Category Archives: Software as a service

AWS, Cisco, Dell, Equinix, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, News & Analysis, Platform as a service, Public Cloud, Salesforce, Software as a service, Synergy Research

Public cloud generating $22 billion a quarter for IT Companies

metalcloud_lowresPublic cloud computing generated over $22 billion in revenues for IT companies in the second financial quarter of 2015, according to a study by Synergy Research Group.

The revenue breaks down into $10 billion earned by companies supplying public cloud operators with hardware, software and data centre facilities and $12 billion being generated from selling infrastructure, platforms and software as a service.

In addition the public cloud supports ‘huge’ revenue streams from a variety of internet services such as search, social networking, email and e-commerce platforms, says the report. It identifies the supply side companies with the biggest share of revenues as Cisco, HP, Dell, IBM and Equinix. On the cloud services side the market leaders are AWS, Microsoft, Salesforce, Google and IBM.

As the public cloud makes inroads into the total IT market, the hardware and software used to build public clouds now account for 24 per cent of all data centre infrastructure spending. Public cloud operators and associated digital content companies account for 47 per cent of the data centre colocation market.

While the total IT market grew at less than five per cent per year, the growth of cloud revenues outpaced it. Infrastructure and platform as a service revenues (Iaas/Paas) grew by 49 per cent in the past year and software as a service (SaaS) grew by 29 per cent.

“Public cloud is now a market that is characterized by big numbers, high growth rates and a relatively small number of global IT players,” said Synergy Research Group’s chief analyst Jeremy Duke.

However, the report noted that there is still a place for regional small-medium sized public cloud players.

News & Analysis, Oracle, PaaS, Platform as a service, Quarterlies, quarterly results, Saas, Software as a service

Software and platforms as a service driving our growth says Oracle

OracleOracle’s latest quarterly results show the increasing strategic of importance of revenue from cloud software and platforms as a service, according to the vendor. Chairman Larry Ellison also claimed the sales figures show Oracle will soon overtake Salesforce as the top selling cloud operator.

The official figures for Oracle’s fiscal 2016 Q1 period show that total revenues were $8.4 billion, which represent a two per cent fall in US dollars but a seven per cent rise in constant currency. Oracle attributed the fall to the current strength of the US dollar.

However, a clearer pattern emerged in the nature of software sales, when benchmarking all sales in US dollars. While revenues for on premise software were down two per cent (in US dollars) at $6.5 billion, the total cloud revenues were up by 29 per cent at $611 million. The revenue from Cloud software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) was $451 million, which represents a 34 per cent increase in sales. Cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) revenues, at $160 million, rose 16 per cent in the same period.

Meanwhile, Oracle’s total hardware revenue figure for the period, $1.1 billion, also indicated a decline, of three per cent. Using the same US dollar benchmark, Oracle’s services revenues for the period more or less stagnated, at $862 million, a rise of one per cent.

Growth is being driven by SaaS and PaaS, according to Oracle CEO Safra Catz. “Cloud subscription contracts almost tripled in the quarter,” said Catz, “as our cloud business scales-up, we plan to double our SaaS and PaaS cloud margins over the next two years. Rapidly growing cloud revenue combined with a doubling of cloud margins will have a huge impact on growth going forward.”

Oracle’s cloud revenue growth rate is being driven by a year-over-year bookings rise of over 150 per cent in Q1, reported Oracle’s other joint CEO Mark Hurd. “Our increasing revenue growth rate is in sharp contrast to our primary cloud competitor’s revenue growth rates, which are on their way down.”

Oracle is still on target to book up to $2.0 billion of new SaaS and PaaS business this fiscal year, claimed executive chairman Larry Ellison. “That means Oracle would sell between 50 per cent more and double the amount of new cloud business that Salesforce plans to sell in their current fiscal year. Oracle is the world’s second largest SaaS and PaaS company, but we are rapidly closing in on number one.”

Internet of Things, IoT, IoT cloud, M2M, Salesforce, Software as a service

Salesforce IoT Cloud promises to create meaning from M2M talk

Internet of Things flat iconic illustrationSalesforce has launched its Internet of Things (IoT) offering with IoT Cloud, which promises to convert machine to machine conversations, digital content and customer information into useful intelligence that sales staff can act on.

The IoT Cloud is powered by event processing engine Salesforce Thunder, which will allow customers to personalise the way they sell, service and market. Development partners include processor maker ARM, Etherios, Informatica, PTC ThingWorx and Xively LogMeln.

The service was unveiled by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the company’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco. “Salesforce is turning the internet of things into the internet of customers,” said Benioff. The IoT Cloud will allow businesses to create instant one-to-one proactive actions for sales, service, marketing or any other business process, Benioff said.

