Redefining Software, Business and Information Services
I’ve been suggesting for a while that the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry is moving into a new stage in which inter-enterprise applications are becoming the focus. At the same time, the lines of demarcation between software, business and information services are blurring. Two announcements today exemplify these trends.
The first is Dun & Bradstreet’s (D&B) new alliance with Informatica to broaden its recently announced set of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions, called D&B360. Under this agreement, D&B will utilize Informatica’s Cloud integration platform to permit enterprise software vendors to more easily embed D&B data into their applications. The data from D&B’s information services can significantly enhance the value of the applications provided by independent software vendors (ISVs) and strengthen their position in an increasingly competitive software marketplace.
The second is Rearden Commerce’s acquisition of Ketera which gives Rearden a fuller lifecycle of online spend management capabilities to combine with its existing eCommerce network. Patrick Grady, Founder and CEO of Rearden Commerce, boldly suggests in the company’s announcement, “We aim to redefine eCommerce…”
Rearden Commerce has built a strong position in the spend management market in the travel, procurement and finance sectors by partnering with companies such as American Express, JP Morgan Chase and Paychex. The Ketera Network addresses the source-to-pay process by offering additional sourcing, contract management, procurement, invoicing and spend analytic capabilities. So, now Rearden Commerce’s software-enabled business service can provide even more important information that can help organizations better management their spending.
The focus of both of these moves is to create more effective inter-enterprise business processes, and they each illustrate how the delineation between software, business and information services is disappearing.