THINK IT Services Blog
Tercera eBook and Webinar Identify Key Characteristics of Third Wave Cloud Consulting Leaders
21st June
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of presenting the key findings of a new ebook that I produced with Chris Barbin, the CEO/Founder of Tercera, in a webinar which identified the critical characteristics of leading cloud consultancies in the coming decade.
This is the first of a series of ebooks and webinars planned by Tercera to describe the unique opportunities and challenges associated with the third wave of the cloud. You can find these and many other informative resources about the third wave cloud market dynamics on the Tercera website here.
You can also read about Tercera’s first two investments – BeyondID and Terazo (in conjunction with Twilio) – which possess many of the key ingredients for building a successful cloud consultancy in today’s rapidly changing environment.
Tercera’s mission is to fund and guide the next generation of cloud consultancies seeking to help enterprises capitalize on the latest … Read More »
Tercera Launches to Fund Third Wave of Cloud Consultancies
28th January
I’m pleased to be one of the initial advisors of a new venture capital and advisory services firm focused on the ‘third wave’ of cloud consulting companies that are emerging in the market to respond to the escalating cloud deployment and management needs of enterprises worldwide.
As you’ll see in the press announcement and my blogpost associated with the kickoff of the new firm, Tercera is unique because it is targeting ‘people-based’ consulting and managed service companies that help enterprises maximize the value of their cloud investments, rather than funding cloud product vendors.
I’ve known the principals of the new firm for many years since they previously founded Appirio, one of the most successful cloud consultancies of the past decade. After selling Appirio to Wipro, the Tercera team now wants to fund and help the next generation of cloud consulting companies achieve success … Read More »
Reshaping the Software and Services Marketplace – A Guest Commentary in E-Commerce Times
11th June
In the old information technology (IT) world, systems integration and consulting companies flourished, helping enterprises of all sizes across nearly every industry pull together a plethora of proprietary systems from a wide array of software and technology vendors.
Despite the promises of the cloud, not much has changed. While there may be fewer pure-play proprietary systems and applications, the need to customize software solutions and integrate disparate databases has continued to grow.
So, it’s not surprising that the demand for IT services — including upfront consulting, systems integration and software development skills — also has escalated.
Yet, there are several important differences in today’s IT services requirements that set them apart from the demands and offerings of the past.
Click here to read THINKstrategies’ latest perspectives in E-Commerce Times regarding the changing nature of IT services and solutions in the cloud marketplace, and how … Read More »
Catalant Profile and Perspectives Regarding Cloud and SaaS
21st May
Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of becoming affiliated with the rapidly growing Catalant expert network which has enabled me to extend my consulting services to a wider assortment of enterprises seeking help with their Cloud strategies.
Catalant recently gave me an opportunity to provide my perspectives regarding the state of the Cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketplace, as well as the new business opportunities and challenges which these unprecedented technological developments have created for corporate executives and their organizations.
You can click here to read my views on the Catalant blog, and contact me if you’d like to discuss ways I can help you capitalize on the Cloud to achieve your corporate objectives.
Yooz Wins Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Award
27th March
Cloud Service Intelligently Streamlines the Accounts Payable (AP) Workflow Process
THINKstrategies announced today that Yooz has been named a winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Award. This program promotes the measurable business benefits delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.
The BoSS Awards is an ongoing program administered by THINKstrategies’ Cloud Computing Showplace to recognize SaaS companies that are delivering measurable business benefits to specific user organizations. These benefits can include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.
Texas-based Yooz provides a cloud-based accounts payable (AP) automation workflow solution. Yooz offers a simple, secure, end-to-end P2P platform that integrates with more than 175 enterprise resource programs (ERPs).
Yooz has over 2,000 global customers that leverage its solution to optimize their AP operations and increase the productivity of their finance teams.
An example of the measurable business benefits delivered by … Read More »
Why Salesforce’s Latest Big Gamble Is On APIs – A Guest Commentary in E-Commerce Times
26th March
Anyone who has attempted to adopt Salesforce cloud solutions in an enterprise environment knows that it may not be as easy as expected because of the additional effort typically required to integrate various data sources.
This is a common problem that has plagued the enterprise application industry since its inception. In fact, it spawned an entire subsegment of data integration solution vendors and systems integration service providers that have prospered by helping organizations overcome their data integration challenges.
However, by spearheading a new generation of cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) alternatives, Salesforce gained control of the enterprise application marketplace. The SaaS model promised to rectify the age-old data integration issue so that organizations could accelerate the software adoption process.
The lingering data integration challenge has prompted Salesforce to make it’s biggest acquisition to date – the purchase of Mulesoft for approximately $6.5 billion.
Click … Read More »
Why Salesforce Is Making Its Biggest Bet on APIs and Data Integration
22nd March
Salesforce.com’s definitive agreement to acquire MuleSoft for approximately $6.5 billion represents the company’s biggest acquisition yet and a calculated move to consolidate it’s position as the leading enterprise software company in the Cloud.
The move also illustrates that the real power in the market is quickly shifting to those vendors that can facilitate the most cost-effective flow of data across applications in an increasingly connected and complex world.
Click here to read THINKstrategies’ analysis in Datamation of the key market drivers that have led Salesforce to make this strategic move and what it means for the rest of the enterprise software industry.
To Win in the New Delivery Economy Go to the Cloud – A Guest Commentary in E-Commerce Times
13th February
All you have to do to recognize the changing face of the consumer retail market is pay attention to the growing number of packages piling up on your neighbor’s front step. The explosive growth of the home delivery business also has been influencing the industrial, business-to-business world.
As Amazon sets consumer expectations for rapid delivery to the home, companies in nearly every industry have been recognizing that they must move to the Cloud to keep pace. This means revamping their transportation and logistics systems to meet their customers’ escalating delivery expectations.
These rising demands have been fueling the growth of a new generation of cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to provide end-to-end product delivery and fulfillment capabilities more cost-effectively. They also have been forcing nearly all software vendors in this market to expand their functional capabilities to address the full lifecycle of supply … Read More »
Recreating ERP in the Cloud – A Guest Commentary in Datamation
17th January
Now that moving to the Cloud has become mainstream, it’s time for organizations to confront their biggest enterprise application challenge in the era of digital disruption – revamping their enterprise resource management (ERP) systems to keep up with the times.
A clear indication of the shifting tides in the ERP market is the growing number of organizations that are replacing their installed systems with a new Cloud-based solution.
Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in Datamation about the forces that are reshaping the ERP software business and the competitive landscape of this market.
Cloud Training to Boost Competitive Advantage Strategies – A Guest Commentary in E-Commerce Times
12th January
One of the biggest challenges facing organizations of all sizes trying to move to the cloud is finding and retaining the skilled workers necessary to implement today’s rapidly expanding assortment of on-demand services.
This skills gap cost companies more than $250 million in lost business opportunities in just one year, according to a recent survey conducted by the London School of Economics and sponsored by Rackspace.
In order to close this gap and accelerate the customer adoption process, Salesforce.com decided to rethink its training program and radically change how it delivered customer support. The company’s relatively new Trailhead program relies on peer-to-peer, end-user training techniques fortified by gamification tactics that recognize and reward Salesforce customers who help others.
Click here to read our latest commentary in E-Commerce Times regarding how the Trailhead program is not only solving Salesforce’s customer training and adoption … Read More »