Since 2002, we have been helping clients optimize technology spend and have maintained a continuously updated list of suppliers where we know we can extract value with a high yield. VMware has been and seems destined to remain at or near the top of this list for the foreseeable future. VMware is credited with commercializing compute virtualization technologies with their popular vSphere product, enabling multiple virtual applications to run concurrently on a single physical host. This increased utilization of IT resources has dramatically improved the economics of enterprise datacenter infrastructure, vaulting VMware to a market dominant ...
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There are a couple ways to interpret the title of this article, and neither are necessarily wrong. The more appropriate context is meant to convey the various ways in which cloud utilization is sub optimized and therefore getting wasted. Taken another way however, you could interpret your Cloud as a living breathing entity that has overindulged in mind altering substances and is currently out of control. If we’re really being honest, neither description is wrong as a generalized assessment of enterprise cloud utilization and spend. According to multiple research reports, company executives are projected to: Waste $17B in the Cloud as an ...
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Unbelievably, it’s been four years since we published an article titled: Top Questions to Ask When Taking the Slow Road to SAP (S4) HANA. And despite that passage of time, not much has really changed about SAP’s predictability. We outlined six considerations to weigh before investing further in SAP’s vision of the future. The intent of that article was to invoke questions that would cause SAP customers pause and consider both short- and long-term issues that may have been considered foregone conclusions related to S/4 HANA. There is a famous saying that every history teacher probably says a hundred times a year to students, “Those who fail ...
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December is the busiest month of the year for many suppliers, including of course SAP as they look to shore up, lock up, and secure their end of year financials. A vast majority of SAP contracts renew effective January 1. There are both opportunities to be had and pitfalls to avoid in this end of year run to 2019 and beyond. Below we outline just a few things to look out for and encourage you to chat with us to make sure you are getting the most out of your agreements, investments and relationships with SAP. SAP has its share of challenges. There is discontent amongst its partners, customers, and previous cheerleaders. SAP’s cloud roadmap is ...
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As many of you may already know, most SAP renewal deals ‘come due’ in December, as they are generally annualized to the calendar year, as are most new SAP license purchases and expansions. SAP is hungry for new licensing revenue, so customers can expect to see increased activity around year-end audits. Now is the time to start planning (and saving), especially if you’re already paying for annual maintenance and support services from to SAP. If you are ready to go ahead and write SAP another huge check for the upcoming year and are unconcerned about the value you’re getting for these large investments, check your pulse…you may be a software ...
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Oracle has doubled down – literally – in their ploy to shore up declining revenue in its traditional licensing model. Filed under ‘in case you missed it’, Oracle starting in January literally doubled the cost of running its software in the AWS cloud. Here is a basic summary: Previously each one vCPU was equivalent to .5 Oracle Processor License or two vCPU required a Processor license….but now: AWS EC2 and RDS - one vCPU as equivalent to one Oracle Processor license if hyper-threading is not enabled The same increase applies to Microsoft with: Microsoft Azure – one Azure CPU Core as equivalent to one Oracle Processor license The net of it ...
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Oracle’s history with the cloud has been somewhat (shall we say) evolving. As recently as 2008, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has called the cloud “complete gibberish”, “insane”, and likened its “idiocy” to that of “women’s fashion”. Later he said that cloud was his idea. Still later, Larry Ellison said he liked the brand of “cloud computing”, calling it “charismatic”. Then, at OpenWorld 2014, Oracle declared itself “King of the Cloud”. We found this suspicious at the time, given Oracle’s true standing in the cloud was diametrically opposed to its public statements at that time. The legions of techie’s at Oracle were hard at work to have ...
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There is a beautiful highway in Hawaii affectionately known (at least to honeymoon tourists) as ‘The Road to Hana’ on the island of Maui. I remember the road well as it was pretty exciting with all its switchbacks, cliff views, hills and waterfalls. But I also remember the journey taking several hours longer than we thought it would – and really started to question the journey to begin with (the road trip – not the marriage). Ironic then that SAP chose a similar name for its product of the future – S4 Hana. As we are finding out with clients and associates, you should question when you are going to take this ‘Road to Hana’ – or whether ...
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Salesforce.com recently announced a major change in its Sales Cloud subscription programs that requires customers to act before Salesforce Q2 starts (which was May 1st) to lock in with old pricing model or automatically move to their new plan, and there are some potentially major implications for our clients. It’s imperative that you know how these changes impact your budget in the near future, and more importantly – what you can do about it. The most interesting part of this announcement and change seems to be the creative use of the word ‘Lightening’, which appears to be not much more than a significant increase in price, coupled with some ...
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“The relative weakness in the legacy on-premise (Oracle) software business, which includes sales of new licenses and support revenue, is expected to continue.” - Forbes, December 15, 2015 The money tree is shaking. There was a time when audits were merely punitive in nature, a tool to be wielded to bring a customer who may or may not be in compliance with hundreds of terms, conditions, and clauses they’ve signed up for over the course of years in some cases to heel. But that was then, and this is now. Audits are now the norm – routine – as traditional on premise software providers like Oracle attempt to bridge the revenue gap as they attempt ...
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