IT Strategic Consulting Services

Rising demand for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cloud computing and managed services is placing escalating pressures on various solution providers to better position themselves in this increasingly competitive marketplace.

THINKstrategies was founded to help organizations capitalize on the business benefits being generated by the shift in the technology industry from product-centric to services-driven solutions.

Last year, I worked with over 100 companies seeking to better understand the business implications of this trend--including enterprises re-thinking their sourcing strategies; solution providers re-thinking their go-to-market strategies; and tech investors re-thinking their investment strategies.

The new year has brought even greater attention to the rapidly evolving cloud computing, SaaS and managed services markets. The on-demand services movement has produced new alliances, fueled more acquisitions and forced more corporate restructurings. You can read about my perspectives regarding these trends below.

You can read THINKstrategies' latest whitepaper entitled, "Migrating to SaaS: A Roadmap for Success", on behalf of Verio.

I also encourage you to check out a new series of online industry presentations I'm producing regarding industry trends via Brainshark, an easy-to-use, online authoring and distribution tool.

Interest in THINKstrategies' point-of-view continues to grow. I've already traveled this year to Chicago, New York and Florida, conducting corporate strategy sessions and giving presentations to various audiences about the unprecedented opportunities and challenges associated with today's on-demand services market.

You can find some of the upcoming events where I'll be speaking, as well as other events THINKstrategies is supporting, below.

My mission in founding THINKstrategies has been to promote the business benefits that can be derived from on-demand services. The success of our Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, has inspired me to launch a new program focused on Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions called the Cloud Computing Business Value (CCBV) Awards. Look below for more information about this new program.

You can also read about our partnerships with CloudBook, FVG Virtual Channel, Renovatix Solutions, and RepFolio below.

THINKstrategies' SaaS Showplace and Managed Services Showplace sites continue to be the top-ranked, online directories and best practice resource centers in their respective markets according to Google.

We also continue to add more subscribers to our newsletter mailing list which is now distributed to over 12,300 IT/business decision-makers, IT solution providers, technology investors, and business and industry press!

Please contact me if you'd like to learn how you can leverage THINKstrategies' consulting, strategic marketing and education services to capitalize on today's SaaS solutions, cloud computing capabilities and managed services to achieve your business objectives. Or, watch my overview of THINKstrategies' services.

Thanks for your continued support!

Jeff Kaplan

Managing Director

THINKstrategies

Tracking the Rapidly Changing Cloud Computing Landscape

The rapid rise in customer interest and demand for on-demand services has generated a 'cloud-rush' of new players and offerings.

This proliferation of on-demand players has created severe competitive pressures for solution providers and produced additional confusion for corporate decision-makers.

Click here to read about how these competitive pressures and changing customer demands fueled recent changes in the CEO suite at SAP.

You can also find THINKstrategies' perspective about the industry implications of SuccessFactors' first acquisition here.

The accelerated pace of technological innovation in the SaaS, PaaS and IaaS markets is a major factor in the rising expectations of customers and intensifying competition in the market. For example, click here to read about Salesforce.com's new Visual Process Manager capabilities.

The cloud computing environment is also encouraging a widening array of alliances to emerge. Click here to read about how Microsoft and Intuit are teaming to strengthen their PaaS capabilities.

Click here to read about the key competitive battlefields in the cloud computing arena in 2010.