In a previous blog post, I took great pains at articulating my 10 Reasons Why Ginni Rometty would fail as IBM's new CEO. In the post, I mentioned the poisonous sales culture (you live by the sword, you die by the sword), which is at the center (of blame) for this and last quarter's missed performance targets. Another concern was the 'garage sale' of business units that would inevitably have to come if IBM were to meet its targets. As we have recently learned, IBM appears to be in the process of selling its server business to Lenovo, and it has long been rumored to be preparing its services business for sale as well. It seems Ginni may be ...
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With Oracle's fiscal year end fast approaching this May, many of our clients are considering making Oracle licensing purchases. One of the most common questions we get is, "What type of license should I buy?" Just the fact that clients are asking us these questions demonstrates great progress over the last 10 years. It illustrates that savvy clients know that there can be very significant economic disparities between license types, with literally no loss at all of any business value achieved. In fact, it's the exact same source code. To illustrate this point, consider one client who is considering User Licenses vs. Processor licenses. This ...
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If you are a large SAP customer, there is likely a latent gold mine of savings opportunities hidden deep down inside your SAP agreements. Did you know that for ERP Application licensing alone, not counting all the variations of licensing definitions we have seen over the years (literally thousands of different definitions of what is a limited professional user as an example), there are still 34 major licensing classes for SAP users? Most clients, even those that closely examine their user demographics, struggle to make sense of their own deployments. The kind of convoluted deployments we routinely see in our client base, combined with the ...
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In last month’s blog post, “How a 5% Performance Improvement Can Result in a 50% Savings”, we discussed how the economics of IT deals of all kinds (Cloud, SaaS, Hardware, Software, Services, Outsourcing and Telecom, among others) can be dramatically improved with very small strategic improvements in the process of IT optimization. We asked you to stay tuned to this month’s newsletter, and the blog post, “The Rise of the Disruptive Supplier”, mainly because optimization itself is often thought to be (and many times is) a unilateral activity. Certainly it is always a best practice to understand the macro market conditions to ensure the ...
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The Hurt Suspend disbelief for just a moment and hear me when I say that most clients wildly overpay for technology. Not you, you say? Well, allow me to add meat to this alleged bone of contention between us, by further quantifying that statement. In a recently completed 36-month study of field results in actual client dealings, we empirically demonstrated that clients significantly overpaid in IT investments, by averaging 40% achieved savings in over 504 managed field engagements. These were not the top 504 savings examples, rather a comprehensive selection of field opportunities ensuring a representative and varied sample with no improper ...
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IT Optimization There are three major components to consider when maximizing economic and strategic value in your agreements, investments and relationships. They are: • Your Company • Your Suppliers • And The Market In your company, you’ll have needs, ambitions, organizational objectives, priorities, budgets, capabilities, infrastructure, and demographics that are all unique to you. In your technology supply chain, suppliers will have their own goals and ambitions, and will have strong incentives to promote their innovations, highlight their capabilities, sell their wares, and position their eco-system partners. In the market, you’ll find ...
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Undeniably, there is a cultural shift going on – and despite lingering security concerns and fears of supplier lock-in, our clients (like many others) are moving to the cloud with increasing confidence that the cost savings, operating efficiencies, and improved services levels are quite worth the perceived increase in risk of additional supplier accountability for security and data issues. In the last couple weeks, as I have participated in two conferences, numerous clients have asked me about Oracle’s cloud strategy. It’s no doubt that Larry Ellison, who famously denounced the cloud in 2005, is not necessarily the first one you think about ...
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Last July, NET(net) analyzed the consolidating Talent Management Systems market following SAP’s acquisition of SuccessFactors in December 2011 and Oracle’s acquisition of Taleo in January of 2012. Since then, our prediction of further market consolidation continues to materialize. The most recent update is as a result of IBM’s acquisition of Kenexa for $1.3 billion in August, which appears to position IBM to compete more directly against Oracle / Taleo and SAP / SuccessFactors. Kenexa has been struggling to make money since 2007. Last year, they generated revenue of $283 million (a 44% increase year over year), but still managed to post a ...
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In one case with our client, we were working with their business consultant, and the software supplier they recommended for an enterprise applications deal. The software supplier recommended a value added reseller (VAR), and the client also needed a systems integrator. It was also decided to host and manage the application, and two providers were needed for this. Due to incomplete software in the core offering, the client also needed to buy some third party applications, and also hired a development company to write needed custom software. Further, the client needed to purchase additional networking equipment, processing equipment, and ...
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This month, NET(net), the market leading IT Investment Optimization firm, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. This is a meaningful milestone considering only 2 out of 100 companies make it to 10 years. It all started with a simple but brilliant business model crafted by NET(net)’s Founder and CEO, Steven Zolman. Steve’s mission for NET(net) was and is to be the premier source of IT supplier market intelligence to help our global clients optimize their IT investments, agreements, and relationships with key technology suppliers. Reflecting on the last 10 years, it has been an amazing run advocating for our client’s needs and creating ...
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