When they held ZohoDay in February, Zoho had briefed me in detail on their BI roadmap. I had given them some feedback. So did several other analysts during the day. They took that input and managed to work through the chaos of the recent COVID surge in India and launched their expanded BI platform this week.
Zoho Analytics is already used by more than 50,000 organizations. Interestingly, Zoho says 60% of existing users have chosen it as their BI tool even when running on non-Zoho applications and data sources.
I have excerpted below 3 new components demoed by Chandrashekar LSP, the Chief Evangelist for that product area. There is a definite emphasis on self-service.
It starts off with DataPrep, an AI-driven data preparation tool. Next at 4.35, he walks through Data Stories. It includes a portal builder (Zoho Sites) and presentation software (Zoho Show). Finally at 8.37, he presents on the augmented analytics layer which leverages Ask Zia, Zoho's conversational interface.
The recent enhancements make it even more intuitive to end users and should make it even compelling for use either with Zoho data (especially if an enterprise is using many of nearly 50 integrated Zoho One apps) or from other sources.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
SAP's annual event - Sapphire Now - is usually about drinking from a fire hose. Content for customers across so many industries and global regions, and so many products in the SAP portfolio screaming for attention. This year, the second year where COVID restrictions have precluded travel to Orlando where it is normally held, the event was again virtual. I took a industry viewpoint, especially since a major announcement this year was the verticalization of its RISE initiative for an initial set of 5 sectors - utilities, consumer packaged goods, automotive, industrial machinery and components (IM&C), and retail.
In part 1 yesterday, I excerpted from CEO Christian Klein's keynote and from an interview of Dr. Hasso Plattner.
In Part 2 below, CMO Julia White leads off with a nice summary across industries. At 4:41, the focus shifts to changing business models - an increasingly common trend as industries morph. It is a discussion with Peter Maier, President of SAP Industries and with executives from Discovery Limited which is a South African-founded financial services firm in healthcare, insurance, banking, and wellness markets. Lots of discussion around outcome based models. Finally at 11.47, Georg Kube, Global Vice President of the Industrial Machinery & Components vertical drills down into his sector and details the RISE offering there.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
Salesforce held an Industries Summit earlier this month. They invited me to an analyst pre-briefing and gave me access to keynotes and sessions across 8 sectors - Communications, Energy and Utilities, Financial Services, Government and Public Sector, Healthcare and Life sciences, Manufacturing, Media, Retail and Consumer Goods.
I have excerpted segments across the sectors and am posting them into three parts.
Part 1 covered 3 "mega-trends" I heard during the sessions, around sustainability on the energy sector, servitization on the industrial sector and the impact of "everything from home" on the communications and media sectors.
Part 2 yesterday profiled Jujhar Singh, the EVP and GM of Salesforce Industries with the theme of "industry success from anywhere" as we move into hybrid work and shopping world. There is a demo of a new Salesforce offering for investment bankers. Next, Kristen Jensen of the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity brought a public sector perspective on change. Finally, there were demos relevant for channels in retail and consumer goods covering rebates, incentive management and trade promotions.
In Part 3 below Bret Taylor, President and COO of Salesforce touches on the "digital first" and "transform now" themes in every industry. He also covers industry specific AI and Hyperforce - Salesforce's infrastructure architecture that allows customers to scale rapidly and securely using its public cloud hyperscaler partners. Next at 5.34 is a demo of a local government application - the use case revolves around licensing of a day care facility. We next switch at 10.09 to a telco and the opportunities 5G is opening up. Mallik Rao, CTIO at Telefonica Germany is certainly qualified to describe that. Finally there are two product discussions - one around wealth management at 18.42 aimed at financial services customers and the other at 21.54 on patient appointments aimed at healthcare customers.
While every vendor is talking up "industry clouds", the breadth of vertical processes covered during the Salesforce Summit was truly impressive. I have excerpted only a small fraction of what I saw and heard. You too can sign up and watch the full range of sessions or an industry specific track by registering here
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
Salesforce held an Industries Summit earlier this month. They invited me to an analyst pre-briefing and gave me access to keynotes and sessions across 8 sectors - Communications, Energy and Utilities, Financial Services, Government and Public Sector, Healthcare and Life sciences, Manufacturing, Media, Retail and Consumer Goods.
I have excerpted segments across the sectors and am posting them into three parts.
