The only thing that could dampen the spirits at Dreamforce this year was rain. Once again, tens of thousands of corporate decision makers, sales executives, marketing managers, ISVs, entrepreneurs, analysts and press converged on the Moscone Center and every nearby hotel to soak up the latest vision and solutions from Salesforce.com. And despite the rain, Dreamforce was another love fest fueled by the enthusiasm of customers finally able to harness the power of software to achieve their business objectives and intoxicated by the vast possibilities being proposed by Salesforce for a new way of doing business in the future. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ perspectives regarding the industry implications of Salesforce.com’s latest offerings and ideas.

Now that cloud computing has become a viable alternative for a growing number of small and midsize business (SMBs) and large-scale enterprise decision makers, the question facing a widening array of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS providers is how to build a vibrant network of third-party channels to extend their reach in the rapidly expanding marketplace.

This has been the focus of attention at THINKstrategies’ annual Cloud Channel Summit, supported by Sandhill.com. The first Cloud Channel Summit, two years ago, discussed how to get traditional resellers, value-added resellers (VARs) and distributors to recognize the new business opportunities in the cloud. Last year’s Summit showcased channel initiatives aimed at capitalizing on the new market opportunities. And this year’s Summit examined the key issues that still need to be addressed to build profitable channel relationships in the cloud marketplace.

Click here to read a summary … Read More »

Last week’s Cloud Channel Summit has generated a lot of positive feedback from the attendees, sponsors, speakers and partners. For instance, Ananth Appathurai, Vice President of Global Business Development & Alliances at NComputing, gave me the following testimonial regarding the event:

Unarguably the most educative, effective and valuable technology conference that I have ever attended. The most value-for-money as well! Insightful content, well thought of session formats with emphasis on roundtables that encouraged open dialog and broader set of perspectives. Rounded off with fantastic structured networking opportunities. The Cloud Channel Summit has everything to transform into the must-attend industry conference!

Daniel Saks, President & Co-CEO of AppDirect, has been a sponsor and speaker at all the Cloud Channel Summits, and gave us the following testimonial after last week’s event:

The Cloud Channel Summit has been the annual go-to gathering for leaders defining the future of … Read More »

The growing adoption of Bring Your Own Device policies by organizations of all sizes, across nearly every industry, has enabled corporate end-users and business units to more easily acquire apps tailored to their specific work requirements.

This Bring Your Own Apps phenomenon, often referred to as the “consumerization of IT,” has sparked a new round of debate among CIOs and other corporate executives about how to balance security and compliance concerns with the need to encourage end-user productivity.

For the past few years, I’ve been suggesting that deploying corporate app stores can be an effective tactic for IT to regain control over this situation. By replicating the user experience of today’s leading app stores, enterprises can give their end-users the same kind of access to the best business applications available in the marketplace while establishing greater control over the acquisition process and … Read More »

Thursday, October 31, is the last day you can take advantage of pre-conference savings of $150 to attend the third annual Cloud Channel Summit on Monday, November 4, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Click here to register now and save $150 off the on-site registration rates!

The Cloud Channel Summit is a peer-to-peer, executive networking forum focused entirely on helping attendees learn how to build successful partnerships in the Cloud. The Summit will include a series of keynote presentations and highly interactive roundtable sessions, along with a Speed Networking session where you can quickly meet potential partners and an ‘unConference’ luncheon where you can discuss the issues of greatest interest to you. Click here to see the full agenda, and click here to see who’s attending this year’s Summit and to register now.

The Summit sponsors are led by Marquee Sponsor, VMware, and include AppDirect, Aria Systems, BetterCloud, CallidusCloud, Corent Technologies, CorSource Technology Group, HP, Oracle, Ping Identity, Progress Software, Salesforce.com and SoftServe. 

Contact me if you’d … Read More »

THINKstrategies announced today that Feedvisor 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                         .

Feedvisor represents the next generation of automated pricing solutions. It offers the world’s first fully algorithmic repricing platform that provides e-commerce marketplace sellers a Cloud-based solution to keep their prices competitive and maximize profitability. Feedvisor’s patent-pending technology includes a self-learning, constantly improving algorithm that checks the competitive offerings of millions of products on an ongoing basis, and adjusts … Read More »

The ‘Consumerization of IT’ has spawned a growing number of commercial Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) appstores, and is now inspiring corporate decision-makers to also launch internal, enterprise appstores that are creating new channel opportunities for Cloud solution providers.

Learn how you can leverage these new Cloud marketplaces at the third annual Cloud Channel Summit on Monday, November 4, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Click here to attend the Summit and save $150 off the current conference registration rates!

The Cloud Marketplace roundtable panel session will be hosted by AppDirect and includes:

Nima Badiey, Business Development, Cloud Foundry, Pivotal
James Mumma, Executive Director, Comcast Business Services
Dipan Patel, Executive Director, Cox Communications
Jamie Perlman, Sr. Director of Business Development, Box
Daniel Saks, President and CEO, AppDirect

This panel is one of a series of highly interactive sessions during the Cloud Channel Summit which will give participants a unique opportunity to share experiences and industry best practices about building successful partnerships in the Cloud with their peers. Click … Read More »

A growing number of key executives and business development professionals from the leading Cloud providers and channel companies are planning to attend the third annual Cloud Channel Summit on Monday, November 4, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

Click here to see who has registered for this year’s Summit and save $150 off current pre-conference registration rates!

The Cloud Channel Summit is designed to provide an intimate environment that encourages peer-to-peer networking among industry executives and partnering professionals. In addition to keynote presentations by Tim FitzGerald, Vice President, DataCenter & Cloud Technology Solutions Practices, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas; Ron Huddleston, Senior Vice President of ISVs and Channels, Salesforce.com; and Dave O’Callaghan, SVP of Global Channels & Alliances, VMware, the Summit includes a series of interactive roundtable sessions, a speed networking opportunity, and an unConference luncheon where attendees can discuss the issues of greatest importance to them.

Click here to see the industry … Read More »

Sanjay Sharma, Director of Business Development for HP Cloud has agreed to participate in the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Industry Roundtable at the third annual Cloud Channel Summit on Monday, November 4, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

HP Cloud is also the latest sponsor to support the Summit which provides a peer-to-peer, networking forum for executives focused on building successful partnerships in the Cloud.

The IaaS Industry Roundtable will discuss – Creating New Customer Opportunities via Cloud Partnerships, and be moderated by Andy Schroepfer, Founder & CEO, Big Cloud Sales. The following industry executives are also participating in the Roundtable session:

Tom Halle, Sr. Director, Global Alliances, Savvis/CenturyLink
Nikesh Kalra, Global Cloud Services, Equinix
Brian Matsubara, Head of Global Technology Alliances, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Sean McCaffery, Vice President of Channel Sales and Operations, ViaWest

Click here to save $150 off current pre-conference registration rates!

The IaaS Industry Roundtable is one of a series of highly interactive panel sessions during the Cloud Channel Summit which will give participants a unique opportunity to … Read More »

Everywhere you look there are more indications that the corporate world is migrating to a new generation of Cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to respond to a series of unprecedented business challenges. Ironically, many corporate decision-makers are being enticed into adopting these new solutions because of their ease-of-use and economies of scale, but IT organizations are being confronted with a new level of complexity as they try to gain control over their rapidly changing operating environments.

There are a number of issues, which are conspiring against IT organizations trying to keep pace with their business end-users and executives’ escalating demands. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views about these issues and how IT organizations can overcome them on the BetterCloud blog.