deal architect

Early indicators of emerging software markets

Andy Hayler writes a long post on how to evaluate software. I had 2 reactions. The software market is in churn again and it is good to see some rigor coming back to software selections. I had written last year about how structured evaluations seemed to be a dying art. 

My second reaction - I feel old. I developed countless templates for PwC in the 1990-92 time frame on how to evaluate emerging client/server software. CA hired PwC (me) in 1993 to write a booklet modeled after the Tiffany classic "How to pick a diamond" - except this was on accounting systems (which CA had a few of back then). At Gartner, in 1995 we wrote about AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) and its role in software and other technology evaluations. We wrote about scripted scenarios, software TCO, stuff nobody read in the world of paper reports with no URLs or links.

Another sign the software market is seeing more choices: The shootout is back. I remember when my friend Brian Sommer (and then competitor)used to run shootouts at his annual Andersen Consulting "Software Spectacular". Much to his chagrin, InformationWeek gave PwC (and me) 10+ pages to write about software evaluations and shootouts in February 1995.

Back to the Future, we go...

Why Cheney should blog

VP Dick Cheney does not like mainstream media. He has not held a press conference since 2002. Mainstream media does not like him or trust him. Newsweek's story this week on him leads off with "(Cheney's) dark, secretive mind-set..."

The loser - the American people. The last time I heard him say anything substantive was during the debate in the 2004 elections. And I liked the fact that our no 2.  calmly talked through complex issues.

I for one would love to see him blog his views - if he does not trust the press, talk directly to us. It is the modern day version of the Saturday radio talk.

Besides to use a  Tom Peters term he desparately needs to work on his "Brand You".

The Most Feared Man in Tech?

WSJ reports on the investigation of  William Lerach and his law firm. The champion of investors, the scourge of many a Valley tech company.

"Prosecutors have told prominent plaintiffs' lawyer William Lerach that they don't plan to charge him but are moving toward an indictment of his former firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, lawyers close to the case said"

An era may be coming to an end. But the man whose name became a verb - "to be Lerached" became a dreaded term - definitely influenced our industry in good and bad ways.

Biggie size my SAP contract!

Phil Wainewright sounds like he has a running battle with SAP PR over his point that very few SAP customers have utilized their quota of CRM licenses.

Why just pick on SAP?

It is an industry phenomenon - not just SAP or SAP CRM. Software discount tiers encourage signing up  for more  licenses than most enterprises need as I wrote in "Trading" Unused Software Licenses

Hey, McDonald's and Burger King do too.  A movie was made about it. Calls for a workout plan.

KISS and Forget

Most vendors sell the benefits of standardization and vendor consolidation. Simplification is the mantra.

But look what they themselves try to roll out. Jason Wood reports that Microsoft is planning 8 versions of Vista. Then again, may be not. But you can see their R&D was already invested along those lines and fragmented.

If you have seen SAP's pricing sheets you realize the permutations they have for different types of users, for various vertical and other engines, for integration and development platforms. And of course, seen a systems integrator's implementation workplan around their products?

Of course, the world is complex - look at the platforms, industries, geographies, processes they are trying to support...but...

I racked my brains on technology terms or TLAs that contain the words 'simple" and could only come up with 2 - SMTP and RSS.

Is that not a sublimal indicator that our industry really does not pay much attention to KISS?

Small is beautiful - and hard work

Courtesy of Paul Kedrosky I saw this article about independent stock research firms and why many cannot survive.

But you could say that about any small business - mine, a small law firm, individual blogs.

As one wisecrack once told me about small businesses "Every entrepreneur thinks he/she is a one in a million. And he is right!"

Most of my clients are very large companies. And every few months I am tempted with a job offer with a bigger company. And for a few days I dream about not having to worry about admistrivia (the average small business owner spends a lot more time on accounting, banking, taxes etc than the average large company executive). I look forward to a bigger platform for my zany ideas. I think about upgrades on Delta instead of flying Southwest.

Then I see all the running between meetings people do in big companies. I think of all the politics. I see executives in big companies dream of their own small businesses. And I realize the grass is not always greener on the other side.

I am actually surprised more entrepreneurs do not go back to larger companies. And that more  large company execs do not start their own businesses. Folks who have worked in both environments, in my opinion, make much better business executives.

And if I do go back to a larger company, I hope I do not forget how much Southwest has allowed me to double my travel budget over the last few years. Some things should not matter irrespective of what your business card says.