Part 1 yesterday covered 3 "mega-trends" I heard during the sessions, around sustainability on the energy sector, servitization on the industrial sector and the impact of "everything from home" on the communications and media sectors.
Today in video below, Jujhar Singh, the EVP and GM of Salesforce Industries leads off with the theme of "industry success from anywhere" as we move into hybrid work and shopping world. At 4.48 there is a demo of a new Salesforce offering for investment bankers. Next, at 10.06, Kristen Jensen of the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity brings a public sector perspective on change. Finally, at 16.26 there are demos relevant for channels in retail and consumer goods covering rebates, incentive management and trade promotions.
In Part 3 tomorrow, Bret Taylor, President and COO of Salesforce will touch on the "digital first" and "transform now" themes in every industry. He also covers industry specific AI and Hyperforce - Salesforce's infrastructure architecture that allows customers to scale rapidly and securely using its public cloud hyperscaler partners. Next is a demo of a local government application - the use case revolves around licensing of a day care facility. We next switch to a telco and the opportunities 5G is opening up. Mallik Rao, CTIO at Telefonica Germany is certainly qualified to describe that. Finally there are two product discussions - one around wealth management aimed at financial services customers and the other on patient appointment aimed at healthcare customers.
While every vendor is talking up "industry clouds", the breadth of vertical processes covered during the Salesforce Summit was truly impressive. I have excerpted only a small fraction of what I saw and heard. You too can sign up and watch the full range of sessions or an industry specific track by registering here
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
Salesforce held an Industries Summit earlier this month. They invited me to an analyst pre-briefing and gave me access to keynotes and sessions across 8 sectors - Communications, Energy and Utilities, Financial Services, Government and Public Sector, Healthcare and Life sciences, Manufacturing, Media, Retail and Consumer Goods.
I have excerpted segments across the sectors and am posting them into three parts.
The part in the video below covers 3 "mega-trends" I heard during the sessions. The first is around sustainability - while the desire for clean energy is affecting every sector, it is especially impactful on utilities. I have excerpted from a conversation with Yves Le Gerald, EVP at Engie, the French multinational electric utility company and Megan Lorenzen, Sustainability Manager at Salesforce. It is nice to hear the perspectives of both a procurer and a producer of energy.
At 13.10, the focus shifts to "servitization" - a growing trend in the industrial sector as product makers get more revenues from services and move to as-a-service, subscription and outcome based business models. It features Thomas Gocke who heads digital business transformation at Koenig and Bauer, the German company that makes printing presses and is very well versed in servitization trends.
At 21.19, focus is on "everything from home" - the impact of working, dining, studying, entertaining at home and the impact on broadband and media. Linda Yaccarino, Chairman of global advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCUniversal has a front row seat watching the massive changes that the pandemic accelerated.
In Part 2, Jujhar Singh, the EVP and GM of Salesforce Industries will lead off with the theme of "industry success from anywhere" as we move into hybrid work and shopping world. Then, there is a demo of a new Salesforce offering for investment bankers. Next, Kristen Jensen of the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity brings a public sector perspective on change. Finally there are demos relevant for channels in retail and consumer goods covering rebates, incentive management and trade promotions.
In Part 3, Bret Taylor, President and COO of Salesforce will touch on the "digital first" and "transform now" themes in every industry. He also covers industry specific AI and Hyperforce - Salesforce's infrastructure architecture that allows customers to scale rapidly and securely using its public cloud hyperscaler partners. Next is a demo of a local government application - the use case revolves around licensing of a day care facility. We next switch to a telco and the opportunities 5G is opening up. Mallik Rao, CTIO at Telefonica Germany is certainly qualified to describe that. Finally there are two product discussions - one around wealth management aimed at financial services customers and the other on patient appointment aimed at healthcare customers.
While every vendor is talking up "industry clouds", the breadth of vertical processes covered during the Salesforce Summit was truly impressive. I have excerpted only a small fraction of what I saw and heard. You too can sign up and watch the full range of sessions or an industry specific track by registering here
In the 48th episode of the series we have Peter Bendor-Samuel of Everest Group, a research firm focused on IT, business process, and engineering services since it was founded in 1991.
I enjoy catching up with Peter on a regular basis to get his perspective on trends in outsourcing and the broader IT, BPO, strategy services market.
He says the market is broadly strong - "rising tide raises all boats" - with the confluence of digital transformations, modernization projects/ related legacy outsourcing and pent up demand from projects slowed down or postponed in 2020.
