From the obvious to the outrageous, enterprise software predictions often span a wide spectrum at the beginning of every year.

In enterprise software in general and ERP specifically, there are many safe harbours to dock predictions in, from broad industry consolidation to Oracle buying more companies. Or the inexorable advances of cloud computing and SaaS platforms in ERP today, which is often cited in enterprise software predictions.

Too often predictions gravitate too much towards theoretical economics, overly-simplified industry dynamics and technologies, leaving out the most critical element: customers as people, not just transactions. 

So instead of repeating what many other industry analysts, observers and pundits have said, I am predicting only the customer side of ERP advances in the next twelve months.

The following are my predictions for ERP systems and enterprise computing in 2013:

1) The accelerating, chaotic pace of change driven by customers will force the majority of …

Over the last fifteen or so years, we have seen computing make the transition from the fixed and immovable desktops and servers, through to chunky underpowered laptops, through to less chunky but more powerful laptops using Wi-Fi connectivity, through to smartphones, 3G, tablets.

We are now nearing a state of complete computing mobility. More recently, we have seen cloud computing grow exponentially with cloud hosting and remote data storage services such as Dropbox taking centre stage.

It is predicted that in 2013, there will be significant merging between the cloud and mobile computing.

The cloud and mobility have already merged in certain markets however, but under a different guise. Where ‘mobility’ has meant the access and input of data in any place and at any time, whether in business or public, it follows that there should be a convergence of such mobility with the extensive array of cloud services.

There …

By Laurent Lachal, Senior Analyst, Ovum Software

At the end of November 2012, Amazon Web Services (AWS) held its first partner and customer conference in Las Vegas. Dubbed AWS “re: Invent”, the event was a success. It enabled AWS to assert itself as a large and influential player in the IT marketplace.

However, as well as AWS’s strengths, it also highlighted some of its traditional weaknesses. These include poor communications and an inability to put forward messages adapted to the needs of enterprise executives.

A growing footprint but needs more transparency

AWS shares as little information about itself as it can get away with. As the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) market matures, it becomes increasingly awkward for the organisation to be so closely guarded.

Nevertheless, the conference itself, in its size, energy, and quality of networking opportunities, was a good reminder of the growing influence that AWS yields in the IT …

Guest blog by Joe Manna
Senior Content Strategist at Infusionsoft

There are few words that sound like nails on the chalkboard to a small business owner such as “CRM» (customer relationship management).

At its core, a CRM tool is a database that contains customer and prospect (lead-generation) information. CRMs can range from basic contact managers, all the way up to a sophisticated tool for operating a business.

Yesterday’s CRMs were often installed and hosted “on-site,” and today’s CRM solutions are often hosted through a third-party. Salespeople are often the primary beneficiaries of a CRM, in addition to people who function in a marketing role for a company.

Though the name might be boring, I want to share several reasons why more entrepreneurs are using a CRM tool within their businesses to get organised and thrive.

1. CRM is for “closers.” Salespeople love to stay in touch with their …

A recent whitepaper from IDC sponsored by Microsoft has suggested a widening skills gap for cloud computing, and the trend will continue further through 2013.

In particular the research, of over 600 organisations, showed that as the cloud evolves, cloud-specific skills will grow at six times the rate of overall IT skills, noting that cloud-related skills “represent virtually all of the growth opportunities in IT worldwide”.

According to the paper, worldwide IT jobs will hit just under 30m by the end of 2015; however the 22.3m non-cloud jobs represent a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 0% from 2011, as opposed to the 7m cloud-related jobs having a 26% CAGR, going up from 2.7m in 2011.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, broken down into demographics North America is where the most cloud-oriented jobs will be in 2015 (2.7m), representing a 22% growth over four years. Asia/Pacific (2.3m, 32 …

I spend a great deal of my day thinking about security. How it affects the enterprise; how to best position and protect assets. How it shapes risk management and how it delivers potential benefits through smoother operations, enhanced trust and loss prevention.

At its core, security is about risk versus reward. It’s no great secret that many executives look at security as a cost center. Compounded by the requirements of compliance, the expansion of technology, and the nature of the modern enterprise, no one doubts the need to secure the enterprise…but to what degree?

Securing your IT environment is not free, but there are best practices and technology options designed to mitigate costs while still providing a strong, manageable and proactive defense. While many companies still would rather spend capital on commodity assets, many CIOs recognize that information security is an important business driver. Many more still are …

The year 2012 has definitively been marked by a rapid development of cloud computing technologies all over the world.

Though most of the companies have been operating in the cloud for years now, the true peak of cloud computing is yet to be seen in 2013, especially in Europe. Experts and cloud enthusiasts predict pretty much the same destiny of the cloud in the following year.

Worldwide expansion

The European Union has recently brought an act on implementing cloud computing technologies and standards for all member states. The reason it hesitated to adopt the cloud were the problems related to standardisation of the new technology across all the states.

As each country has different laws and governmental practices, the question of standardising was much more complicated than in the US. However, the year 2013 is expected to be a real breakthrough of cloud in Europe.

Besides Europe, there are other …

The cloud storage phenomenon has resulted in a widely used platform used by both companies and individuals as an easy means to store their data.

However, as is typical with new technology, the security has fallen behind and left many users vulnerable to intrusions on their privacy that could result in data loss and theft. This problem is due in large part to the factors that make cloud security difficult. (At Virtual Internet an intense effort has been made to use the latest technology and standards (including ISO 9001 and 27001 certification) to safeguard and protect user data. However, challenges will always remain as we move towards zero defect.)

Internal network vulnerability

Security measures can only be installed on networks that do not have preexisting security issues. Many enterprise level networks have issues that pre-date the implementation of cloud storage platforms. Because many companies are simply not willing to undergo …

The growth of cloud computing has caused a paradigm shift in all sorts of business applications, but perhaps most notably in ERP software.

As noted in a previous article, cloud ERP is growing like wildfire as more and more businesses move to their ERP system to the cloud.

But as cloud ERP becomes more popular, misconceptions about it also spread and it becomes more difficult to separate fact from fiction. In an effort to do just so, here are the top 3 myths about cloud ERP:

Myth #1: Cloud ERP is the same as hosted ERP

This is somewhat analogous to saying that renting a house is the same as leasing a house, which obviously is false. There are numerous differences between cloud ERP and hosted ERP involving software maintenance, network traffic, security, and statelessness.

Hosted ERP requires users to install and maintain software; cloud ERP does not. This saves …

Retailers and marketers often face the challenge of getting coupons, offers and promotions delivered at the perfect time and in the right context to their customers.

The rapid advances in cyber foraging, contextual computing and cloud computing platforms are succeeding at revolutionising this aspect of the retail shopping experience. Context-aware advertising platforms and strategies can also provide precise audience and segment-based messaging directly to customers while they are in the store or retail outlet.

What makes context-aware advertising so unique and well adapted to the cloud is the real-time data integration and contextual intelligence they use for tailoring and transmitting offers to customers. 

When a customer opts in to a retailer’s contextually-based advertising system, they are periodically sent alerts, coupons, and offers on products of interest once they are in or near the store.  Real-time offer engines choose which alerts, coupons or offers to send, when, and in which …