Last week’s Dreamforce conference brought together two former software industry adversaries to offer a new set of cloud-based services that promise to enable businesses and other institutions to capitalize on the flood of new data expected to be produced by the Internet of Things (IoT).

Salesforce.com has been promoting the idea of the “Internet of the Customer” for a couple of years. It employed its unparalleled aspirational marketing skills to paint a picture of a better world for the people (customers) who sit behind the things, if the companies that serve them tap the data to build better products and deliver better services. Microsoft has also been promoting the virtues of a more mobile and connected world that requires greater collaboration and productivity software tools along with greater database systems and information services.

Salesforce used Dreamforce to unveil a new IoT Cloud … Read More »

While most people view Salesforce.com’s annual  Dreamforce event as the largest user conference in the cloud industry, it is also the biggest gathering of cloud companies and their growing assortment of business partners. In many ways, Dreamforce is the best demonstration that the channel isn’t dead and actually is prospering in the cloud.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ perspectives in E-Commerce Times about why Salesforce.com’s successful partner ecosystem has broader market implications for the Cloud industry.

You can also hear Salesforce.com’ SVP of ISVs and Channels, Ron Huddleston, talk about the company’s strategies for success at the fourth annual Cloud Channel Summit on Wednesday, December 3 in San Diego. Register now and save $100 on the admission fee by using promo code CCS14.

We’re all painfully aware of the overwhelming growth of Big Data. Yet, only 13 percent of organizations surveyed by Gartner have deployed solutions to overcome their Big Data challenges, despite 73 percent of respondents reporting they have invested or plan to invest in Big Data in the next 24 months, up from 64 percent in 2013. Salesforce.com recently announced its remedy for the Big Data challenge – the Analytics Cloud. The much anticipated offering was revealed at Dreamforce 2014, after it had been leaked by the company’s co-founder and CEO, Marc Benioff in a promotional tweet. Click here to read our views in Datamation about the important value propositions that underlie Salesforce.com’s Analytics Cloud offering.

This year’s Dreamforce conference was bigger than ever as Salesforce.com painted an even broader vision of a connected world enabled by cloud-based platforms and powerful analytics-driven solutions. The company also took the time to showcase how its rapidly growing ecosystem of third-party relationships is helping to accelerate the migration to cloud alternatives. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views about the industry implications of Salesforce.com’s partner ecosystem in Sandhill.com.

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff last month tweeted about the tentative agenda for this week’s Dreamforce and caused a tizzy by revealing a keynote session entitled “Analytics Cloud.” Although the company immediately denied that it was planning to unveil such a thing or that Benioff intentionally spilled the beans about the new offering, Salesforce.com did indeed launch its analytics cloud, called “Wave,” when Dreamforce kicked off on Monday. This launch represents a milestone moment for the cloud marketplace. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ perspective on Salesforce.com’s latest move in E-Commerce Times.

Salesforce.com, Oracle, Avnet Technology and Corent Technology have agreed to return to the fourth annual Cloud Channel Summit as sponsors and speakers at the executive forum focused on building successful partnerships in the Cloud.

This year’s Summit will be hosted by THINKstrategies and the Cloud Computing Showplace on Wednesday, December 3 in San Diego, in conjunction with the Channel Company’s NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo on December 4-5.

The Cloud Channel Summit is a peer-to-peer, executive networking forum focused entirely on helping attendees build successful partnerships in the Cloud. The Summit has been the ‘go to’ event for key executives from leading Cloud vendors and their channel partners to share ideas and showcase success stories since 2011. Click here to see highlights from last year’s Summit, as well as the speakers, sponsors and partners who participated in last year’s executive forum.

By combining forces with the Channel Company, the publisher of Computer Reseller News … Read More »

One of the sure signs of a maturing company, or even an entire industry, is the ability to offer free services to nonprofit organizations in order to demonstrate benevolence. However, such charitable acts aren’t just about being altruistic. As a growing number of cloud providers are discovering, there are plenty of new revenue and profit opportunities in the nonprofit sector. I have a particular awareness of the fertile market opportunities associated with the nonprofit world because I started my career working for United Way, the nonprofit fundraising organization that has been doing business for more than 50 years. Click here to read my perspective in E-Commerce Times about how cloud providers are offering special services to nonprofit organizations to generate new business opportunities.

Executives from GE, Google, Salesforce.com, SmartThings, Birst, Prelert and Code On Technologies are among the latest speakers to agree to share their perspectives regarding the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT) marketplace at the Connected Cloud Summit hosted by THINKstrategies and Cloud Computing Showplace on Thursday, September 18 in Boston, MA.

The Connected Cloud Summit will examine how the Cloud is enabling enterprises to create new IoT business opportunities and overcome IoT technology challenges across nearly every industry. The intimate, executive forum will showcase new solutions and ideas being generated by leading IoT solution providers and enterprises.

The latest speakers join executives from Aria Systems, Axeda, Birst, Cognizant, CorSource Technology Group, Dyn, Flexera Software, HP, Oracle, SafeNet, ServiceSource, Xively and Zuora that have agreed to speak and sponsor the Summit.

Click here to see the current list of IoT executives speaking at the Connected Cloud Summit. Click here if you’d like to submit a speaker proposal for … Read More »

I’ve been suggesting for a number of years that a new wave of opportunities is emerging to create industry-specific Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud computing vertical market solutions. A number of new examples of this phenomenon have crossed my radar over the past few weeks which clearly illustrate the long tail effect of the cloud. A widening array of companies are leveraging SaaS solutions and cloud alternatives to disrupt mainstream businesses across nearly every industry is becoming the norm, and the long tail is now extending into niche markets as well. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views about the market implications of these trends in E-Commerce Times.

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.