What's different is the influence of hyperscalers like Google and Amazon and strategy firms like McKinsey, BCG and Bain. We also discuss the trend of "servitization" - where industrial and other sectors are generating more service revenues around their products and moving to "as a service" models with subscription revenues and outcome based models.
BTW, on the last point about servitization, I have been researching that trend in detail over the last few months. You will hear more from me on that in the next few weeks. In the meantime, enjoy this conversation.
We cover wide ground, as is common with my conversations with Peter. I always learn something new from him.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
Ben Pring of Cognizant makes a repeat appearance, this time giving us a sneak preview with couple of themes from his new book with regular co-author, Paul Roehrig.
The book is about the beast that technology has become in our personal lives and how to tame and regulate it. He makes a great point. In the early days of the automobiles, roads did not have lane markings, street signs, traffic lights. Within a couple of decades they were common place. He says we need the same on the information highway.
I tell him my libertarian instincts are suspicious of government regulation. I am already bothered by the censorship social media giants are engaging in. And from a productivity and sanity pov, I am worried about how much time and energy we waste on social media. To me, personal responsibility as parents and good citizens should kick in.
They raise a number of troubling points. It is a short book, but a long letter at 176 pages:) Check it out on Amazon here.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
I know the title suggests it is about the Tears for Fears hit. Sorry, click here for that:)
My good friend Ray Wang makes a repeat appearance, this time giving us a sneak preview of couple of themes from his upcoming book due out on July 13. You can pre-order it here.
He talks about how delivery services like DoorDash became the interface to customers during last year's lockdowns/everything from home and are reshaping the restaurant sector. I have pointed out many industries had a similar reshaping in 2020 as "edge" applications like telemedicine took off in healthcare, distance learning in higher education, 3PLs took over ecommerce fulfillment, virtual open houses transformed real estate.
I am looking forward to my advance copy and especially what he thinks of policy changes we should be considering as what he calls new Digital Giants emerge. Ray is one of the few analysts who I can talk to freely on those topics. We had a lively session a few months ago here
We also don't spent much time on Magic Quadrants or Waves. The business world is changing way too fast for old categories and acronyms. We need new ones like Ray's DDDN.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time, it is Chris Barbin, presenting on his new fund and advisory firm, Tercera. Chris was one of the co-founders of Appirio, a pioneering cloud systems integrator. They built practices around Salesforce, Google, Workday and others starting in 2006. A decade later they were acquired by Wipro, the large global outsourcer.
His focus now is SIs who are building practices around what they call the "third wave of the cloud" - ISVs like Okta, Snowflake, Splunk, Slack and others while also those focused on new markets for Salesforce, Workday etc. He has also put together a nice board of advisers to help these firms navigate the changing cloud landscape.
Many investors still avoid professional services startups and that becomes Chris's opportunity. It is an invigorating conversation with one of the savviest services executives I have known.
In fact, 12 years ago he was profiled in this blog as a "cloud pioneer". He continues to be one.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short segments (with permission), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Jason Corsello who presents on his fund Acadian Ventures, an early-stage venture firm investing in "future of work" - the talent/HCM part of that rapidly changing world especially after the turmoil of 2020.
I have known Jason for years both as an industry analyst, and then in his role as an executive at Cornerstone OnDemand.
He is very well connected in HCM world and it shows in the portfolio he has already invested in, and in the limited partners/advisory board he has put together.
The Analyst Cam: Monster: A Tough Love Letter On Taming the Machines that Rule our Jobs, Lives, and Future
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
Ben Pring of Cognizant makes a repeat appearance, this time giving us a sneak preview with couple of themes from his new book with regular co-author, Paul Roehrig.
The book is about the beast that technology has become in our personal lives and how to tame and regulate it. He makes a great point. In the early days of the automobiles, roads did not have lane markings, street signs, traffic lights. Within a couple of decades they were common place. He says we need the same on the information highway.
I tell him my libertarian instincts are suspicious of government regulation. I am already bothered by the censorship social media giants are engaging in. And from a productivity and sanity pov, I am worried about how much time and energy we waste on social media. To me, personal responsibility as parents and good citizens should kick in.
They raise a number of troubling points. It is a short book, but a long letter at 176 pages:) Check it out on Amazon here.
May 24, 2021 in Analyst Cam, Industry Commentary, Social Networks | Permalink | Comments (0)