THINK IT Services

One of the most vexing challenges facing today’s IT and business decision-makers is how to integrate critical corporate data across a widening array of on-premise and on-demand systems and applications.

Many believe that the age-old data integration issues of the past have only been compounded by today’s rapidly expanding assortment of Cloud-based solutions which raise the expectation of easy end-user access from anywhere at any time.

While there are a growing number of application program interfaces (APIs), Web-based connectors and Cloud-oriented systems integrators that are reducing the difficulty of overcoming this integration issue, it still represents an important impediment that many organizations are reluctant to face.

Intuit announced a new program yesterday aimed at addressing the data integration issue. The Intuit Anywhere program promises to give software developers a new method of extracting QuickBooks data directly into their third-party applications, including web and mobile.

This new data export and integration capability is an extension of the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP). It utilizes a set of widgets and data services to permit customers to more easily take their data generated within QuickBooks and import it into the other Intuit-ecosystem apps which help them run their businesses.

In conjunction with its unveiling of the beta program which is aimed at testing and fine-tuning the Intuit Anywhere capability, the company also announced six new IPP partners that will be participating in the beta program:

• Bill.com 
• Concur 
• eBay 
• FreshBooks 
• Mavenlink 
• MethodCRM.com

Intuit has recently been more actively promoting the scale of its Cloud business, power of its platform, and reach of its alliance partners in the market, including Microsoft and Salesforce.com.

The new Intuit Anywhere program promises to make the data captured in its Quickbooks flagship product more ubiquitous which should strengthen Intuit’s position in the market.

THINKstrategies announced today that Accept Corporation has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

The BoSS Awards is an ongoing program which recognizes SaaS companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits can include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.

Accept Corporation’s SaaS-based Accept 360 Innovation Management solution empowers product teams to more quickly develop compelling products that generate greater revenues, because they’re better aligned with the market and company strategy.

Click here to read more about the measurable business benefits which earned Accept Corporation the latest BoSS Award.

Click here to learn more about the BoSS Award program or to apply for an Award.

Based on the success of the BoSS Awards program which focuses on SaaS solutions, THINKstrategies has launched the Cloud Computing Business Value (CCBV) Awards program to recognize companies which are delivering Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions producing measurable business benefits for their customers. For more information regarding the CCBV Awards, go to http://www.thinkstrategies.com/cloudcomputingawards.html.

My past fews weeks have been consumed with weekly visits to the Bay Area to speak at SaaScon, moderate tracks at Under the Radar and co-host the AlwaysOn OnDemand conference, as well as numerous on-site client meetings. In between, I also had the privilege of presenting a kickoff keynote presentation at a VIP dinner for the State of the Cloud conference in Boston.

My hectic travel schedule has given me little time to comment on a variety of industry announcements which have occurred during this period. So, here’s my ‘lightening round’ assessment of some of the more significant events worth noting,

• Cloud Conference Observations
  • SaaScon: When was the last time you heard CIOs talk about being heroes in their organizations? Well, the CIOs who spoke at SaaScon repeatedly described how the SaaS solutions which they’re implementing in their organizations are generating an overwhelmingly positive response from their end-users and corporate executives. And, they admitted that this has made their jobs gratifying again.
  • Under the Radar:  This was a terrific day of company presentations and American Idol-style judging sessions aimed at uncovering the next hot Cloud companies. Most of the presenters won’t become major players, but many may be acquired by bigger companies. While the remainder will die on the vine because of poorly conceived solutions or go-to-market strategies.
  • AlwaysOn OnDemand: It was a privilege to work with Tony Perkins and his staff to organize and co-host this first-time event. Tony is a living legend in the tech industry because of his association with the Red Herring publication and his very influential conference business. The AlwaysOn events have become important meetingplaces for industry leaders, investors and aspiring companies. The content of the OnDemand conference was also first-rate as you can see in the online videos.
  • State of the Cloud: What happens when a major financial institution decides that it wants to better understand the rapidly evolving cloud computing marketplace? Well, in the case of Fidelity Investments, they decided to put together a first-class conference aimed at top-level enterprise decision-makers. And, because of Fidelity’s tremendous influence, they were able to bring together a very impressive list of speakers and sponsors to examine various aspects of the cloud computing environment.
• VMforce: Salesforce.com’s new alliance with VMware might seem like a minor event for the casual observer who has yet to fully grasp the strategic importance of the company’s Force.com platform. However, Salesforce.com’s long-term success is predicated on building a large and loyal cadre of software developers on its Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). While it has had some initial success, its growth as been stymied in part because of the proprietary nature of its development language. VMforce opens Force.com up to a vast community of Java developers and alleviates much of the concern about vendor lock-in. I expect Salesforce.com to reach out to other important development communities to encourage even broader acceptance of its PaaS capabilities, especially as it begins to feel competitive  pressure from Microsoft Azure.
• IT Service Management Wars: One of the key battlefields in 2010 which I identified at the beginning of the year is SaaS-based IT service management (ITSM). The latest entrant into this space is BMC which unveiled a new version of its Remedy solution built on Salesforce.com’s Force.com platform. BMC’s new offering follows Nimsoft’s release of an on-demand version of its solution shortly after its acquisition by CA was announced. You can expect plenty of additional acquisitions in this market segment as IT organizations become increasingly receptive to SaaS alternatives to traditional, on-premise management systems.
• Cloud-Oriented Application Monitoring and Management: Now that SaaS solutions are becoming mainstream and more enterprises and ISVs are leveraging PaaS and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) to develop and deliver applications, the new battlefield is Application Monitoring and Management. I’ve not only be deluged by a continuous stream of briefings from start-ups in this segments, but also had the pleasure of moderating the Application Management track of  the Under the Radar conference where some of the hottest new players in this segment showed their wares. While the fundamental value proposition of these companies is compelling, I expect many of them to struggle to convince corporate decision-makers, as well as  service providers, that their solutions are necessary to optimize the performance of their cloud-based applications and operations as opposed to ‘nice to have’. So, you can expect a flurry of quick acquisitions and then a prolonged series of company failures.
• Interesting reading,
  • Banks to build their own cloud-based global banking infrastructure and network - Is this a new cloud or the realization of the old ‘extranet’ idea?
  • SaaS-querade: When On-Premise Vendors Try to Pass as SaaS Vendors - This column echos the talks I give about why SaaS is different than hosting and the old ASP model.
  • The Next Crisis For Customer Satisfaction - This column challenges CIOs and business decision-makers to understand how enterprise applications must change to better serve end-users and achieve their corporate objectives. Salesforce.com Chatter is an example of where the world must go.

