jfisher

Aug. 23,2012

Outsourcing has changed over the past few years and three things NET(net) is seeing in the market are: 1) A significant increase in the levels of client dissatisfaction with their outsourcing agreements 2) A focus on smaller, more manageable, strategic, multi-sourcing agreements with more specialized suppliers 3) Because of these and other factors, we have seen a tripling of the volume of outsourcing deals while overall outsourcing spend has not significantly increased. So, what does all this mean to you? It means that outsourcing has become more complex and more focused at the same time. Companies are moving away from large, monolithic ...

Dave Young

Jul. 23,2012

Clients are constantly asking NET(net) about the cloud. They largely think it offers some benefits in terms of lower cost, quicker deployments, and higher subscription based elasticity. In a recent client survey, just over 80% of clients believed that these were the top 3 benefits of ‘moving to the cloud’. Clients also consistently express concerns about the cloud as well, and like the advantages, it comes down largely to three reasons. In this same survey, clients suggested that they were mostly concerned with security, virtualization, and wrongful data exposure. What’s really interesting, is that while the concerns are largely all good ...

Steven Zolman

Jul. 23,2012

Much has changed since our first detailed analysis of the talent management markets back in 2008. The software oligopoly of SAP and Oracle have significantly changed their views from their previous position that HR software was best served up as part of a monolithic software suite that was on premise in their customer’s data centers to now offering cloud solutions through SuccessFactors and Taleo by acquisitions, respectively. Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison is sort of infamous for his outright dismissal of the cloud, only to later capitulate on his earlier provocative statements and launch Oracle high into the cloud with both arms up as most ...

Steven Zolman

Jul. 23,2012

In talks with clients, industry analysts, company insiders, investors and others, everyone seems to agree that Steve Ballmer has done a terrible job as Microsoft’s CEO. Mr. Ballmer says he plans to retire in 2018, but with lukewarm support from the board, damaged credibility with partners, lost trust with employees, and constant outside criticism - it’s unclear if he can hold on that long. While leading Microsoft through a time when some of the most innovative and spectacular technology advances occurred (e-readers, cloud computing, social networking, smartphones, tablets, and consumer stores just to name a few), Microsoft has failed to ...

Steven Zolman

Jun. 18,2012

As a global company, NET(net) works with many clients in virtually all geographies and industries. In the process, we have the ability to see and federate market intelligence that no one company could possibly see on its own. This federated market intelligence becomes extremely valuable as we see trends in industries or geographies, or with particular suppliers or even with particular technologies. When NET(net) sees these changing market conditions, we leverage this market currency to provide our clients with market leading strategies to unlock and harness more value. One of the emerging opportunities for market arbitrage is to leverage ...

Scott Braden

Jun. 18,2012

Big Shocker: Microsoft is once again raising prices. Starting July 1, Microsoft’s raising substantially the prices it will be charging its UK business customers for software and services. Those clients with Enterprise Agreements (EAs) have seen a 25.7% price increase. Clients that contract with Microsoft under the Select or the Select Plus licensing model have seen a 24.6% price increase. Those clients that utilize Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud based offering have seen a 21% price increase. Those clients who have a Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA), or an Open Value or an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) agreement, have seen the ...

Steven Zolman

Jun. 18,2012

Organic Contracting vs. Traditional Contracts What is Organic Contracting? Fresh Healthy and Growing Evolving with a changing future Used to make organizations more effective at working together Traditional Contracts Stale Artifacts of the relationship Relics of the originating transaction Used to form polarizing positions for disputes and litigation Which do you prefer? Most client organizations have difficulty effectively managing their supply chains in a way that maximizes both economic and strategic value, and most supplier organizations have difficulty developing, and sometimes even retaining their existing customers. One technology ...

Steven Zolman

May. 16,2012

Note: Updates to this article linked below... IBM’s first female CEO, Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, is in after Sam Palmisano parachutes out with $127 million, but not until he leaves a wake of wreckage in his trail. Ginni will have big challenges to overcome if she is to be successful leading IBM, and in this blog, I will outline the Top 10 Reasons Why Ginni Rometty Will Fail as IBM’s new CEO. 1. IBM Forgot Who They Were. The “M” in IBM is for Machines. Machines for International Businesses; that is who IBM was. Who is IBM today? Somewhere along the way, IBM figured out that it was much cheaper to sell services than it was to produce goods, and ...

Steven Zolman

Apr. 24,2012

Many of our clients continue to be furious about their inability to effectively manage the economic value of their ongoing support costs for major software platforms like SAP and Oracle. Clients are often frustrated that as they deploy and consume the technology, integrate it into their environment, develop a center of excellence for maintaining the value of the ongoing solution, and as their support calls go down, and the critical nature of their support needs diminish, their annual maintenance costs continue to go up, year after year. During the past several years, many clients have taken a closer look at these costs, and among other ...

Scott Braden

Apr. 24,2012

Microsoft continues its market consolidation with price increases (and more to come). Who is surprised? In recent weeks, many Microsoft customers have felt outraged and blind-sided by Microsoft’s price increases and licensing changes for SQL Server and the System Center suite of management tools. Sadly, Microsoft’s actions are predictable, and consistent with their past behavior. NET(net) has long advised its clients that Microsoft’s long-term product bundling strategies are designed to help weaker products gain market share and adoption, until sufficient critical mass is reached that Microsoft can reap profits by raising prices and ...