According to Salesforce, its ‘massively scalable’ cloud computing architecture can ‘listen’ to the connected world and make sense of the billions of events each day from all sources. The connections with wearables, windmills, telephones and turbines – and all other devices – can be contextualized by Salesforce’s own real-time rules, it claims. The IoT Cloud aims to give business users intuitive, point-and-click tools to define rules and logic for events that can trigger actions among the users of Salesforce’s customer relationship systems.

The rationale is to glean information reported by devices – such as the numbers of hard braking movements by drivers of a car fleet – in order to monitor and manage customer cases. Machine intelligence, such as vehicle braking data, could help Salesforce users negotiate from a position of superior knowledge with their customers.

According to Salesforce’s figures there will be 75 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020, with the volume of data growing exponentially each year. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that IoT applications have the potential to make $11.1 trillion worth of economic impact per year by 2025.

The challenge is to make sense of all that data, said IoT market watcher Gary Barnett, chief analyst at Ovum. “IoT deployments only bring value when organisations can act on the information their IoT networks generate,” said Barnett, chief analyst, Ovum. “The ability to make sense of that data will be a key factor in turning it into action.”

analytics as a service, app cloud, Big Data, News & Analysis, Salesforce, Software as a service

Salesforce boosts its Analytics Cloud intelligence tool

Analytics1Salesforce has added new options for users of its Analytics Cloud intelligence tool. The new ‘Wave Actions’ flash up crucial information on dashboards so that salespeople can act more incisively as crucial information reaches them faster.

The new features allow companies to create customised Wave Actions, such as creating cases, updating accounts or assigning tasks. Since Wave is natively integrated with App Cloud, the Wave Actions are automatically pushed from Wave into the corresponding Salesforce record. The system instantly identifies the type of problem that sales managers need to know about as soon as possible, according to Salesforce. When an account suffers particularly bad customer attrition, for example, a sales manager will be alerted to this pattern more rapidly. This is achieved by customising the Wave Analytics App to alert managers about patterns on sales figures (such as defecting customers) and enables them to take action more rapidly.

A new Wave Visualizations feature aims to create a consistent user experience and create a more intuitive process. Salesforce has also revamped the Analytics Cloud’s user interface in a bid to encourage users to become more adventurous in their creation of reports and dashboards. This, according to the cloud software vendor, will bring Analytics Cloud in line with the Lightning Experience design that was rolled out first for Salesforce’s Sales Cloud.

New information has also been unveiled about the use of the Analytics Cloud within the portfolio of other vendor’s software offerings. According to Salesforce there are 81 companies in the Analytics Cloud’s partner ecosystem, with 13 software companies scheduled to unveil new apps based on Analytics Cloud, including Apttus, FinancialForce, SteelBrick and Vlocity.

In its most recent earnings statement, Salesforce revealed that subscription and support revenues from Analytics Cloud were ‘not significant’ for the three and six months ending on July 31, 2015.

The addition to Analytics Cloud comes exactly one year after it was first launched. According to Salesforce, the upgrade gives Analytics Cloud a wider, more active remit than its existing role as a standalone business intelligence application.

app cloud, News & Analysis, salesforce.com, Software as a service

New Salesforce App Cloud promises one platform for building connected apps

Salesforce WearSalesforce has launched a new service that aims to simplify application management.

The Salesforce App Cloud is the latest incarnation of the Salesforce1 system, which now integrates various elements of the service – such as Force, Heroku Enterprise and Lightning – with a new shared identity, data and network service. The rationale is to liberate chief information officers (CIOs) from the laborious tasks involved in bringing together the strands of a multitude of applications. By unifying the management system for apps, Salesforce says it can save CIOs from having to delve into all the different silos, addresses and architectures that must be brought together.

A number of new services will be included in the App Cloud platform. Heroku Enterprise aims to help developers create connected apps using network, data and identity services shared across the App Cloud. The Private Spaces feature helps administrators create a dedicated area with direct access to customers’ on-premise data from legacy systems. The Regions feature allows companies to run their apps in metro areas throughout the world based on their accessibility, compliance or any other local requirements. Heroku Enterprise is connected to Force with bi-directional data synchronization, single sign-on and role-based access controls. Salesforce Lightning aims to simplify app design using pre-built, reusable building blocks, such as maps, calendars, buttons, and number entry forms. A new interactive learning environment, Trailhead, aims to help make Salesforce app creation more intuitive.

In beta trials of the App Cloud 40,000 app creators have participated in Trailhead training, and have earned 150,000 badges. App Cloud includes an ecosystem of 2.3 million developers, who have built 5.5 million apps.

“CIOs need a way to develop apps for the connected world,” said Tod Nielsen, Salesforce’s VP for App Cloud. “App Cloud brings together all of Salesforce’s services, giving IT leaders an integrated, trusted platform to quickly build connected apps for every business need.”

