ZoliErdos

Enterprise May Be Sexy, But….

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:52:18 +0000

Snapshot from today’s TechMeme. Crazy gamers (OMGPOP) dropped by even crazier gamers (Zynga) as they fall out of favor by even crazier gamers (the whole World). So what.

On the very same day Salesforce.com acquires Exact Target in their largest ever transaction valued at $2.5B and it does not even make TechMeme. Heck, even ActiveState’s acquisition of tiny Appsecute is more newsworthy, IMHO. (Congrat’s, Ben!) But what do I know… Enterprise may be sexy (yes it is), but Tech Media is still obsessed with time and money sinks.

Just sayin’…

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Blueprint to Re-Cycle the much Hyped MagiK Kvadrant

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:08:07 +0000

Fellow Enterprise Irregular and HfS Research Founder Phil Fersht introduced their new Blueprint with an appropriate title: Step aside Magic Quadrant, hello Blueprint.

I think such a milestone warrants a historical overview of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, Hype Cycle, Magic Cycle, Magic Hype, Hyped Magik… or any other variation you prefer. And since it’s just a few days away…well, consider it early April 1st:-)

Sick of their boring original, Gartner themselves introduced the Real (Magic) Quadrant:

Pay attention to the time stamp in the graph. Not bad. Although not as brutally honest as the Geek & Poke version:

Btw, Phil did not just get this out of the blue (print), he has been diligently studying the Painsharing Paradox for years:

But let’s get serious… time to consider the customers’ prospective. Welcome to the Magik Kvadrant:

Magik Kvadrant created by Sam Lawrence, formerly of Jive Software, Blackbox Republic, nowadays CrushPath . (And dear Sam, next time you re-surface, pls. remember to keep your URLs consistent, will you?)

Enough of this quadrants, squres, cubes… let’s hype up some cycles. Superseding the Gartner version, here’s the Wailgum Hype Cycle:

Not bad. Still a bit complex. I prefer the the simplified, geekified, scobleized, oprahized, too-oh-ized version:

Had enough fun yet? Ok, now, for real.. and I mean real, here’s Blueprint in it’s full glory:

And that’s the real thing. After all, it’s not April Fool’s Day yet.

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Google Play Site Falls Apart on Nexus 4 Launch. Now I Know Why it’s Called “Play”

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:07:48 +0000

That’s Google Play in the first minute of the Nexus 4 US launch: phone available, placed in cart, checkout is impossible. I guess that’s Google’s version of the long lines outside Apple stores? I am not alone:

And within minutes there were hundreds more…

Yes, the Google Play checkout function spectacularly died. Sh*t happens. But hey, this is Google!

Then I get a hint:

Oh, I’ve got it. Now we know whey it’s called Google PLAY. As it sure ain’t no e-commerce site:-( And Google is pushing Wallet as a universal payment system? #FAIL.

Nexus 4 sells out on Google Play for UK launch within 30 minutes (9to5google.com)
Google Nexus 4 And Nexus 10 Go On Sale In The U.S. Online Play Store (techcrunch.com)
Google’s Preorder Experience for the Nexus 4, 10 Was Terrible (pocketnow.com)
Hey Google: if your Nexus 4 is sold out, just say so (gigaom.com)
Google blows Nexus devices launch (betanews.com)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Google’s Halloween Surprise

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 22:02:44 +0000

(Gmail, Google Drive, Reader and a bunch of other services went down (temporarily) in the past 15 minutes. They appear to be coming back, with sporadic disruptions currently.)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Actually, Cars that Fly and Float May Not Be So Bad

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:12:22 +0000

Apple CEO Tim Cook left behind his old metaphor of “fridge and toaster” and is now calling Windows 8 a car that flies and floats, while not exactly doing either function very well.

I am not exactly a Win8 fanboy, but there are a few (emphasis on few) things Win8 is doing well: informative tiles are one of them. And there is no way of denying typing is still the dominant input method to any device. Touch is mostly for passive consumption, voice – commands, dictation – is emerging, but far from perfect, and there will always be environments we need silent input… so for the foreseeable future we need some form of keyboard. If Apple is in denial, Logitech and others take advantage, so will Asus with its Transformer series, and yes, Microsoft with Surface. Surface may not be perfect – well, it is not… and forcing a tablet-oriented touch based OS on PCs is probably not a good idea… but .. but.. whoever comes up with a convenient, ergonomic and stylish way of combining touch and typing on a tablet will likely be a winner.

