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 »

For everyone in the U.S., Labor Day weekend represents the spiritual end of the summer. It is also a time when many of us sit back and take stock of our lives and the world around us as we prepare to re-enter the regular work routine.

The first thing to be said about the current state of our world is there is nothing routine about it. Obviously, the economy has had a major impact on the business environment and everyone’s psyches as well. But, even if we are fortunate enough to see an uptick in the financial climate as we approach the last quarter of the calendar year, I believe the rapid migration to cloud-based services will continue to accelerate and fundamentally transform the competitive landscape of almost every industry, including the public sector.

Although I remain a vehement proponent of the cloud computing and … Read More »

Last year, I predicted that 2009 would be the year of the channel in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market and a growing number of SaaS industry leaders have obliged me by expanding their sales efforts in this direction.

The latest is Salesforce.com which announced today that it is launching a new value-added reseller (VAR) program to encourage third-party companies to build on its Force.com platform and extend the reach of its AppExchange into new market segments.

Salesforce.com’s announcement comes on the heels of NetSuite’s recent enhancements to its VAR program aimed at strengthening its position in the market.

Because of Salesforce.com’s greater prominence in the marketplace, its new initiative is bound to bring even more attention to the rapidly evolving role of channel companies in the SaaS market. In Salesforce.com’s case, there move represents an important milestone in the company’s evolution and that of the … Read More »

Yesterday’s announcement that NetSuite is acquiring QuickArrow and merging it with OpenAir is the most recent example of a consolidation process in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry which I predicted would accelerate at the beginning of the year.

This particular transaction is very similar to Xactly’s acquisition of Centive in January. Rather than combining functional capabilities to create a more robust solution, the companies are combining forces to create greater scale.

In both cases, the transactions eliminate head-to-head competitors who looked too much alike to be able to clearly differentiate themselves from one another. Their similarities made it harder to compete for customers and VC funding, especially in today’s tough economy.

Merging, with the help of NetSuite’s deeper pockets, allows the two companies to focus on new customer acquisition, channel relationships and geographic expansion.

This acquisition is the latest indication that the SaaS market is entering a new stage in which the winners will be … Read More »

I had the privilege of moderating a fascinating panel session at the SIIA On-Demand Conference this past November entitled, “Systems Integrators: A Firsthand, Face-to-Face View on the State of SaaS”.

The panel consisted of three experienced professionals in the systems integration (SI) business,

Chris Barbin, CEO, Appirio
Cary Fulbright, President, North America Operations, Saaspoint
Lonnie Wills, Senior Vice President, CIO Practice, Bluewolf

The SIIA recently posted a video of this session on their site. Click here to watch the discussion.