Tag: Amazon


Amazon Go Service May Have Profound Impact on CRM Market via the Cloud

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22nd December

As increasing digitization overtakes commerce (and virtually all industries), companies need to adjust with new technologies and new approaches.

Customers want to be able to research and make purchases on various devices and platforms (from online to in store). Companies are enlisting mobile devices, social platforms, live chat capabilities, communities, location-based technologies and e-commerce applications to create new capabilities in this digital commerce era. Creating an anytime, anywhere, omnichannel strategy has become critical for the e-commerce market.

Cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) and the e-commerce market have been converging for some time. Although Amazon hasn’t explicitly stated that it intends to use its new Amazon Go retail service as the vehicle to offer its own CRM solution, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to envision the company finally entering the market.

Click here to read why THINKstrategies believes Amazon may be getting ready to move into … Read More »



How Amazon Could Reshape More Industries in 2017 – A Guest Commentary in E-Commerce Times

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9th December

Anyone who attended the recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent conference — or watched many sessions online, as I did — probably is still trying to absorb the full implications of all of the company’s initiatives unveiled at the event. Although AWS already has redefined the computing and software development industries fundamentally, with its groundbreaking Infrastructure as a Service offerings, it isn’t resting on its laurels.

In fact, AWS’s parent company appears to have in mind far broader ambitions to significantly reshape the competitive landscape in more than just the IT industry in the coming years. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in E-Commerce Times about how Amazon is positioning itself to disrupt more industries in the coming year and beyond.



Sandhill.com Q&A Uncovers THINKstrategies’ Origins & Business Evolution

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17th March

I’ve had the privilege of contributing THINKstrategies’ perspectives regarding key software and technology trends to Sandhill.com for many years, and the online publication has been a key supporter of our Cloud Innovators Summits. SandHill has been conducting a series of Q&A sessions profiling ‘thought’ leaders in the software industry and asked me to participate in the series. Click here to read my response to their questions about my 30+ years in the software and technology industry, the inspiration for THINKstrategies, the key influencers in my life and work, and other forces that have shaped THINKstrategies’ expanding business model over the past thirteen years. I hope you enjoy it and it helps you understand what drives me on a day-to-day basis.



Cloud Parade Ambushed by Amazon Outage

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25th April

Plenty of has been written about last week’s disruption of Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) which took hundreds of organizations offline, including many rapidly growing start-ups and evolving aspects of enterprise operations.

(The best I’ve read summarizing the questions raised and lessons to be learned as a result of the AWS outage was by my friend Phil Wainewright.)

After suggesting at the beginning of last week that recent issues surrounding Google could derail the rapid growth of Cloud Computing services, it is obvious that Amazon’s problems must be added to the list of sobering events which will certainly cause many entrepreneurs and enterprise decision-makers alike to re-think their Cloud strategies and deployment tactics.

Google’s support issues, combined with Amazon’s service availability problems, clearly make real two of the three greatest fears which IT and business decision-makers face when considering the widening array of Cloud alternatives. The third primal fear … Read More »


Time Warner Cable Buys NaviSite, Illustrates Convergence of B2C and B2B Worlds in the Clouds

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2nd February

Time Warner Cable’s planned acquisition of NaviSite not only intensifies the M&A activity in the managed hosting arena that was ignited last week by Verizon’s purchase of Terremark, it also shows how the corporate and consumer web services markets are converging.

As Glenn Britt, Time Warner Cable’s Chairman and CEO, stated in the company announcement, “Our commercial services business is a key growth driver for the company and one in which we continue to see great opportunity.”

Thirty years ago, I was wrapping up a full-time MBA program at Boston College and was fascinated by an article in Data Communications Magazine about the impending diversiture of AT&T and the prospect of new players entering the enterprise data services market. In particular, the article suggested that the rapidly evolving cable companies of that time could capitalize on this opportunity. I pitched a Boston-based … Read More »


Dell Delves Into Data Integration Market With Boomi Acquisition

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2nd November

Dell’s acquisition of Boomi today is the latest example of the tech industry’s herd mentality.

