Enterprise hits and misses - August 11
- Summary:
- Jon's cheeky weekly review of which enterprise software articles hit (or didn’t) on diginomica & beyond - for the week ending August 10, 2014.
A cheeky weekly review of which articles hit (or didn’t) on diginomica and beyond.
diginomica hit: Gartner MQ under fire – Netscout alleges unfair practices in ‘pay to play’ lawsuit by Den
quotage: 'Vendors regard analyst services as part of their marketing, which in turn supports sales. The lawsuit makes this very clear. Buyers view the Gartner MQ as a validation point. Gartner plays on this, selling it to the the vendors on the basis that no-one buys technology without making a decision based upon a Gartner MQ.'
myPOV: Oh boy. Den had vintage Friday with his 'two shots of espresso' for the analyst industry, the other being The Friday Roast – four fails with anal-yst led marketing. As for the Magic Quadrant under fire, this legal case raises the queasy questions. As Den points out, 'This is about the business model and how aggressive sales corrodes the fabric of analysis.'
It will be interesting to see if Gartner again plays the defense that the MQ is opinion - not fact - and thus not subject to the requirements of factual proof. I assume they will. At the risk of sounding glass-half-full, I believe we are headed towards a buying climate where the demands of transparency will place tools like the MQ firmly in the realm of agendas/opinions - unless the criteria for inclusion are completely transparent. But we're not there yet. I don't care whether it's the MQ or a big data roulette wheel - customers should understand evaluative criteria, and no vendor, big or small, should feel pressure to pony up cash to be included in an industry-wide analysis. Absurdly wishful thinking? Yeah - probably. Let's see what happens.
diginomica pick: ServiceMax unfazed by Oracle’s TOA buy – doesn’t expect a call from Benioff by DerekmyPOV: Does Oracle's TOA acquisition have competitive implications for ServiceMax? Derek du Preez found out directly from Service Max's CMO, Stacey Epstein, who had some revealing comments. She believes this boosts ServiceMax's chances with SAP customers, for example. As for why Marc Benioff probably wouldn't be making that phone call - that's another angle Derek digs into - one that speaks to platforms versus monolithic suites.
Customer use cases:
- Jessica on: LateRooms makes a booking for rapid innovation with API management
- Derek on: Kempinski Hotels’ digital chief adds Infor app to growing cloud estate
- Jon on: How Cogniciti built a brain health app with cloud services
Vendor coverage: Den parsed the HANA data from the ASUG customer survey in Lack of SAP HANA use cases stifling demand among ASUG members (a significant story I will get back to shortly). Stuart posted on how conventional outsourcing models are shifting in CSC’s IBM cloud alliance reflects shift to partner-led outsourcing services, and he hit those themes from an earnings angle in Cognizant brings down Infosys and TCS with fears of outsourcing slowdown. TIBCO acquisition rumors are the zombie story of #ensw - but see why Den puts a tad more stock in them this time around, while placing them in historical context for a gut check.
Don’t miss
- Phil on why we are missing a key aspect of mobile in: Enterprise mobile apps: meet the Internet of Things
- In a definitive double shot, Stuart filed UK gov’t IT reforming COO quits – and may not be replaced! and Den took the baton for the surprising follow-on, UK Government COO lands Sage CEO role – now what?
- With trade show season around the corner, Stuart looks for a crack of light amidst the indignities in Concur’s Perfect Trip hits turbulence on a bumpy ride to revolutionize business travel.
Best of the rest
ASUG Member Survey Reveals Successes, Challenges of SAP HANA Adoption by Thomas Wailgumquotage: 'The SAP partner responses backed up the data point: Partners cited “better business case guidance” as the top factor that would influence their clients’ SAP HANA purchasing decision positively.'
myPOV: The viral response to the ASUG member HANA survey data summarized by Thomas Wailgum of ASUGnews.com shows the high stakes for SAP. Subsequent coverage by diginomica and other sites led to further speculation, particularly about the customers who had not yet purchased HANA, 75 percent of which said they 'can’t identify a business case that justifies the cost'.
Three different points stand out: 1. SAP has brought this on themselves by spending too much time on a speed-based HANA marketing blitz - whereas customers need apps and use cases that go beyond performance. 2. The results DO indicate that as HANA customers mature, their views on HANA broaden to consider new 'real-time' apps that rethink processes and mashup external data for impact.
3. I believe the HANA database (and platform) is actually a more compelling product than SAP R/3 was back in 1995. But - the competitive environment is radically different now. Cloud business models, subscription pricing and big data scenarios with myriad product choices place huge pressures on HANA to deliver big revenues quickly. Good to see another example of SAP's own user groups shifting the conversation from whizz-bang tech to a focus on customer benefits.
