For years, I’ve been pointing to ADP payroll services as a model for successfully delivering data-sensitive, shared services that should give corporate decision-makers in small- and mid-size businesses (SMBs) greater confidence in the new generation of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions emerging in the market.

For a while, ADP was hesitant to assume the mantle of major SaaS vendor. But, it has recently embraced the concept of the Cloud and is actively promoting its Cloud-based services. In fact, ADP is now happy to use the growth of its Cloud-based services as an important indicator of the growing acceptance and adoption of a widening array of ‘on-demand’, business service alternatives.

Last week, ADP announced that over 3,600 organizations are now using ADP’s Workforce Now® Express Payroll service which was introduced only 12 months ago. The company said it has seen nearly 50 percent sales growth … Read More »

I’m  pleased to announce that Google’s Cloud Big Data initiative product management leader, Ju-kay Kwek, will present his views about how the Cloud is helping organizations capture and capitalize on ‘Big Data’ to attain better business intelligence (BI) and analytics at the Cloud Analytics Summit on Wednesday, April 25, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.  

The Cloud Analytics Summit is a part of the 2012 Cloud Innovators Summit executive forum series aimed at helping corporate decision-makers better understand how they can leverage the latest Cloud innovations to satisfy their business requirements and achieve their business objectives. The other forums include the Cloud Management Summit on June 19 and second annual Cloud Channel Summit on November 5. All of the events will be held at the Computer History Museum. 

The Cloud Analytics Summit will provide a meeting place for corporate decision-makers to learn about the latest Cloud solutions aimed at addressing their BI … Read More »

I’m pleased to announce that Stacy Nethercoat, Tech Data’s Vice President of Software Product Marketing and leader of its TDCloud offering and new StreamOne Solutions Store, will be the opening keynote speaker at the 2012 Cloud Channel Summit on Monday, November 5, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

Launched last November 2011, the Cloud Channel Summit is an executive forum designed to bring together senior business development and channel management executives from leading Cloud, channel companies and others interested in sharing industry best practices for building successful partner relationships in the Cloud. Last year’s inaugural conference attracted 190 attendees, thirty-one speakers, nineteen association and media partners, and seventeen sponsors who participated in eleven interactive sessions during the Summit.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive response to the 2011 Cloud Channel Summit, the second annual event will again target senior executives seeking to learn from their peers the keys to success for partnering in the Cloud, and … Read More »

I had the privilege of attending my third annual Parallels Summit last week and came away even more impressed than ever with the growing ecosystem of partners Parallels is attracting with its technology ‘stack’, and its tireless efforts to educate and enable hosters, telcos, software vendors, systems integrators, value-added resellers and others to become key competitors in the Cloud.

I was invited to attend Parallels’ full-day analyst briefing which preceded the Summit and to moderate a keynote panel session during the conference. (Disclosure: Parallels paid me an honorarium to moderate their panel and covered my travel expenses to the Summit.)

As in years past, the Summit clearly demonstrated that Parallels has become a major force in the rapidly evolving Cloud marketplace by not only offering a strong portfolio of enabling technologies, but also attracting a broadbased ecosystem of partners.

I spent much of the event, talking to a cross-section of attendees, including current and prospective customers … Read More »

I’m pleased to announce that Doug Harr, the CIO at Splunk, a leading provider of real-time operational intelligence solutions, will present his views about how the Cloud is redefining business intelligence (BI) and analytics at the Cloud Analytics Summit on Wednesday, April 25 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.The Cloud Analytics Summit will provide a meeting place for corporate decision-makers to learn about the latest Cloud solutions aimed at addressing their BI and analytics needs, so they can harness their ‘Big Data’ sources, and integrate their systems and applications into a more productive enterprise-wide resource to satisfy their corporate requirements.

Doug Harr has been in the forefront of the migration to Cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions over the past decade, leading IT organizations at a number of leading companies such as Ingres Corporation, Portal Software and Hewlett Packard.