Finally, check out my new online presentation entitled, “Will SaaS and Cloud Computing Dis-Intermediate the Channel?”

One of the knocks against Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and the broader cloud computing movement is that these web-based, on-demand services can’t be customized to cater to the complex requirements of specific enterprises.

While SaaS solutions have increasingly included a growing array of user configuration capabilities to respond to the individual needs of various organizations, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions have emerged over the past couple of years to permit end-users and third-party developers to build their own apps to meet their unique requirements.

The latest indication of the escalating power of these PaaS tools is today’s announcement unveiling Salesforce.com’s new Force.com Visual Process Manager. This new feature will allow users to design and build business process-oriented applications quickly so they can automate them across corporate departments.

Although the new Force.com Visual Process Manager won’t be generally available until later this year, it is the latest sign that cloud computing alternatives to traditional, legacy applications and systems are becoming more and more competitive with their on-premise predecessors.

PaaS solutions may never be able to match the level of customization of legacy applications. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing given the black-hole that many enteprises have faced trying to customize traditional enterprise apps to meet their unique needs. This has often been an endless and costly chore for most organizations which has seldom met their corporate objectives. Instead, it has resulted in many organizations being unable to adopt the latest software updates and upgrades from their vendors.

Rather than employ an army of consultants to customize traditional applications, Force.com Visual Process Manager promises to give corporate end-users the ability to create and implement business process-oriented applications which can achieve greater utilization in a shorter time-to-value.

It is also important to note that this new functionality is the outgrowth of another recent, yet unannounced, Salesforce.com acquisition of a small SaaS vendor, called Informavores, founded in Scotland.

Phil Wainwright has posted a terrific blog entry regarding the ‘green crystals’ that power Salesforce.com’s multi-tenant platform.

The concept of multi-tenancy has been a cornerstone of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) movement and a key element of the rapidly evolving cloud computing environment as well.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with the term ‘multi-tenancy’, it is borrowed from the housing market and aims to compare today’s leading SaaS/cloud computing vendors to condominium owners who can obtain more luxurious living quarters without the hassles of owning a single-family home by sharing a common infrastructure and operational services.

While this arrangement offers plenty of conveniences, it also requires some sacrifices when it comes to how far you can customize your particular unit, or version of software in the case of SaaS.

While the value proposition of multi-tenancy is easy to understand, it is hard to get a lot of details about how leading SaaS and cloud computing vendors are actually architecting their multi-tenant platforms to develop and deliver their solutions.

Phil’s blog provides valuable insight into Salesforce.com’s approach. But, what he doesn’t fully answer is the question why Salesforce.com is placing greater emphasis on its approach to multi-tenancy today.

I started to notice Marc Benioff and other company officials promoting their multi-tenant architecture prior to the launch of its Force.com Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and have watched this aspect of their well-choreographed marketing efforts become more prominent over the past year.

I think there are two primary reasons for Salesforce.com’s growing focus on the multi-tenant topic:

1. The growing popularity of SaaS has attracted a proliferation of players, including legacy independent software vendors (LISVs) who are trying to enter the market with hosted versions of their single tenant applications. Salesforce.com is trying to fend off these late entrants by educating IT/business decision-makers about the benefits of multi-tenancy.
2. Salesforce.com is also trying to convince various software vendors, start-ups as well as LISVs, that its Force.com PaaS capabilities are superior to the plethora of competing platforms in the market by revealing more about its ‘green crystals’. This is especially timely because Salesforce.com is accused by many of having a proprietary platform, rather than an open architecture like others.

