THINKstrategies and MuleSoft have published the results from our 2nd annual SaaS Integration Survey which validate the growing interest among Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers to build and offer integration as a part of their solutions.

According to our survey results, SaaS integration has hit the radar of SaaS executives as customer concerns about integration represent both a threat and an opportunity to their businesses.

Our SaaS Integration Survey highlights also include:

 Connectivity is extremely important to winning new customers.
 Integration is the most time consuming part of implementation.
 Ecosystem strategies are still in their infancy.
 Growing dissatisfaction with existing integration tools.

Click here to find an infographic showing the key survey findings and click here to download the report today!

I hope you find our survey results and analysis valuable. Contact me if you’d like to discuss the implications of our survey findings on your business.

Stephen David Spears, Senior Vice President & General Manager of SAP AG’s Application, Development, Integration and IT Management Software Organization, will kickoff the second annual Cloud Analytics Summit, Thursday, May 2 at the Apella Conference Center in New York City.

The Cloud Analytics Summit is the first of the 2013 Cloud Innovators Summit executive forum series hosted by THINKstrategies, the Cloud Computing Showplace and Rising Tide Media. The series is aimed at helping corporate decision-makers better understand how they can leverage the latest Cloud innovations to achieve their business objectives. The second event of the Cloud Innovators Summit series will be the third annual Cloud Channel Summit on Monday, November 4 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

Stephen directs SAP’s solution strategy and manages a diverse portfolio of SAP and third-party software solutions sold through the SAP Database and Technology Sales organization on a global basis. Stephen has also served in many other executive management … Read More »

Anyone involved in web presence knows it is imperative to engage customers in order to gain their attention and win their business. Yet, most companies grapple with many moving parts in order to execute on this business imperative. Customers have more product and service choices than ever — and less reason to be loyal to their suppliers and service providers.

As a result, they increasingly make purchase decisions based on how engaging they find a supplier’s products and services, and their ease of access. In response to these trends, IBM’s Institute for Business Value 2010 “From Social Media to Social CRM” survey found 88 percent of CEOs said their most important priority for the next five years was to be closer to customers. Given the lower barriers to entry in nearly every industry, this priority is certainly understandable.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ … Read More »

While industry pundits continue to debate the merits of public versus private clouds, most business technology decision-makers are trying to determine the best way to manage a mixed environment. But it’s proving difficult for a number of reasons. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in InformationWeek about the challenges facing organizations attempting to manage hybrid Cloud environments and how they can overcome these challenges.

David Roth, the Co-Founder and CEO of AppFirst, and Mark Cunningham, Founder and CEO of Indicee, are returning to speak at the second annual Cloud Analytics Summit at the Apella executive center in New York City on Thursday, May 2.

David and Mark will join Michael Hickins, the senior editor of the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal, and Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a 37-year veteran at IBM, at the peer-to-peer networking executive forum. The Cloud Analytics Summit will provide an intimate opportunity for CIOs and other corporate executives to learn about the latest innovations and industry best practices regarding Cloud BI, Big Data and data integration from their peers and leading solution providers.

The Cloud Analytics Summit is the first of the 2013 Cloud Innovators Summit executive forum series hosted by THINKstrategies, the Cloud Computing Showplace and Rising Tide Media. The series is aimed at helping corporate decision-makers better … Read More »

One of the biggest dilemmas facing cloud vendors is how to penetrate mainstream small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Selling to SMBs has never been easy and historically it’s been a task delegated to tech channel partners. However, the cloud business model has created a new set of challenges regarding this age-old dilemma that have raised questions about whether traditional channel companies can meet today’s demands.

So, why are mainstream SMBs slow to move to the cloud? Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in Sandhill.com.

One of the age-old challenges that has plagued the software industry, like many others, is how vendors can reach small- and mid-sized businesses with their software products. A new trend is emerging that promises to help SMBs take full advantage of cloud computing — the proliferation of easy-to-use marketplaces focusing on business-oriented SaaS apps. App store hosting companies are working with major retailers like Staples, which offers its own App Center, as well as with nonprofits that support small businesses, such as state and local chambers of commerce.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ perspective in E-Commerce Times on this trend and its potential to unlock the key to selling SaaS to SMBs.

Michael Hickins, the senior editor of the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal, has agreed to moderate a panel at the Cloud Analytics Summit on Thursday, May 2 in New York City entitled, “Redefining BI & Analytics in the Cloud.” 

Prior to becoming the head of the CIO Journal’s editorial staff, Michael led the Wall Street Journal’s premium Web aggregation edition, WSJ Professional; managed the Digits technology blog; and was interim editor of CFO Journal. He was also executive editor at eWEEK.

Joining Michael on the panel is Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger who spent 37 years at IBM where he led the company’s initiatives in e-business, supercomputing and Linux. In his emeritus position, he continues to influence IBM’s Cloud Computing and Smart Cities strategies.

The Cloud Analytics Summit will provide an intimate opportunity for CIOs and other corporate executives to learn about the latest innovations and industry best … Read More »

The consumerization of IT has led a growing number of organizations to initiate bring your own device (BYOD) programs which permit employees to select their own smartphones, laptops and tablets to satisfy their day-to-day business needs.

According to Gartner, “The rise of BYOD programs is the single most radical shift in the economics of client computing for business since PCs invaded the workplace.”  Only a little more than half of the respondents participating in a recent survey commissioned by Dell said they don’t have a formal policy in place regarding BYOD.

The freedom to acquire the mobile device of their choice is now creating a new challenge for IT: empowered end-users are finding their own apps. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in Datamation about these trends and how organizations can respond to these challenges.

THINKstrategies, Inc., the leading strategic consulting company focused on the business implications of the on-demand services market, announced today that dinCloud has been named the winner of the Cloud Computing Business Value (CCBV) Award. This program is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

The CCBV Awards program was launched in 2010 to recognize Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers delivering tangible business benefits to specific user organizations. These benefits include lower costs, faster deployment times, greater profitability, etc.

The CCBV Award program builds on the success of THINKstrategies’ Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program which was initiated in 2009.

dinCloud is a cloud transformation company that helps organizations rapidly migrate to the cloud through Business Provisioning. Each private, virtual datacenter provides hosted virtual desktops, hosted virtual servers, and cloud backup and recovery services, which are controlled by the customer … Read More »