Steven Zolman

Feb. 27,2019 | Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Oracle, Audit, Workday

Software audits have become an unfortunate but necessary revenue stream for most suppliers today. And who can really blame them? It usually works! Just as governments have now come to rely on revenue from things like speeding and parking tickets, so to have software companies come to rely on software audits to move the needle on revenue or generate fear, using pressure and leverage to create opportunities for new licensing revenue. The reasons are well known, and really haven’t changed significantly in the last few years: Competition from disruptive suppliers Migration away from perpetual licensing to subscription-based cloud solutions ...

Steven Zolman

Dec. 5,2018 | Mainframe, Cognitive Transformation, IBM, Cloud

We are still waiting for the great IBM turnaround led by Ginny Rometty since her installment as CEO in 2012. IBM has pinned its turnaround on Watson AI, Blockchain and now “Hybrid Cloud” with the RedHat acquisition. IBM’s “turnaround” has resulted in 22 out of 25 quarters of declining earnings. To be fair, it’s the last three quarters that have shown growth, not driven by its strategic imperatives but rather has been provided by (drum roll please) – mainframe. Yes, the good old mainframe, with upgrades and increased storage needs driving strong revenue in Q2 and Q3. How the mighty have fallen, or better said, continue to fall as we have been ...

Steven Zolman

Oct. 31,2018 | Cognitive Transformation, CFO, CIO, Digital Transformation

What is the Thrive Ultimatum? 2019 will present the 'C-Suite' with a Digital Transformation ultimatum. Digital initiatives can no longer be ‘shelved’ or viewed as a future innovation that are delayed by a myriad of excuses. Organizations operating this way are often in survival mode, feeling encumbered by forces outside their control. But survival is no longer enough as consumers, businesses, and shareholders demand that organizations move past survival mode, to thrive mode and cross the chasm of digital change and disruption now. Organizations that recognize this imperative and act on it are succeeding in the digital age. Those that decide ...

Steven Zolman

Sep. 27,2018 | Procurement, Audit, Supplier Management, Negotiation, CFO, Cloud

‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ is a popular holiday song and was written by Edward Pola and George Wyle in 1963. It was popularized in North America by singer Andy Williams that same year on his television show by the same name. However, we didn’t have to do much research to learn that the inspiration for that song had nothing to do with the 4th quarter for most business leaders and their respective companies. Anecdotally, we believe most business leaders might say it’s the most *stressful* time of the year, especially for publicly traded companies – most of whom have their fiscal year end aligned with the calendar year end of ...

Steven Zolman

Jun. 28,2018 | Procurement, Supplier Management, Operations, Negotiation, CFO, CIO

Over the past 16 years, we’ve seen almost every way possible for an organization to lose value in their technology supplier arrangements, agreements, and relationships. Sometimes these situations arise from external forces that leave little in the way of options like mergers, acquisitions, or litigation. Many times, however, we find that organizations could have improved if only they had a few key insights. If a company is willing to take the necessary steps to acknowledge where they have shortcomings in information, expertise, and experience, they could avoid many of these pitfalls. It’s difficult to know what you don’t know, and as a ...

Steven Zolman

Jan. 31,2018 | Banking, Financial Services, Mainframe, MCO, Cognitive Transformation, IBM

Back in March 1991, Stewart Alsop, a venture-capitalist and editor of InfoWorld said, “I predict that the last mainframe will be unplugged on March 15th, 1996”. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20, so we know now, this could not be further from the truth. The mainframe is not only ‘not’ a dinosaur, it may be the single most important technology in the financial services industry, running almost every large Bank and Insurance Company’s back end system in the world. Still today, seemingly only the mainframe can handle the performance requirements & reliability demands of these challenging operating environments and support the sheer volume of ...

Steven Zolman

Feb. 28,2017

There is a famous saying in the United States that exclaims, “Remember the Alamo!”. This was used as a battle cry for the State of Texas fighting for independence from Mexico in 1836, after a severely outnumbered band of Texans all lost their lives to the Mexican Army at The Alamo. Their memory lived on as soldiers shouted this war cry in the battles to come until the end of the Mexican-American war in 1848. While no lives were lost in this battle, February 16th 2017 may be the day where we will coin a new phrase: “Remember Diageo!”. SAP has now won what is considered by many to be a landmark decision in London that will have serious ...

Steven Zolman

Nov. 29,2016

Planning ahead with tech suppliers can be daunting and time consuming, especially if you don't rely on the suppliers themselves and the consultant firms that take money from them for all your information. For many however, escaping from the Technology Cartel is difficult. Back in May, we wrote about: Oracle - Fiscal year ended May, and often the renewal cycle is the best time to change terms Microsoft - Fiscal year ended June, biggest month for license renewals and new license deals Cisco - Fiscal year ended July, best time of year to review Cisco estate for M&S optimization and more And now - its SAP's turn - fiscal year ending ...

Steven Zolman

Aug. 11,2016

As the Founder of NET(net), I’ve had the privilege of working with world class clients all over the world, in virtually all industries and geographies. I’ve also had the honor of knowing many "rock star" client executives, including management scholars from ivy-league schools, engineers from MIT, and their staff that’s as sharp as any well trained Special Forces unit. Over the years, I’ve learned many things from working with these exceptional organizations and I hope the feeling is mutual. But as a wise person once said, ‘the biggest room in the house, is the room for improvement’. There is one compelling issue that all these talented ...

Steven Zolman

May. 31,2016

Many clients are either buying more Oracle licenses, or renewing their Oracle maintenance service and support agreements this month (May - Oracle’s Fiscal Year-end), and continue to be dismayed at how difficult it is to cost optimize their Oracle estate. Because it is such a dark science that contains highly confidential information, the secrets of cost optimization are highly protected. Most clients either believe they are getting a pretty good deal or they’re not, but they have no real way to benchmark their agreement to the market. For most Oracle customers, the best options are to evaluate general market averages which doesn’t really ...