Other standouts
- MongoDB's now-former CEO Max Schireson penned one of the most personal CEO resignations in Why I'm leaving the best job I ever had. Information Week's Doug Henschen reported on the transition with MongoDB Picks New CEO.
- Things are getting toasty up in Oregon - Oracle has beaten the state to the legal punch. See: Cover Oregon: Oracle comes out swinging, files lawsuit, accuses Kitzhaber of 'campaign'.
- In What is the Atomic Unit of Computing, RedMonk's Stephen O' Grady looks at the rise of Docker and offers his analysis on why an older concept like 'containerization' is now changing how we think about computing.
- Rise of two different CDOs: Ray Wang on Who Gets to be a Chief Digital Officer? and Doug Henschen on 5 Priorities for Chief Data Officers. Me: hard to imagine two different CDO monickers gaining traction, much less one. I guess we can cross that riveting rubicon later.
- Multi-media picks: The New Stack gang is back with The New Stack Analysts, Show 8: AWS v. Azure. Tom Raftery keeps nabbing compelling guests for his Technology for Good show, recent example: episode 27 with Salesforce.com's Peter Coffee.
Honorable mention: If you're wondering why the baby pictures that used to clog your Facebook newsfeed are suddenly muscled out by Middle East debates and news droppings, you'll find answers in Facebook's Change of Face. Another shift that impacts across social networks? Following, not friending. Your tech title of the week award winner goes to Why Google Just Bought a Company that Snoops on Your Chats. Concise-and-valid blogging advice comes by way of I've been blogging for eight freaking years. Oh, and anyone with an enterprisey SaaS startup bent should check out this interview of fellow Enterprise Irregular Jason Lemkin.
Whiffs
Companies are getting so good at putting their foot firmly in mouth (and then deleting their social trail) that I can't hardly call it a whiff anymore. But wow. Just wow. Trying to move on, last week, I neglected to mention this unfolding privacy nightmare involving a court ruling that Microsoft must turn over a user's overseas emails. You know legal tidings are grim when the strange bedfellows of Apple, Cisco, Verizon and AT&T all file legal briefs in support of Microsoft. Let's see how this fares in appeal. Meantime, email isn't private - roger that.
I don't share Tom Foremski's views on native advertising as evil-by-definition, for obvious self-interested reasons. But: I'm with Foremski that the The New York Times' reduction in the labeling of native ads to appease brands is a slippery slope indeed. As Frank Scavo tweeted to me, 'The thing is, sometimes I appreciate branded content to see vendor's POV. Just label it clearly.'
I don't get indignant about the ethics of native advertising because I'm confident that readers will vote with their attention and their wallets. I'm just not sure which media properties will be standing afterwards. I would have said The New York Times but I'm not as bullish on the Times as I was before this unsavory development.
Officially off-topic
Those whiffs were yucky, but things got downright apocalyptic with the news that Kim Kardashian will be releasing a 350+ page hardcover coffee table book - of her selfies. As Gareth Ryan said to me, 'Beyond sad. Even more so that thousands of people will waste their money on it. I just don't get it!'
Striking a karmic balance, there were several encouraging Ebola-related stories involving leadership, courage under duress, and an experimental drug that 'likely saved' the first two Americans diagnosed during this latest outbreak.
If watching video of an eight year old with Lionel Messi level football skills isn't your thing, then maybe this stunning great white shark footage will do the trick (watch closely around the 1:28 mark).
On the weekend media tip, I've been catching up on season two of The Bridge - not perfect (spaghetti noodle plot for one thing) - but plenty good enough for summer couchin'. Oh, and on my (successful) search for the classic 'idea for a farce' Crimes and Misdemeanors scene, I stumbled on some vintage Siskel and Ebert original reviews of all-timers like Goodfellas and the aforementioned Crimes, which is, by the way, Woody Allen's best film - contrary to the Annie Hall/Manhattan propaganda. Yup - the redeeming qualities of YouTube... See you next time.
Which #ensw pieces of merit did I miss? Let us know in the comments.
Most Enterprise hits and misses articles are selected from my curated @jonerpnewsfeed. “myPOV” is borrowed with reluctant permission from the ubiquitous Ray Wang.
Image credits: Cheerful Chubby Man © RA Studio, Happy Children © Anna Omelchenko, Waiter Suggesting Bottle © Minerva Studiom, Overworked Businessman © Bloomua, at the seaside © olly - Fotolia.com - all from Fotolia.com
Disclosure: SAP, Oracle, and Salesforce.com are diginomica premier partners as of this writing.