In other Salesforce news, communications group Zayo is to give customers direct connection to their Salesforce environments through its high-bandwidth, fibre-based connections.

Zayo’s fibre-optic network extends more than 84,000 route miles across the United States and Europe, and connects to approximately 17,500 on-net buildings, providing connectivity to the majority of data centres and carrier hotels in the United States.

Zayo’s cloud connectivity will initially link to Salesforce Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Community Cloud, Analytics Cloud and Force.com.

CRM, Database, Mobile, News & Analysis, Research, salesforce.com, Software as a service

Salesforce would be more effective if it was more mobile, workers tell survey

Salesforce WearCustomer relationship management leader (CRM) Salesforce needs to improve the employee experience before its clients can get the most out of it, says a new report.

The advice comes in the fourth annual State of Salesforce report, from consultancy Bluewolf, a partner agency to world’s top CRM vendor. It suggests that while customers of companies that use Salesforce feel more connected, the users of the CRM system aren’t as happy. The main complaints are inconsistent data quality and a lack of mobile options. However, the majority of the survey sample plan to ramp up their investment in the system.

Based on the feedback from 1,500 Salesforce customers worldwide, the 2015-2016 report suggests that the concerns of employees should be the next priority for Salesforce as it seeks to fine tune its CRM software.

The demand for better mobility was made by 77 per cent of salespeople surveyed. Their most time-consuming task was identified as ‘opportunity management’ which, the report concludes, could be improved by better mobile applications. The study also says that employees were twice as likely to believe that Salesforce makes their job easier if it could be accessed from a mobile device.

Bluewolf’s report suggests that Salesforce’s priorities in 2016 should be to invest more three areas: the mobile workforce, predictive analytics and improving the sales team’s experience of using apps.

In the modern obsession with customer experience, it is easily forgotten that employees create the customer success, according to Bluewolf CEO Eric Berridge. “While innovation is essential to improving employee experiences, companies must combine it with data, design and an employee culture.”

However, the report does indicate that companies are happy with Salesforce, since 64 per cent plan to increase their budget. Half, 49 per cent, have at least two Salesforce clouds and 22 per cent have at least three. A significant minority, 11 per cent, say they are planning to spend at least half as much again next year on Salesforce services.
That investment is planned because 59 per cent of Salesforce users say the CRM system is much simpler to use than it was a year ago.

Meanwhile, many companies are taking the employee matter into their own hand, says the report. One in three companies has already invested in agent productivity apps and one in five is planning to invest.

AutoDesk, CAD, News & Analysis, Software as a service

Autodesk to ‘embrace the new norm’ and sell its software by subscription on the cloud

autodesk st louisSoftware vendor Autodesk is to move distribution of its computer aided design (CAD) system to the cloud.

After July 31, 2016, new commercial licenses of Autodesk Design and Creation suites and individual products will be available by subscription only. The transition allows the vendor to offer new, simplified subscription options to customers, who can get multiple products and share licenses with the added benefit of flexibility, it said.

Along with a simpler customer experience, Autodesk promised its new subscription model will offer lower upfront costs and a pay per use option on Autodesk products and cloud services with multi-year, annual, quarterly or monthly subscription terms. The new model makes companies more adaptable and makes changing business environments less expensive, according to Autodesk.

“The way we design and make things is changing. Every industry is being disrupted by changes in production, demand and products,” said Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk’s senior VP of Industry Strategy and Marketing.

By giving customers the flexibility to subscribe to software Autodesk is “embracing this new norm”, said Anagnost.

Autodesk announced in March 2015 that will stop selling perpetual licenses of most of its individual products after January 31, 2016, after which new licenses will only be available as subscriptions. Now the exceptions to that announcement, Autodesk’s Design & Creation Suites, are included in its subscription-based strategy.

Autodesk said it aimed to “pave the way for a smooth transition” with a choice of simplified subscription plans tailored to individuals, teams and enterprises. Customers can buy subscription plans to gain access to individual products or a portfolio of products with the option of single user licensing or shared network licensing.

Those who buy a perpetual license of Autodesk Design & Creation Suites and affected products prior to July 31 2016 will continue to own and have full usage rights for those licenses. Customers on the Maintenance scheme for those perpetual licenses will continue to receive corresponding benefits for as long as they continue to renew their Maintenance subscription.

Autodesk has published a list of changes for Perpetual Licenses for both individual desktop software and design and creation suites affected by the cut off deadlines. A number of country specific variations is also published on the site.

banks, Financial Services, News & Analysis, Salesforce, Simon Mulcahy, Skyhigh Networks, Software as a service

Salesforce doubles down on financial services

Salesforce is doubling down on financial services firms

Salesforce is doubling down on financial services firms

Salesforce is previewing a cloud platform tailored specifically to the needs of financial services professionals. The move comes the same week research reveals the average financial services firm uses over 1,000 cloud-based applications.