Phil correctly suggests that it is essential for Salesforce.com to convince enterprise decision-makers of the unique qualities of its multi-tenant architecture. It is also imperative that Salesforce.com do the same for ISVs as it faces growing competition from PaaS offerings from Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft and others.

The proliferation of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and cloud computing platform players continues to accelerate despite the failure of some early entrants and likelihood of more Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) casualties to come.

This past week, three more companies announced new platform strategies and solutions — Jaspersoft, ExpenseWatch.com, LongJump.

Open-source business intelligence (BI) vendor Jaspersoft unveiled its v3.5 integrated analysis capabilities as part of what it calls the industry’s first SaaS-enabled BI platform. The new platform promises easy-to-use integrated analysis that doesn’t require a data warehouse or OLAP server. It also includes new in-memory analysis capabilities that enables the delivery of customizable SaaS and Cloud-based BI applications which can be integrated into reports and dashboards.

ExpenseWatch.com announced an open expense control platform which will permit small and midsized businesses (SMBs) to integrate their expense management data with a variety of business application. The new “non-proprietary approach” promises to allow SMBs to create more streamlined processes to manage their expenses.

LongJump announced that its previously available LongJump Business Applications Platform can now be licensed for use within an enterprise’s data center or licensed by independent software vendors (ISVs) who want to build and host their own SaaS applications. This new ‘portability’ is in response to the growing demands among enterprises to house their SaaS apps behind the firewall. It is also another example of the rapid technological advancements in the SaaS/cloud computing industry which increasingly permits this new form of ‘hybrid’ solution to occur.

While LongJump asserted itself as a PaaS vendor a while ago and its solution truly permits enterprise users and ISVs to build new SaaS apps via its development environment, ExpenseWatch.com and JasperSoft appear to be stretching the meaning of the PaaS idea to bring greater attention to their new integration capabilities.

Rather than being a toolkit upon which others can build SaaS apps, they are really offering easy-to-integrate functional capabilities which can be plugged into homegrown or third-party SaaS apps. This is still a valuable advancement of their previous capabilities, and represent the latest examples of the growing plug-and-play nature of the SaaS/cloud computing industry.

But given the proliferation of platform players and recent demise of Coghead, a pioneer in the PaaS market, I think SaaS/cloud computing companies would be better served by using different terminology to describe their integration capabilities.

Bastardizing the idea of platforms and PaaS will only clutter the marketplace and confuse potential customers. It will also increase the likelihood of an industry shakeout which will further discourage IT/business decision-makers from leveraging these ‘platform’ solutions.

I moderated a panel at OpSource’s SaaS Summit this week entitled “Selling SaaS to the Enterprise” which included representatives from Cast Iron Systems, Oracle and the Business Objects unit of SAP, as well as the Manager of Global Operations Business Technology at Pfizer.

They all agreed that SaaS and cloud computing are making serious inroads into the enterprise but still face significant challenges, including scalability, security and flexibility issues.

In response to the flexibility topic, there was general consensus among the panelists that customers want a choice of on-premise and on-demand alternatives to serve various corporate requirements.

Although I’m very proud to have correctly predicted many of the major trends which have shaped the SaaS market evolution, I’ve never believed that the world would move entirely to an all on-demand environment for a variety of customer and vendor-driven reasons. Therefore, I’ve always expected most organizations to operate in an hybrid environment.

As the SaaS movement gains mainstream acceptance, it also becomes less of a revolution. As a result, the radical view of an all, on-demand world has given way to a more realistic expectation of a mixed computing environment, albeit dramatically less dependent on inefficient, legacy on-premise hardware and software.

My previous blog post suggested that the heterogeneous computing requirements of customers calls for a new definition of hybrid solutions based on the portability of SaaS solutions so they can offer customers a choice of on-demand and on-premise alternatives.

The post generated a long list of responses from a wide array of SaaS vendors offering these alternatives, as well as a few purists who said it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done.

Microsoft’s GM of ISV and National System Integrator Partners, Greg Urqhart, gave an updated version of the company’s ‘Software Plus Services’ pitch at the SaaS Summit which Microsoft has been promoting for a few years.

It has been easy for industry purists to ridicule Microsoft’s S+S idea as a self-serving rationalization for justifying its legacy, on-premise business while also attempting to hold current and prospective customers by promising competitive on-demand solutions sometime in the future.

While these are legitimate criticisms which I share, I also believe that Microsoft’s view of customers’ preference for computing choices is right on.  The question is when and how will Microsoft fulfill its promise to deliver a viable and competitive portfolio of on-demand solutions which satisfy customers’ rapidly changing technical and business requirements.

In the meantime, Microsoft is depending on a series of incremental innovations, along with the power of its brand, ISV partner network and channel relationships to safeguard its immediate reputation and long-term revenue against the onslaught of today’s SaaS and cloud computing challenges.

These attributes also fit the criteria I laid out for winning in the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) business. Of course, it again depends on how well Microsoft can execute on its promises.