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Phil Wainewright writes a very informative blog over at eBizQ that brings in his thoughts, observations, and views on Cloud Computing and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service).  Really good stuff that I highly recommend.

Every now and then I need to pinch myself though.  In a recent post, he wonders if standalone Enterprise 2.0 (think, “social networking tools inside the corporation”) vendors will survive as more SaaS vendors integrate these types of features into their products.  It’s an interesting thought, but already?

For this to happen, all customers of software will have moved at least one of their “ubiquitious apps” to a SaaS vendor that has incorporated one or more of these corporate-social feature-sets.

Although Salesforce.com have made great in-roads, and Google has shown how to get into large corporations or government agencies with gmail, two numbers from Gartner should give pause:

• 2013 Revenues for SaaS: $16 billion
• 2013 Revenues for Enterprise Software: $300 billion

Given that SFDC revenues will likely account for 10% of the forecast SaaS revenues for 2013 and the huge gap between the two numbers overall, it appears likely that the Enterprise 2.0 vendors will have a large enough market to go after. 

Taking a step back a bit, considering where we are in the technology adoption curve for SaaS overall, and how much uncertainty exists around how the landscape will look ultimately, isn’t it too early to call the demise of any SaaS player?   

For some time to come, there will be a need for technologies and applications that operate at the Platform level to fill gaps and smooth interoperability between products, solutions, and platforms.  Even though ultimately many of these point solutions will be acquired or spun-out as economics and strategic positioning dictate.

Rather than looking over their shoulder for a SaaS player integrating their functionality, they should be more concerned about serving the market that’s out there, providing value, and generating revenues.

We still have a long way to go…

Posted under industry

“For more than 70 years, Agilent Technologies has been the world’s premier measurement company, beginning with its predecessor Hewlett-Packard.  The company constantly looks toward the future for opportunities to make contributions in electronic and bio-analytical industries.

 

Over the next several decades, we see several global megatrends emerging that not only present new measurement challenges, but may profoundly affect the way that people live and work. These megatrends include the rise of Asia, the spread of infectious disease, food safety and the environment.

 

Agilent President and CEO Bill Sullivan highlights these trends as well as their implications for the United States.”

Posted under industry

I was captivated this morning by a wonderful presentation made by Alex Morrison of CogApp.  The panel presentation was made at bTween, 2008 and succinctly provides a fascinating way to start to think about user centric design of software products.

Of particular interest is the quote from Guy Kawasaki - that every piece of software should be “D.I.C.E.” - Deep, Indulgent, Complete, and Elegant.  (He first talked about this concept in the early ’90’s).  If we think about this in the context of Facebook, it immediately makes a lot of sense.  When we start to think about Twitter though, we could hardly say that it is “complete” or “Deep” from a functionality perspective….but layer on top of that the content and interactions of the users and it truly is “complete” and very deep.  Is there a topic that is not announced or discussed using short bursts of 140 characters or less?

This is User-Centric Design - not just designing from the user’s perspective, but including user behavior and data at the core of the functionality of the product.

Posted under industry