In the same way that Dell followed HP’s example when it purchased Perot Systems after HP acquired EDS, Dell is now copying IBM’s acquisition of Cast Iron Systems with its own move into the integration business.

Besides trying to keep up with other ‘systems’ vendors, Dell is also attempting to fortify its Cloud Computing capabilities which hinge on helping potential customers cost-effectively migrate and integrate data from various legacy applications and databases into a new set of cloud services.

Dell indicated at an analyst briefing in Boston last week that it wants to ‘move up the stack’ and build a platform which can help enterprises and independent software vendors (ISVs) develop and deliver applications. Dell can’t compete with the other major Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) vendors — including Salesforce.com, Google and Microsoft … Read More »


Amazon and Verizon Scatter Clouds

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23rd October

Two announcements on the same day this week vividly illustrated the scalability and ubiquity of today’s Cloud Computing phenomenon. They also showed the diversity of users seeking to take advantage of Cloud Computing services.

The first was Amazon’s announcement that it is offering a free usage tier of its Amazon S3, Amazon Elastic Block Store, Amazon Elastic Load Balancing, and AWS data transfer services for new users for a full year. 

Amazon Web Services’ (AWS)  innovative and groundbreaking approach to packaging, pricing and delivering computing power has been the primary impetus and standard bearer of the Cloud Computing movement. Its commodity and even spot-pricing techniques have captured the attention of entrepreneurs and enterprises alike.

UBS Securities estimates that Amazon will generate $500 million in 2010 and $750 million in 2011, making it the largest Cloud vendor by far with minimal marketing effort. Yet, this still only … Read More »


HP Restructuring to Capture Cloud Wave

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2nd June

Yesterday’s announcement by HP that it is cutting 9000 workers and hiring another 6000 as part of a $1 billion multi-year effort to redesign its data center operations and automate its enterprise services is the latest indication of the traumatic impact which today’s cloud computing phenomenon is having on the tech industry.

HP readily admitted in its announcement that its goal is to,

“…Consolidate Enterprise Services’ commercial data centers, management platforms, networks, tools and applications to create a more scalable, modernized and automated IT infrastructure that will better serve its clients’ needs.”

Although the company didn’t specify where its cuts would take place, I suspect that the bulk of the downsizing effort within the Enterprise Services division will involve offloading the legacy data center facilities and staff which came from the EDS acquisition.

My sources within the company have confirmed my original concerns about the acquisition … Read More »


Microsoft-Intuit PaaS Marriage in the Clouds

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22nd January

This week’s announcement that Microsoft and Intuit are linking their respective Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities has attracted lots of attention and generated plenty of speculation. It is also the latest escalation of the PaaS wars I predicted would take center-stage this year.

Although Salesforce.com’s Force.com PaaS has gained the lion’s share of industry attention because of the company’s unparalleled marketing machine, I’ve felt that Intuit’s Partner Platform (IPP) represented a dark-horse in the PaaS race because of the vast installed base of small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) using Intuit’s QuickBooks and QuickBase, along with its powerful channel relationships.

I’ve also believed that Microsoft would make considerable progress in penetrating the cloud computing market this year, not because of the technical capabilities of its Azure PaaS, but because of its historical prowess in building a vast partner network of ISVs and developers.

With those thoughts in mind, here’s … Read More »


Redefine Your Business, Redefine An Industry

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5th January

Google’s new Nexus One Android phone has created a lot of buzz as a ‘game-changer’ in the smart-phone business. Many believe this device, and Google’s new business model which supports it, could redefine the phone industry.

It is always exciting to witness a company challenge the status quo in an established industry by offering a bold new value-proposition to customers.

Yet, most companies have responded to today’s economic malaise and extended downturn with a risk-adverse, reflective stance which has manifested itself in more aggressive cost-cutting strategies rather than more innovations.

I can’t blame them for shying away from the innovation tact. The cynic in me also recoils from the business pub jargon which would have us believe that any company can adopt a bold strategy to recreate themselves in this type of environment.

However, there is plenty to be said for taking this risk and attempting to … Read More »





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