Software Licensing & Master Service Agreements : Chicago Software Licensing Lawyer & Attorney : Sam Conforti Law Firm : Master Service Agreements, Negotiations, Outsourcing : Cook County, Illinois

As many of you know, SandHill.com is the online resource created for enterprise software executives. Kamesh Pemmaraju heads cloud research for the SandHill Group and writes a weekly report on the latest happenings influencing the cloud computing community. His latest report entitled Top 5 Cloud Strategies for CIOs is based on a survey of 511 software executives. The survey deals with these executive’s perceptions of cloud computing, their initiatives, implementation issues, and any perceived benefits. His report presents the top 5 strategies CIOs should follow when considering cloud computing. I will present a brief synopsis of those findings here as follows:

1.       Treat this decision like any other business decision:  Pemmaraju simply means to look at all the alternatives and do a traditional compare and contracts analysis. Look at the ROI and weigh the risks.

2.       The cloud is coming – Embrace it: Pemmaraju quotes one executive, “The cloud will come - it's happening now even if it is coming with a lot of hype and a lot of buzzwords. It's a very logical transition - like we are going from individual car craftsmanship into the era of the industrialization of IT services.” A large amount of the survey respondents have already started trials and pilot projects to jump start the learning curve for their personnel.

3.       A sandbox spurs innovation: Create an innovation sandbox in the cloud. The drag on spending due to maintenance is lifted. This new found freedom allows IT departments to redirect efforts from infrastructure constraints to more creative ways to run the business model.

4.       Cloud computing is a furtherance of Outsourcing trend: With this in mind, Pemmaraju presents a short checklist when evaluating whether to move in this direction:

a.       Perform your due diligence and pick a good cloud computing vendor.

b.      Confirm that support levels are adequate.

c.       Obtain copies of vendor certifications (i.e. SAS 70 etc.)

d.      Is your data retrievable in your desired format?

e.      How is your data isolated and protected from others?

5.       Retrain your IT staff: As one CIO respondent succinctly stated, “The jobs of people who sit there patching thousands of servers each time there is a change—those jobs are going away.” The focus will turn from infrastructure to vendor management, and program management, and business analysis.

Pemmaraju concludes his report with an analysis of the impact open source is having on cloud computing. He states that proprietary licenses are lagging in their offerings for cloud computing and so many cloud platforms are run on top of open source stacks. This will have an effect on hardware sales as most companies will be trying to avoid the big expenditures on infrastructure.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

So you want to know the hot areas in ERP. If so I highly recommend to my readers Forrester Research’s R. “Ray” Wang’s Op-Ed piece 7 Trends in Enterprise Software Adoption for 2008. In it Wang discusses the latest survey that finds the trend for IT Decision Makers is for upgrades, collaboration, and knowledge management. Wang’s article is comprehensive and includes detailed bar graphs that enable the reader to clearly follow his text and assists in understanding the salient points.

I’ll list out these 7 trends with a brief explanation/summary, but check out his article for the full impact of the findings:

1.     Software spending budgets for 2008 nearly identical to 2007:  There actually is a slight up-tick of 9% planned for 2008. Although enterprises will be spending on licenses, operations, and development, there still is quite a lot to be spent on maintenance.

2.     There is a need for Long Term App Strategies: Companies are laboring under the disjointed approach of the past (i.e. a little upgrade here, a little BPO there, with a little project integration thrown in for good measure). As we move to a Service Oriented Architecture (“SOA”) enterprises will take advantage of this and begin to implement long term strategies. Integration of applications is the number one priority.

3.     A move toward packaged applications: Due to a possible economic slowdown, enterprises are focusing on operational efficiency and compliance as their main business drivers. Interest in BI is closely followed by CRM. There also will be major upgrades of ERP suites.

4.     Web 2.0’s time has come: Enterprises are slowly recognizing how these tools improve collaboration and productivity, but are still reticent about security.

5.     A majority adopt SOA: This supports the enterprise’s integration projects.

6.     SaaS adoption grows by 50% in 2008: Pricing, ease of deployment, and minimal IT involvement are the key drivers for adoption.

7.     Software investment in collaboration and content management: Enterprises allow access to new stakeholders such as suppliers, partners, and customers.

Wang concludes his article with a list of three recommendations and urges enterprises to develop a long term app strategy:

·         Don’t delay: No need to buy all the new technology today. Plan ahead with an eye on use of existing technology and investment in future apps.

·         Take an inventory of existing apps:Organize these apps by business process.

·         Ongoing review of your apps strategy: Gauge progress and adjust accordingly.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link