At Splunk, Doug is responsible for the team … Read More »

THINKstrategies announced today that Appnomic Systems has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

Appnomic Systems is a global provider of SaaS solutions that provide application performance management and data center operations automation. Appnomic’s solutions permit significant improvements to enterprise IT service delivery and increases in Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of enterprise and Cloud software applications. The company provides a predictive monitoring solution based on Application Behavior Learning (ABL) analytics that enable IT professionals to capture early warnings to prevent problems which could affect services to end-users.

Click here to read more about the measurable business benefits which Appnomic Systems’ customers are gaining from its solutions which earned the company THINKstrategies’ latest BoSS Award.

For more information about the rules for applying for a BoSS Award … Read More »

I’m very pleased to announce that Michael Crandell, the Founder and CEO of RightScale, has agreed to present the opening keynote talk at the Cloud Management Summit on Tuesday, June 19 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

The Cloud Management Summit will provide an intimate environment for corporate decision-makers to learn about leading Cloud solutions and share industry best practices for managing today’s rapidly evolving Cloud services to achieve their business objectives.

RightScale  has pioneered innovative ways to bring the power of Cloud Computing to organizations of all sizes. Its Cloud management solutions enable users to easily deploy and optimize the performance of business-critical applications across public, private, and hybrid clouds. It provides Cloud configuration, monitoring, automation, and governance capabilities. Millions of servers have been launched using RightScale’s solutions by a wide array of organizations, including the Associated Press, CBS Interactive, Intercontinental Hotels Group, PBS, … Read More »

I’m very pleased with the immediate response we have received regarding our upcoming Cloud Analytics, Management and Cloud Channel Summit conferences.

In order to systematically respond to the steady stream of speaking requests we are receiving, we have established an online submission process to ensure that we can select the best speakers for our events.

Please go to the following links to submit speaking proposals for each of the Cloud Summits:

Cloud Analytics Summit
Cloud Management Summit
Cloud Channel Summit 

We will consider each proposal on a first come, first serve basis. However, preferential treatment will be given to proposals focused on key business issues rather than specific technical topics.

We will also prioritize proposals that suggest CIO speakers for the Cloud Analytics and Management Summits, and channel company executives with first-hand experience working in Cloud environments. Summit sponsors and start-ups with a track-record of success will also receive greater consideration.

Contact me if you have … Read More »

I had an opportunity to speak to the Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum at Towson University last week about new strategies and tactics for fully capitalizing on today’s Cloud alternatives. Because the group is composed of CIOs primarily from mid-size and large-scale enterprises with a lot of custom built applications and systems already in place, their biggest challenge is determining how to integrate the latest Cloud services into their legacy operations. Managing ‘hybrid’ Clouds is becoming a common challenge.

I had spoken to this group a couple of years ago when the concept of Cloud computing was just emerging. At that time, they were primarily interested in better understanding what the concept meant and why they should consider it. Like many CIOs, the attendees of this session are now trying to determine where, when and how to deploy Cloud services to meet their … Read More »

We are less than a month into the new year, and the Cloud Computing marketplace is already attracting more attention than ever. There have been more acquisitions, alliances and other activities surrounding a widening assortment of Cloud opportunities.

In addition to continuing to contribute commentaries to Datamation, E-Commerce Times, Internet Evolution and Sandhill.com, among others, I’ve been asked to also lend my perspective to two more online publications, APMdigest and TechWeb/UBM’s new IT Services site.

Here are my latest commentaries in these publications,

IT Services: Outsourcing Failures Drive More People to the Cloud, 01/20/12 

APMdigest: Three Tiers of Analytic Possibilities in the Cloud, 01/14/12 

E-Commerce Times: Building Synergistic Alliances in the Clouds, 01/13/12  

Internet Evolution: Google Goal for 2012: Changing You, 01/09/12 

You may have noticed that I’m also blogging on behalf of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need … Read More »