Now, on that car business. The flying car is not fantasy, and it does not have to be as clunky as MG Siegler’s image suggests:

Is that a Citroen? If so, MG is close to the truth.. but he is probably too young to have seen the Real Thing, Fantomas’s Flying Citroen:

Too bad all that’s left is the above still photo, this video shot was really cool .. until the copyright owner removed it. Now there’s no more video evidence of the best flying car, ever.

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Apple – Color Acquisition Rumors

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:18:39 +0000

So people are scratching their heads on ~~news~~ rumors (OK, rumours for some of you) on Apple buying failed (?) startup Color (Colour, if you insist).

All I can say is: back to 1977

Apple Said to Acquire Color (thenextweb.com)
Apple Buying Color Tragically Makes Sense (informalprotocol.com)
Apple to acquire photo/video sharing app company Color Labs? (9to5mac.com)
Apple goes on shopping spree, picks up Particle, Color (arstechnica.com)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Nothing Stops the Box Bunny

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 19:05:45 +0000

Nothing Stops the Box Bunny

OK, so I ‘m abandoning my pictorial post schedule, as Box-mania just broke out, and I feel compelled to jump in. But the skipped NetSuite post is coming soon…

I’ve been following Box longer than probably most observers and some of the old memories are worth sharing – from an admittedly subjective point of view.

I met a skinny hyperactive kid with big hair in 2005, at Michael Arrington’s house, at what turned out to be the 3rd TechCrunh BBQ. For reference, AOL was nowhere in the picture, TechCrunch was a non-entity, reaching 5k (yes thousand, not million) readers was a major achievement, and the highlight of the party (then just called BBQ) was the series of startup demos around the sofa in Micahel’s living room.

Aaron was more noticable than his product, later to be known as Box.net, one of a dozen file sharing apps. Literally a dozen – too much of a good thing? How many can the market bear? They were not expected to last long: there were others with “better chances”, including Omnidrive, which Arrington’s business partner invested in, got featured @ TechCrunch numerous times…etc – if anyone, they were earmarked to emerge as a winner.

That I said, I wrote a piece about Box.net, but it wasn’t so much about the service, rather a good startup – bad startup scenario, praising their frugality and focus on business first (link here).

Back than all online storage startups were launched by college kids and all they cared was photo- and music sharing. And I wanted productivity tools. How boring. I got into some sparring with Aaron, who still personally responded to blog comments on the importance of file syncing, to me a no-brainer, without which there is no productivity… then I gave up.

I took my eyes off Box.net, fully expecting them to be in the startup deadpool soon.

A few years later I received an invitation to an Enterprise event, hosted at HP’s Palo Alto HQ, featuring the “Who is Who” of Enterprise Software – and the entire show put up by Box.net. This was not an event about Box, not even file sharing – a stellar lineup of speakers discussed how Cloud Computing revolutionizes Enterprise Software. Box were facilitators to the discussion, but by doing so, they created brand association with the Enterprise world: “watch us, we’re a player in this space”. Genius marketing move, money well spent.

This is how I discovered what is now a well known story, i.e how Box Founders Aaron and Dylan arrived at their pivot point, entirely refocusing the company on the Enterprise market. Why? Simple: that is where the money is. If you can spare 37 minutes (yes, I know… but he is an entertaining speaker), watch Aaron tell his story in the video below:

Back in the 90′s the mantra for software startups was to avoid Microsoft’s attention: they either crush you, or befriend you only to steal your products. Sign of changing times… Box, now an enterprise contender boldly set out to challenge the Redmond giant:

(The above billboard along Silicon Valley’s busy Hwy 101 later got replaced with a more civilized version)

The enterprise play is clearly paying off for Box. While most of the startups who “were supposed to win” the online storage race are in the deadpool – Box (renamed from Box.net) has raised close to $300M in several investment rounds from traditional VC firms, Private Equity, Strategic partners like Salesforce.com, SAP ventures, you-name-it, really, it looks like the whole world is in line for the opportunity to grab a share or two), is valued over $1B, may very well IPO next year (although with their existing war chest they don’t have to rush to it), and more importantly has an amazing list of reference customers.

Here’s a little anecdote: they used to sound a huge gong to celebrate customer wins - then as the wins got everyday routine, they started raising the bar from $5k to $10k… last time I visited I heard the new limit was $100k.

The above slide is a year old, and I expect to see a new one at #BoxWorks next week, but it clearly shows the trend: flat consumer revenue, skyrocketing Enterprise.

Enterprise customers love Box for the simplicity, ease of use whether a “Sharepoint replacement” or more realistically a complementary solution, and last but not least for the speed of new development and support. Here’s another telling chart from last year:

They see far more API calls then straigth downloads, which shows how Cloud usage is gaining – last year Box users had access to 120+ integrated web apps. Box is no longer about file storage. It’s becoming a collaboration enabler, providing access to your data anywhere on any platform using whatever app you like. They also have integration / partnership deals with other enterprise players like SAP, NetSuite, Salesforce.com. The latter gave them a little spanking at Dreamforce, announcing Chatterbox - no surprise with that name, huh?

Phil Wainwright differentiates Chatterbox as being more signal-centric, grounded in the process flow between people vs the document-centric view of Box, and I think he is right, but not all companies will want “in flow”, not all will want to have Salesorce’s Chatter either. Chatterbox is unlikely to become a standalone product, rather an add-on to Chatter. For a serve-your-data-anywhere-integrated-with-a-smorgashboard-of-apps approach Box is a leading provider. And secure, unlike some of their consumer peers.

Box did not take the slap from Salesforce.com (who, remember, are investors) too seriously, just as they had not stopped for a moment when Google Drive or Apple’s iCloud were announced (those being more consumer focused solutions). Nothing Stops the Box Bunny Only days after Dreamforce they announced a partnership with Tibco whose Tibbr social software is used by a million users.

I’m confident at next week’s #BoxWorks we’ll hear not only product announcements, but customer success stories and new alliances. Oh, have I mentioned Box has built a decent ecosystem, hands out funds to startups, and is an overall cheerleader of the “make enterprise sexy” movement?

There’s another reason why Box is one of my favorite startups. (Well, technically, a company with over 600 employees is hardly a startup anymore. Only in spirit.) Box is the epitomy of the new type of Startup founded, run and driven to success all the way by the Founders.

The standard playbook for Enterprise Software startups in the 90′s was:

Launch > Get funded > VC brings in “grey hair” management > Founders get pushed out or aside > Exec-heavy startup fades into oblivion > Imported CEO and Exec run back to their Large Co hometurf.

Aaron and Dylan were college kids when they launched the business, and while they also hired “grey hairs” - oops, I should be more careful with “grey”, apologies to the First, Second , Third .. ladies at Box – but retained control. They made mistakes, were quite aware of their own limitations, and methodologically trained to become top executives, paying top-notch management gurus to train them, seeking advice from industry luminaries..etc. They’ve grown with the job, and frankly, having lead a company through seven years, from 4 to soon 1000 employees and most likely to a succesful IPO more than compensates to whatever they left behind when they skipped college. They have gained more management experience than most graduates will in a lifetime. Box is living proof to the thesis that companies are most successful when lead by Founders.

Now, that’s the end of the real article … but it would not be me if I didn’t close on a ligther note:-)

Two years or so ago Marc Benioff started a fashion trend appearing in bright rainbow-striped socks. Some even thought it was the sixth secret to leadership success. Except of course Aaron Levie, who knew the real secret was .. in the shoes. Watch him literally fly onto stage wearing his trademark orange sneakers. Now, this year Marc Benioff took a hint from Aaron.. watch his sneakers below.

Image credit Zatphoto

Clearly, Aaron looks up on Marc Benioff for leadership… but now we know where Marc finds fashion advice

First socks, then shoes… do we even want to think of what’s next? Hint: Box employees internally refer to themselves as … yes, boxers:-)

(Disclosure: As is customary in business, Box and other vendors mentioned or referred to covered or will cover my T&E for conference attendance)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

A Pictorial Tale of Two Conferences (and more)

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:39:56 +0000

Recently I’ve attended two conferences two weeks apart in San Francisco, and the difference in style is shocking. One did not even feel like a conference, rather a Festival – Woodstock, Mardi Gras, SXSW – your pick:-) The other a decidedly more “closed” traditional corporate conference, so much so, that fellow commentators actually compared it to time travel :

R Ray Wang ‏@rwang0

Time travel RT @benkepes: .@rwang0 amazing that a week ago you were at #DF12 and this week you’ve gone back 10 years to be at OpenWorld #OOW

What’s really shocking to me how the external appearance truly reflects the messaging of the two companies. But I’ll shut up – here are some photos, you be the judge.

The “park” in the middle is normally busy Howard Street, shut down for the event, astroturfed, set up with stages, large screens, food stalls, lots of bean bags and all sorts of entertainment. Beautiful San Francisco weather did not hurt, either.

Now, let’s see how the other conference converted Moscone and Howard Street:

It reminds me of a formation of the Roman Legion…

Dark alleys, some with dead ends.

Why do I feel like I am at a train station?

Oh, well, this is fun. Pictures do talk, after all. So much so, I’ve decided to give you a pictorial preview of a few posts I am about to write:

(Disclosure: As is customary in business, all vendors mentioned or referred to covered or will cover T&E for conference attendance)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Has Apple Peaked?

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:17:17 +0000

You probably think I am out of my mind – well … hm… no comment. But yes I agree it’s close to madness to discuss Apple’s decline right on the heels of a record-breaking iPhone 5 launch and a stock price that despite some correction is still a rocketship. But bear with me for a moment or two – and answer this question:

What are Apple’s two most important assets?

If you said outstanding design and innovative products in the first place you’re probably right.
If you then listed cult-like fan-base second, you’re probably right again. And therein lies the rub: I predicate Apple’s future decline largely on losing #2.

Years from now we may be looking back on August 24th, the date of Apple’s victory in the patent lawsuit against Samsung as the symbolic date when the tide turned. Don’t worry, I am not about to launch a legal analysis of the case, nor will I venture into discussing just how ridiculously outdated the software patent system in the US is – you’ve seen more then enough sources on both, and I am not qualified to do either. But let me quote an “average” Apple user:

I hate it … I don’t think the decision of California will hold. And I don’t agree with it — very small things I don’t really call that innovative.

OK, I lied, this user is not so average, he is Woz, a tech icon himself. And that should make you stop and think hard.

Back to the verdict: clearly it’s a victory for Apple, but I’d argue it’s a pyrrhic one. Since the verdict Apple’s war machinery marches on, having filed additional lawsuits against Samsung and there’s ample speculation on how

they would go after the rest of the Android manufacturers, all in the name of the Holy War against Google. Heck they even sued a Polish online grocery! See and judge for yourself just how reasonable this lawsuit against a.pl is (pl happens to be the TLD for Poland).

Who else will Apple go after? Is there an end to this madness?

Apple risks increasingly being seen as trying to police the world, competing via legal restrictions as opposed to on the market based on the merits of their products. Consumers don’t like that. Just like they don’t like being restricted in what gadgets they can acquire.

But enough of the lawsuits. Fast forward a month: here’s the iOS 6 Apple Maps fiasco. Enough have been said about it, here’s just one source for the entertainment value.

So I am not about to rant on how crappy Apple’s new mapping service is. Apple themselves (sort of) acknowledged it and sated it was extremely hard to develop a mapping service, it takes time.. yada yada yada. It would be a fairly reasonable (?) argument comnig from a startup developing new products. But in this case Apple removed an already working, I might add close to perfectly working product, the de facto standard that customers loved and were used to. Google giveth, Apple taketh away.

In a judgment call Apple clearly blundered, placing corporate war strategy before their customers best interest. (On a side-note, younger readers may want to Google ”DOJ Microsoft, Windows Browser” – see, we’ve seen this movie before…)

OK, OK, but crappy maps or not, the iPhone 5 broke all sales records, selling 5 million on the first weekend in a masterfully coordinated international lunch that’s a supply chain miracle in itself .. so what’s wrong?

Here’s the deal: Apple today still has great products, arguably the best ones, but for years they’ve been releasing incremental improvements, not category-creating breakthrough products like the orignal iPod, iPhone, iPad were. Competitors may have been slow, but are definitely catching up, first and foremost Samsung on the hardware side, and Google on the OS / ecosystem side. Apple will no longer be the only game in town in several categories, will have to face real competition, win consumers hearts, who, for the first time in years, have real choice.

The immense goodwill of the cult should be more important than ever in this new market reality – after all, that is what sends hundreds of thousands worldwide camping out at night outside Apple stores waiting for the annual upgrade ritual. It’s this goodwill that used to bring the Mob against anyone who dared write a negative review on Apple. But wait… are we seeing the first sign of cracking? For weeks we’ve heard critical voices re. the lawsuits, even more so the map situation. The fact that nowadays one can “get away” criticizing Apple is in itself a sign of the cult’s weakening.

Apple, under Tim Cook’s leadership is becoming an even more efficient supply chain marvel, but at the same time is methodologically demolishing the Church of Steve.

Yes, Apple may just have peaked.

Update: When I called Apple’s courthouse victory a pyrrhic one, I meant long-term consequences. Little did I know how soon the tides may start turning:

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Why Cloud ERP? Cutesy Video

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:03:45 +0000

The cutesy video above was created by SAP, the first part talking about the benefits of Cloud ERP, the integrated approach in general, and while the last minute turns into a SAP Business ByDesign pitch, it could very well be viewed as overall industry promotion, applicable to archrival NetSuite, and to some extent Workday, and other Cloud ERP solutions too. Enjoy…

Cloud ERP Starts to Break Out – NetSuite Reports Good Numbers (cloudave.com)
SAP Business ByDesign 4.0 brings new update policy, extra Europe availability (zdnet.com)
Seven Tips for Selecting a Cloud Implementation Services Provider (cloudave.com)
What Should SMBs Look For in ERP? (blogs.sap.com)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Googlers Start Commuting in Self-Driving Cars But They Have Great Death Benefits

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 01:30:21 +0000

OK, juxtaposing these two unrelated (?) news is admittedly a bit morbid. And not exactly Cloud-y. Except that it’s all about Google…

Google’s self-driving car experience enters a new stage, as employees (well, some) will start using these cars for their daily commute. A nice commute, one might add, these are no longer Toyota Priuses, but Lexus RX450h SUVs. And if there’s any risk involved, well.. I guess that’s why they are paid the big bucks:-)

Oh, and one more thing: Google announced excellent death benefits to surviving spouses: they will receive 50% of the deceased Google employees salary for a decade.

Of course the two news are unrelated. (Are they?)

(Btw, before you start throwing stones at me, look at the category of this post.)

Families of Googlers who pass away receive 5 years of salary spread over 10 years (9to5google.com)
It Pays to Die While You’re Working for Google (betabeat.com)
And you thought the free food was Google’s biggest perk? (news.cnet.com)
If a Google Employee Dies, Spouse Gets Half of Salary for 10 Years (mashable.com)
Google Employees Get Awesome Benefits on Both Sides of the River Styx (webpronews.com)
Google Keeps Paying Deceased Employees’ Families for a Decade (theatlantic.com)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Dilbert Reveals the Secret of Getting Funded

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:10:36 +0000

Strictly weekend material

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Weekend Fun: Create Your Own Cloud

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 22:43:58 +0000

Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde did. If he could, so can you. Enjoy the Cloud:

Watch the video at The Washington Post. Or forget the cloud and enjoy the sun outside. After all, it’s the weekend:-)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

SAP Assembles Cloud Powerhouse with Ariba, SuccesFactors Acquisitions

Tue, 22 May 2012 20:55:38 +0000

Emphasis on “assemble”, as opposed to develop. For years SAP and Oracle fought a religious war of acquire/assemble vs develop in-house. SAP’s view was (even under the current Co-CEOs) that you can only get to a coherent, seamlessly integrated suite by development. Apparently they have changed religion, borrowing a chapter or two from Larry Ellison’s playbook.

After ill-fated attempts at conquering the market vith in-house developed Business ByDesign, SAP got a huge shot of Cloud DNA by acquiring SuccessFactors, whose CEO Lars Dalgaard has become SAP’s On-Demand Czar. The ink has hardly dried on this deal, when today SAP announced the acquisition of Ariba, the procurement / sourcing leader. So now SAP has Procurement, HRMS, and Finance – the latter coming from ByD. After speculation before/during the recent SAPPHIRENOW conference today we saw confirmation that SAP intends to carve Financials out of ByD and make it the Finnacial cornerstone of their On-Demand portfolio.

What a change in a few months! From pathetic half-hearted attempts SAP now has major drive into Cloud, one that aims to be competitive with Workday, Salesforce, NetSuite amongst others. Enterprise Software in the Cloud has just become a lot more exciting. Watch this space.

Oh, and before I forget: watch Spendmattters, where I am sure fellow Enterprise Irregulars and procurement guru Jason Busch will soon open the floodgate of his expert analysis. Jason is the God of all spend matters (pun intended) and he has proposed this deal to SAP three years ago. For additional coverage also keep an eye on the EI thread as it unfolds.

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Do You Know the Difference Between a House of Cards and a House of Lego Blocks?

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:57:32 +0000

Here’s a house of cards:

And here’s a house of Lego blocks (well, sort of ..)

Explanation here.

In Memoriam Robin Gibb

Mon, 21 May 2012 02:41:55 +0000

Robin Gibb passed away at age 62. Apparently all the younger generation knows about the Bee Gees is their disco period. How said. Long before the disco era the Bee Gees were legends, at times rivalling the Beatles. Here’s a little playlist I’ve thrown together, based on their Golden Oldies I could find on Youtube.

Wake up

Sat, 19 May 2012 22:33:18 +0000

Trying to wake up this dormant blog…

NetSuite Welcomes SAP as Customer, even while SAP Swaps it for ByD

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:50:57 +0000

NetSuite History, Wayne's World style

NetSuite is no stranger to aggressive marketing, and SAP has clearly been their #1 target for a while starting from pranks like the SAP for the Rest of Us Party during SAPPHIRE 2006 to staging a shootout at the anti-SAP Conference or releasing edgy videos a’la Mac vs Windows and even launching a Business ByNetsuite program – an obvious play on SAP’s Business ByDesign offering, which at some point I called the best SaaS Business Suite customers can’t get their hands on (more on this soon).

Well, today is no exception, at the opening keynote of SuiteWorld, NetSuite’s 3,500-person conference CEO Zach Nelson announced their biggest ever win, a three-letter giant .. drumroll.. no, not IBM, but SAP themselves. Yes, the audience was shocked to learn that SAP renewed a $1M license with NetSuite. The shock turned into laughter when they found out it was via their recent acquisition, SuccessFactors.

Ironically former SuccesFactors CEO and SAP’s freshly minted Cloud-SaaS-On-Demand-You-Name-It Czar Lars Dalgaard was on stage at the very same moment at another conference, SAP’s 5 times bigger SAPPHIRENOW, explaining the Enterprise Software giants Cloud Strategy. And oh, boy, ~~was~~ is there a lot to explain… ByD, the SaaS product that was supposed to change the world has seen a succession of technical, marketing, business fiascos, and is still largely MIA.

In the meantime SAP has promoted their other SMB offering, even “cloudifying” Business One, and when it now looks like they finally got Cloud Religion, the core of their Cloud Strategy will clearly be SuccessFactors – both the existing platform and Customer base. All this brought into question the very existence of Business ByDesign (SAP Execs reluctantly admit they had come c lose to killing it), which still faces uncertainty. All I can say is, it’s a pity when the fate of good software lies in internal corporate politics…

But back to NetSuite: is SAP a true customer? I very much doubt it, although technically I am sure they are. It could have been routine purchasing action (extension of existing contract), there may have been implementation / change management considerations ( you don’t disrupt business by chucking the system that runs your operations), it is clear that NetSuite has been their past and only short-lived present, until they can cut over to SAP ByD. Or they may already have, responding to questions @LarsLuv announced they moved finances from NetSuite to ByD in a matter of weeks. That is almost immaterial – although kudos to Zach Nelson who played it up nicely:-)