Voice of the Enterprise Buyer

In my Bloggington, DC post I made the point "Us bloggers need to do a lot more with CIOs and buyers rather than VCs, vendors, analysts and other bloggers. True North is on Main Street not tech.memeorandum."

But would it not be easier if "True North" had a beam light and a siren to guide us and provided signals on what it wants to discuss? Enterprise buyers themselves are not very active in blog dialogue or provide transparency as this James Governor post alludes to.

Many readers from buyer organizations come to my blog regularly. Many of them send me emails and pass on comments. A few request I post them anonymously. Not enough raise their hands like Ric did in a recent comment. One reader told me his corporate policy treated blogs like press and only certain individuals in the company were allowed to talk to the press. Another told me he was afraid he would get even more cold calls and spam email from around the world if he commented with his real contact details.

We need to work through these issues. Because we need buyers to speak up and share more. And us bloggers need to write more to their POV to engage them. Everything  starts and ends with the buyer.

BRICK - The new global force

Courtesy of Sadagopan I saw this PwC CEO survey of Globalization. It is an interesting read and focuses on the "new second world" - what Goldman Sachs calls BRIC - Brazil, Russia, India, China. I would like to also throw K - Korea in to the mix.

Together, not only do they represent a huge sales opportunity for Western companies and Japan - but also a significant supply base and growing competitive threat.

Jack Welch of GE once said he had breakfast with a supplier, lunch with a competitor, dinner with a customer - and it was the same person. The difference today is the meals would likely involve curry, caviar or choy.

Gartner MQ on Offshore Application Services

Coinciding with the Nasscom conference in India last week, Gartner issued its “Magic Quadrant” (subscription required) on Offshore Application Services.

An acquaintance asked for my opinion of the report. Here is my perspective:

a) Little too high level a definition of the market – it includes application outsourcing, application integration projects and staff augmentation. Skillsets to project manage an Oracle 11i project are very different from supporting a steady state, custom developed COBOL insurance application. By my estimation, the offshore component is larger than $ 40 billion in services a year, and the total application services market over $ 200 billion a year. Many Gartner MQs focus on much smaller IT categories.

As a result, Satyam which has the largest packaged application practice of any of the Indian firms does not show as an overall leader in the broader definition. An SAP specialist like Intelligroup or Mahindras(with Bristlecone) does not even qualify for the report. Xansa, a large UK based provider with a sizable offshore group does not show up either. Those and others meet Gartner’s revenue filters for the report.

b) India dominates the report. The majority of the 30 vendors profiled are Indian or western firms with growing Indian staffing (exception – Softtek). OK, so India has clearly been a preferred offshoring destination for many companies, but surely a Chinese or a Brazilian vendor could have been included. Many Gartner clients are looking for risk mitigation beyond India. While back up data centers and infrastructure can be duplicated much easier across the globe, application skills are people centric and not as mobile in an emergency. Would have been nice to see other markets covered at some level.

c)  No vendors are considered “visionary” by Gartner. Not one is showing any imagination or innovation?

d)  Accenture and IBM both show up in the leadership quadrant. On one measure – number of staff – they certainly qualify. But in pro-active selling, they do not. The last several deals I have been involved with Accenture, they have proposed a very small offshore component or declined to bid when they realized the competition was primarily other offshore vendors. IBM is only somewhat better. They are opportunistic offshore providers – so I wish Gartner had put an asterisk next to them.

Overall a nice summary of 30 vendors. Not surprisingly the SWITCH vendors show up the strongest (in addition to Accenture and IBM).

But Gartner says it has been tracking the offshore market since 1997. I wish it had provided more forward looking and "innovation" materials in the report. But like Forrester whose report I critiqued here, it is good to see the analysts pay more attention to this market category.

Since application services are people centric, it is appropriate to point out the team and the individuals proposed by a vendor matters much more than the brand or the positioning on Gartner’s MQ.

"Happy Birthday, Brand You!"

Tom Peters writes a note extolling Benjamin Franklin on his 300th birthday and credits Ben for having invented the concept of  "Brand You".

Blogging is a modern day manifestation of "Brand You".  Ben and Tom are both Renaissance Men and have both shown individuals can influence others far beyond their IP address.

PS - As Tom writes, Ben raised the issue of doing good v/s evil long before Google was born...and he did it twice every day