bag led by Symbian, followed by a 9% presence of Microsoft. It will take several years for Microsoft's Windows Phone to build a significant installed base presence -- Windows Phone is at 4%, with the obsolete Windows Mobile at 5%.

Q4 2011 Financial Releases From Leading Tech Vendors Are Generally Positive

Andrew Bartels — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:25:17 +0000

As I mentioned in my blog on January 10, 2012, on "The Ten Potential Developments That Could Shape The Tech Market In 2012," I was watching closely last week and this week to see what the Q4 2011 financial results of IBM, Microsoft, EMC, SAP, and others were saying about the state of tech demand coming into 2012. Overall, they were about what I expected, which is to say, slower growth than in earlier quarters in 2011 but still positive growth. As such, they countered some though not all of the negative picture presented by Oracle's weak results in its quarter ending November 30, 2011 (see December 21, 2011, "Oracle Delivers A Lump Of Coal To The Tech Market, But It's Too Soon To Call It A Harbinger Of A Tech Downturn").

Here are my key takeaways:

Apple Infiltrates The Enterprise: 1/5 Of Global Info Workers Use Apple Products For Work!

Frank Gillett — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:19:06 +0000

Have you noticed an increased presence of Apple products in public spaces and workspaces in the last few years? Turns out that 21% of information workers are using one or more Apple products for work. Almost half of enterprises (1000 employees or more) are issuing Macs to at least some employees - and they plan a 52% increase in the number of Macs they issue in 2012.

Sure iPhones and iPods are ubiquitous in public spaces, but Macs weren't common, especially in the workplace. I started seeing lots of Macs in startups I visit such as Box and Evernote in Silicon Valley, and Backupify here in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But it got really interesting when I started seeing a few employees at large established tech vendors using Macs, where corporate IT usually doesn't support them and seeing a disproportionate number of Macs among Starbucks loungers. The clincher was the behavior of CTOs at two large infrastructure software companies that have a group of CTOs that work across the company. In both cases, almost all of them were using Macs - and they were making fun of the remaining Windows holdout for using a "typewriter." Of course, the iPad added to this phenomena, which is visible when you walk down the aisle of long haul flights in the US - there are lots of iPads, especially in first class.

Consumerization Of IT

Are You Satisfied With Your Direct And Indirect Sales Force?

Ellen Daley — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:50:08 +0000

A lot of time and money goes into strategy. Most strategists at tech firms I work with do a great job talking about creating business solutions and forming strategic relationships. The truth? They are still selling speeds and feeds and are not considered strategic by their buyers.

There is a lot to lose if you don't engage on solutions to real business problems. Buyers are changing. Digital natives are entering into leadership positions and new as-a-service approaches make applications and technology accessible that previously were just the purview of IT.

Buyers of technology today tell us that only 13% of salespeople can demonstrate passable understanding of their business issues.

Enter the new discipline of Sale Enablement. It's an emerging discipline that is taking hold, where people with a variety of backgrounds and functions -- from marketing to sales operations to front line teams to solution groups -- are being tapped to "fix the broken things." These emerging leaders are approaching the problem with a new vision -- moving from random acts to purpose-built plans. Shifting the focus from products and services to customer problems. Not just saying "customer-focus" but living it.

Come check out Forrester's Technology Sales Enablement Forum 2012. Hear leaders in Sales Enablement like Kenneth R. Powell, VP Worldwide Sales Enablement at ADP, Daniel West, VP Education and Enablement at Informatica, and Carol Sustala, Sr. Director of Global Sales Enablement at Symantec.

Hope to see you there.

Do sGovernment And fGovernment Get A “Like”?

Jennifer Belissent, Ph.D. — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:34:01 +0000

The word is that promise of sCommerce (social commerce) and fCommerce (Facebook commerce) is more speculative than proven. What about the role of social media in government and governance? Mayors, other city leaders, and local organizations increasingly communicate and interact with their constituents via social media.

I've been collecting examples of sGovernment and fGovernment. I follow a number of mayors on Twitter, including the mayor of San Diego, the mayor of Seattle, the mayor of Anniston, Alabama (not sure why), and several others. Admittedly, I'm more interested in how they are communicating than in the events in the particular city. I've also checked out the Twitter feed of the general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (@mtbaGM), but I don't follow it. And I had to chuckle at the antics of the Artūras Zuokas, mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, in his effort to dissuade drivers from illegal parking, which he filmed and posted to his "MerasZuokas" YouTube channel. As of this writing, the YouTube video has gotten 3,573,839 hits in five months with 12,187 likes, 981 dislikes, and 5,857 comments, not only from locals but from around the world: "Bangkok, Thailand needs a mayor like you"; "OMG! In Paris this guy would have some work to do... ;)"; and "We need this in Rome (Italy)." Zuokas also has his own Facebook Community page and a community site proposing "A Zuokas for NYC Mayor" (likely not self-sponsored).