The cloud platform adapts Salesforce’s popular CRM platform to the financial services sector, and includes tools that enable financial services advisors to collaborate and communicate directly with their colleagues and clients.

Salesforce also said the platform, which was designed with the help of AIG Advisor Group, Northern Trust and United Capital, will integrate with tools created by other ISVs including companies that cater to financial services specifically (Advisor Software, Informatica and Yodlee for instance).

“Today’s investors want a much different relationship with their advisors than their parents had,” said Simon Mulcahy, senior vice president and general manager of financial services, Salesforce. “They want someone who understands them and engages them on their terms. Salesforce Financial Services Cloud sets advisors free from administrative tasks and gives them the modern tools they need to supercharge their relationships.”

The platform is in preview currently, with an initial release scheduled for February 2016.

The move comes the same week research from Skyhigh Networks shows cloud services uptake in financial services firms is at an all-time high.

According to the firm, which aggregated data of 3.7m employees at banks, insurance companies, credit card companies and investment funds worldwide, the average financial services firm uses 1,004 cloud services, with cloud-based collaboration platforms looking to be the most popular type of app deployed; the average financial services employees uses 31 distinct cloud applications.

EasyJet, HSBC, Lacoste, M&A, marketing cloud, Maxymiser, News & Analysis, Oracle, Software as a service, Thomas Kurian, Tim Brown

Oracle boost marketing cloud biz with Maxymiser acquisition

Oracle is buying Maxymiser to boost its marketing capabilities

Oracle is buying Maxymiser to boost its marketing capabilities

Oracle has acquired Maxymiser, a provider of cloud-based marketing tools, for an undisclosed sum. The company said the acquisition will bolster its marketing cloud portfolio.

Founded in 2006, Maxymiser has over 400 employees and offers a range of cloud-based marketing tools that help its users improve customer experience and user retention through omnichannel analysis and marketing automation. Some of its higher profile customers include EasyJet, HSBC and French clothing retailer Lacoste.

Its offerings will be integrated into the Orcale Marketing Cloud, which is itself made up of a range of tools formerly acquired by the firm (Eloqua and Responsys for instance), following the acquisition.

“Companies are increasingly seeking innovative ways to differentiate their brands while increasing both ROI and loyalty based on optimized customer experiences,” said Thomas Kurian, president, product development, Oracle. “Together with Maxymiser, Oracle Marketing Cloud enables enterprises to stop guessing and start delivering what customers want across all digital channels and devices.”

Tim Brown, chief executive officer, Maxymiser said: “Our mission is to empower enterprises to use data science to systematically test, discover, and predict what customers want and deliver uniquely tailored experiences. We are excited to join Oracle and bring these capabilities to help extend Oracle Marketing Cloud.”

Over the years many large incumbents like Oracle and SAP as well as newer upstarts like Salesforce have moved quickly to strengthen their position in marketing automation through acquisition. In April this year NetSuite acquired Bronto Software, a provider of cloud-based marketing automation software for omnichannel commerce, in a deal worth about $200m.

Adidas Group, Caterpillar, Charles Phillips, Columbia Sportswear, ERP, GT Nexus, Infor, Levi Strauss & Co., M&A, Maersk, News & Analysis, Pfizer, Sean Feeney, Software as a service, Supply Chain Management, UPS, Vendor

Infor buys GT Nexus to strengthen manufacturing ERP cloud

Infor has acquired GT Nexus to boost its supply chain management capabilities

Infor has acquired GT Nexus to boost its supply chain management capabilities

Infor said this week it plans to acquire supply chain management cloud software vendor for $675m, a move the company expects will strengthen and broaden the capabilities of its ERP software.

GT Nexus’ cloud-based supply chain management software is particularly popular with manufacturer and retailers. The company claims to have over 25,000 customers including the likes of Adidas Group, Caterpillar, Columbia Sportswear, Levi Strauss & Co., Maersk, Pfizer, and UPS.

Infor said the acquisition would strengthen its portfolio as the retail industry continues to shift towards contract-based manufacturing, where much of the activity and commercial production takes place outside the brand owner’s operations (and ERP platform).

The company said GT Nexus and Infor CloudSuite have very similar architectures, making them relateively straightforward to integrate.

“Together, Infor and GT Nexus will provide customers with unprecedented visibility into their supply chains to manage production and monitor goods in transit and at rest,” said Charles Phillips, chief executive of Infor. “In a complex, high velocity supply chain, all partners need to know what was ordered, when it was built, where it is in transit, if the order has changed, and has it cleared customs. Specialization and speed are moving the future of manufacturing into the commerce cloud.”

Sean Feeney, chief executive of GT Nexus said: “Infor is a great home for GT Nexus, and we’re excited to join forces with a company with a strong manufacturing, retail, and supply chain pedigree.”