At wireless technology giant Qualcomm, insiders are said to refer to NetSuite's cloud ERP system as 'the rapid platform', in contrast to the 'legacy platform' from Oracle that runs its core systems. Already deployed in peripheral business units, a larger role for NetSuite may now be on the cards.
This morning's keynote was all about demos. That's great for prospective customers but there needs to be more. In this keynote, Evan Goldberg, CTO NetSuite showed us a slew of enhancements including work on the user interface, multi-book accounting and a natty wine distribution application developed by a partner.
Well - I got that wrong. Contrary to what I thought, the NetSuite SuiteWorld opening keynote and surrounding executive presentations did not center on retail. Instead, the company chose to walk us through the four big elements of the company's focus: the suite, customizations, omni-commerce and suite for industries.
Day one of Sapphire Now 2013 brought its share of surprises and enough hyperbolic HANA-is-superfast quotage to keep the hype meter in proper orbit. I spent a good chunk of day one in the JD-OD.com video studio with customers and startups, getting the views from folks who had made the trek from Czech Republic, Germany, and Israel.
Over the weekend, Christian Gheorghe, CEO Tidemark was good enough to field a long call where we discussed the approach his company is taking to analytics and business intelligence. Of special interest is the concept of 'storylines,' a way of visualizing structured and unstructured data.
Will the worlds of classic enterprise computing and truly cloud-native architectures ever converge? At one end of the spectrum, SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud jibes with the mainstream view of an enterprise cloud strategy. At the opposite extreme is the approach evangelized by cloud-native pioneer Netflix.
BMW and Unilever are among the global brands to turn to Accenture for digital marketing support but do the IT services firm's credentials stand up to scrutiny?
Box has snapped up Crocodoc to boost its platform ambitions at a time of increased competition.
Intacct is introducing Flex Reporting, a tool that extends the existing report capability to one that is more aligned to operational reporting. I'm not convinced they've got this right but rather are shackled to an accounting mindset. That will limit their ability to upsell or grow into new markets.
The professional accounting market is quietly but perceptibly undergoing change. Much of that change is down to how firms are rethinking what it means to be a professional services firm in the 21st century. There's an invigorating approach to marketing too.