Other mayors and city leaders are not so flamboyant but do blog, tweet, and write on walls.

Lotusphere — Business. Made Social.

Henry Dewing — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:02:15 +0000

IBM, as always, put on a really big show at Lotusphere this year. More than 5,000 attendees from all walks of IT and business came together to find out how IBM could help them execute their business strategies -- and IBM promised to help them make their business social, and thus more personal and effective. Every IBM executive that I heard present or spoke with had one thing in mind: how to help customers evolve the culture of business from one where employees hoard information and rely on their own ability to solve problems to get themselves and their firm ahead to one where sharing information and insight enables better decision-making and better customer service.

Over two and a half days, I talked to (or heard presentations from) dozens of companies leveraging social technologies to accelerate their business, including:

Stormy Weather's Ahead For The IT Services Industry?

Fred Giron — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:03:23 +0000

Infosys recently published strong fiscal Q3 results as revenue growth and operating margins were boosted by a falling rupee (down a sharp 11% sequentially). For the full year, however, the company revised its forecasts in dollars from 19% to 16% for FY2012 (April 2011 to March 2012) on account of a slowing business in Europe.

Forrester expects marginally slowing growth in the global IT services market, dropping from about 7% growth in 2011 to 6% growth in 2012 (read Andy Bartels' tech market outlook for 2012 here). Most of the slowdown effect will come from the debt crisis in Europe. Growth in emerging markets like AP should remain strong in 2012 (read my report with Andy Bartels here), although this growth will not be large enough to offset a slowdown in mature markets.

I look forward to having updates from Wipro, TCS, and HCL this week to see if we can "generalize" Infosys' guidance to the overall IT services industry. Until now, Indian IT companies' growth and margins have been protected thanks to a weakening rupee. I believe that this situation combined with slower growth in the US and Europe will lead to a price war between vendors as they try to build volume.

What does this mean? As economic uncertainty looms in 2012, I believe IT services companies will have to accelerate their transformation toward software capital intensive models. In my upcoming report ("Solutions Accelerators -- A Reality Check" to be published in April 2012), I will look at how far they have gone in this transformation and what the key success factors are going forward. Stay tuned.

Growing The Long Tail Of Constituent Engagement

Jennifer Belissent, Ph.D. — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:37:08 +0000

The promise of new citizen-centric government services enabled by social and mobile technologies and often access to government data is fast becoming reality -- and has changed the way in which government organizations and their constituents engage.

Open 311 initiatives have spread across the US, and the equivalent non-emergency access initiatives have gained traction in other geographies as well. However, citizen engagement is not just about potholes and power outages; it is increasingly about the long tail of needs and interests. Public access to data and the ease of application development have facilitated the development of new applications and services. As a result, specific groups, however large or small, can develop an application to serve their purposes. Or applications can be developed for a specific project and may only be used for a couple of months, or may only be used by a niche audience.

I have had several lively conversations this week with vendors working to enable open data and new tools for constituent engagement. As an example, ESRI brings maps and the value of GIS to this explosion of citizen services. People like to visualize things, and seeing data represented on a map helps identify patterns and create a context for the data. That makes it easier to understand and easier to act on. ESRI and their partners have worked with a wide range of government organizations on creative ways to engage constituents -- both citizens and businesses.

Vendor Strategy

Cloud Adoption In Asia Pacific: Strong Signs Of Progress, But Not Everywhere

Categories:

Japanese Samurai Advances On The Indian Behemoths

Categories:

Deutsche Telekom Demonstrates Willingness For Cultural Change As Part Of Innovation Drive

Categories:

Mobile Governance Initiative In India: A Step In The Right Direction, But With Caveats

Categories:

3 Ways Carbon Management Software Firms Can Capture The Market

Categories:

Is Dell Finally Ready To Strengthen Its IT Services Activities?

Categories:

IBM Lotusphere 2012 – What's In A Name?

Categories:

Smartphone OSes In Three-Way Tie Among Global Information Workers

Categories:

Q4 2011 Financial Releases From Leading Tech Vendors Are Generally Positive

Categories:

Apple Infiltrates The Enterprise: 1/5 Of Global Info Workers Use Apple Products For Work!

Categories:

Are You Satisfied With Your Direct And Indirect Sales Force?

Do sGovernment And fGovernment Get A “Like”?

Categories:

Lotusphere — Business. Made Social.

Categories:

Stormy Weather's Ahead For The IT Services Industry?

Growing The Long Tail Of Constituent Engagement

Categories: