IT Strategic Consulting Services

The on-demand services market continues to gain speed as companies of all sizes seek to offset the ill-effects of the slowing economy by leveraging Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and managed service alternatives.

As a result of the escalating interest in on-demand services, THINKstrategies' activities and my travels continue to intensify.

In the past thirty days, I have been in Las Vegas for a Channel Partner conference, Santa Clara for SaaScon, San Francisco for the SaaS Economics Conference, and New Jersey, Philadelphia and back out to San Jose for client strategy sessions.

At every stop, I'm meeting people who are excited about new opportunities to capitalize on SaaS and managed services. But, many are equally concerned about the new challenges these services pose for IT/business decision-makers, solution providers and investors.

This newsletter will provide our latest research, writings and other activities regarding the on-demand services market. We will also provide an update regarding THINKstrategies' Managed Services and Software-as-a-Service Showplace sites, sponsors and consulting services.

Since our last edition of this newsletter, another 200 people have added their names to our suscriber list, bring our total to over 8600 IT/ business decision-makers, IT solution providers, investors and press.

I hope you find this newsletter valuable.

Contact me if you'd like to learn more about THINKstrategies' services.

Jeff Kaplan

Managing Director

THINKstrategies

THINKstrategies' Showplaces Grow

THINKstrategies Managed Services and Software-as-a-Service Showplace directories continue to grow.

There are now over 650 companies offering over 3000 solutions on the SaaS Showplace divided into 80 Application, Industry and Enabling Technology categories. There are also over 120 companies listed on the Managed Services Showplace organized into 40 Service, Industry and Enabling Technology categories.

You can add your company to the online directories by completing the provider or enabling technology supplier registration forms on the Managed Services and SaaS Showplaces.

Contact us know if you'd like to learn about ways you can leverage the Showplace directories and resource centers to achieve your business objectives.

THINKstrategies-TriActive Study Shows Benchmarking Power of SaaS-Enabled Managed Services

THINKstrategies recently teamed up with TriActive to publish a landmark research report that shows how managed service providers (MSPs), powered by SaaS solutions, can generate valuable benchmark and best practice studies to better serve their customers and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Our study examined the Microsoft Office usage patterns of over 125,000 endpoints across 460 companies managed by TriActive's partners who utilize its Asset Management Suite� to manage their day-to-day IT operations. The study found that Microsoft Office is installed on more than 99% of corporate PC's, but in many cases these installations are underutilized or completely unused. The study revealed companies can save an average of 50% or more by only purchasing the right number and version of Microsoft Office software based on actual usage levels.

This study shows how MSPs can leverage their SaaS solutions to capture valuable customer data and convert it into useful studies that can deliver a new level of value to their customers and strengthen their position in the market.

Click here to learn more about this important study or to download a copy.

IT Seeking SaaS

Last December, I predicted SaaS solutions aimed at helping IT professionals better manage their operations would also make them more comfortable adopting SaaS solutions which support their business end-users, helping to accelerate the growth of the SaaS market in 2008.

The success of last month's SaaScon conference represented a milestone event for the on-demand services market and confirmed my prediction. The majority of the attendees and speakers were CIOs and IT managers seeking to capitalize on the IT/business benefits of SaaS. Click here to read my blog entry about the implications of SaaScon for IT/business-decision makers, IT solution providers and investors.

If you were unable to attend SaaScon, go to www.saascon.com and click on any of the names listed in the box entitled, "Behind the Scenes with Key Presenters", to hear a series of podcast interviews I recorded for ComputerWorld. The series includes discussions with,

Douglas Menefee, CIO, The Schumacher Group
Ken Harris, Senior VP/Chief Information Officer, Shaklee Corp.
Douglas Robbins, VP-Marketing/Sales Application Center, Heidelberg
Joe Lacik, SVP-Information Services, Aviall Services, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company)
Basil Blume, EVP/CIO, Colorado Capital Bank

THINKstrategies was the first firm to publish survey research indicating broad-based interest and adoption of SaaS. Click here to obtain THINKstrategies' latest survey research, in conjunction with Cutter Consortium, which discusses growing acceptance of SaaS by IT professionals and other changes in customer attitudes toward SaaS.

Showplace Perspectives

The Managed Services and SaaS Showplace Best Practice Portals include numerous whitepapers regarding important on-demand service industry trends. Here are some examples:

New: AppStream has posted a whitepaper entitled, "The Dynamic Management of Software licenses."

Aria Systems has posted a THINKstrategies whitepaper entitled, "Overcoming the Transaction Management Challenges in the On-Demand Services Market".

Kaseya has posted a THINKstrategies whitepaper on the Showplaces entitled, "Getting SMBs to Say Yes to Managed Services."

Oco has contributed a whitepaper entitled, "Calculating the ROI for Business Intelligence in SMBs", to the SaaS Showplace.

QuickArrow has also posted a new whitepaper entitled, "Five Steps to Effective Resource Management."

You can find more whitepapers on the Insights pages and within the Best Practices Portals of the Showplace sites. Click here if you'd like to learn how you can add your whitepapers to the Showplaces.

AppStream and Verio Sponsor SaaS Showplace

THINKstrategies is pleased to welcome AppStream and Verio as the latest sponsors of our SaaS Showplace.

AppStream is a leading provider of technology for on-demand software distribution and software license management tools for the extended enterprise. Its flagship solution is AppStream 5.0 - a self-service software distribution and license management platform. Click here to read more about AppStream's perspective regarding software distribution and license management trends.

Verio is offering a portfolio of Business Solutions that optimizes a company's communications, customer service, security, data integrity and productivity capabilities without having to invest the time and resources typically associated with traditional software products. Verio is offering SaaS Showplace visitors and THINKstrategies newsletter subscribers a 60-Day, No-Risk Trial. Click here to learn more.

AppStream and Verio join Aria Systems, Kaseya, Oco, QuickArrow and Symantec as sponsors of our Managed Services and SaaS Showplace online directories and best practice resource centers.

Click here if you'd like to learn how you can increase your market visibility by becoming a sponsor of the Managed Services or SaaS Showplace.

Upcoming Events

In addition to speaking at a number of corporate events, here are the upcoming public events where I will be providing THINKstrategies' perspective,

Kaseya Roadmap to Success Seminar Series, in Atlanta April 8, Teaneck NJ April 9, and Waltham MA April 11.
LucidEra Webinar: The Business Case for On-Demand Analytics for Salesforce.com, April 16, 2008.
Software 2008 April 29-30, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas. (To save $100 on the registration fee, use code: CMDFSF03)

About THINKstrategies

THINKstrategies is a strategic consulting services company formed specifically to address the unprecedented business challenges facing IT managers, solutions providers and investors today as the technology industry shifts toward a services orientation.

The company's mission is to educate organizations about the on-demand services market, and help our clients capitalize on these trends to achieve their business objectives.

We help enterprise decision-makers with their sourcing strategies, IT solutions providers with their marketing strategies, and VCs with their investment strategies.

THINKstrategies is also the founder of the Software-as-a-Service and Managed Services Showplaces, the largest vendor-independent, online directory and information resource centers.