What really matters is the fate of ByD and whether / how it will stand up against NetSuite on a very important market segment: subsidiaries of major corporations, i.e. of SAP’s traditional customer base. The Two-tier ERP Strategy has been gaining popularity, and until now the key beneficiary has been NetSuite, taking bites out of SAP’s pie. Now we’re hearing (if the tweet-stream is any indication) the same term coming into fashion in SAP-parlance. Will SAP Business ByDesign finally make it? Or will SAP continue ceding market opportunities to NetSuite?

Update: According to Phil Wainwright’s sources, ”SuccessFactors is no longer using its NetSuite instance“. Phil and I agree that’s not what really matters though.

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

From Small Box to … Large Box

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:41:42 +0000

Warning: mindless weekend post

Boxes come in all sizes. Some small, others large, some start small but grow large. I’ve been tracking one since they were very-very small:

As they grew, the moved to bigger and bigger ~~boxes~~ offices, like this one, where even toilets had flat screens:

And finally they are in the latest, multi-level luxury building that houses the 400 or so box employees. No quick pix here, here’s the complete video courtesy of TechCrunch:

Well, in the first version of this post we had the actual video embedded here, but it did not play, giving only the above error. WTF TechCrunch? I know, you need pageviews, but why provide an embed code in the first place if you’re going to disable viewing anyway? Sorry, dear readers, you’ll have to click through to actually see the video.

That said, it’s a pretty good recruiting video, if you ask me. Who would not want to work here? Oh, and the company is likely going public within a year or so…

But wait, that would break my promise of this being a lightweight weekend post… so I will have to revisit the bigger story behind Box’s phenomenal growth – one day when I am actually in the mood to do real work:-)

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

How to Lose Your Work in Gmail in One Simple Step

Tue, 01 May 2012 01:10:00 +0000

I’ve been planning to come back from my “blogging hiatus” (code for writers’ block) with a more substantial piece. After all, my drafts folder is full of half-baked, abandoned posts. But hey, no better incentive to write then frustration!

Have you ever seen this error?

Yes, I’ve just finished composing email, hit SEND, and thought I was done. No way, Jose. Google Apps mail had trouble sending it (so far not a capital crime), and is now holding me hostage. The “unsent” mail is nowhere to be found – not in Drafts or any other place. I’m supposed to stay logged in, keep this tab open forever – or lose my work.

Thank you, Google. (Not really) GFAIL. GFAIL. GFAIL.

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Buying Cloud Accounting Software?

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:06:35 +0000

Fellow Enterprise Irregular Brian Sommer is doing a webinar this Wednesday on The Top 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Cloud Accounting Systems (But Should!). in cooperation with FinancialForce.

Brian will cover a number of buying considerations and trends that are being reflected in new buyer perspectives for financial accounting software.

The software market is undergoing one of its periodic (and significant) changes. The underlying technology is different. The economics are different. The implementations are different and what IT people will do is changing.

All these changes trigger a number of changes in how software is purchased, evaluated and more.

To that end, Brian did something he only does when software markets move materially. He created a new methodology or buyers guide. This one is for the cloud accounting software space.

Due to a special arrangement with FinancialForce webinar attendees will receive a complimentary copy of this new 50-page Cloud Accounting Evaluation Guide, which contains an 8-step methodology for selecting new financial accounting software. It also contains sections on due diligence, cloud risk factors, how the sales process for cloud software differs from on-premise software and more. If you want a copy of this for free, sign-up for the webinar.

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Now We Know How Google+ Was Born :-)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:41:05 +0000

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

Free Software is Great ….

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:56:00 +0000

CloudAve is sponsored by Salesforce.com and Workday.

ZoliErdos

Enterprise May Be Sexy, But….

Blueprint to Re-Cycle the much Hyped MagiK Kvadrant

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Update – a day later this is hitting TechMeme:

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Now We Know How Google+ Was Born :-)

Free Software is Great ….