The Reality Check: Why the $11B acquisition is less about synergy and more about value extraction, and how to protect your own estate. Let’s dispense with the pleasantries. IBM’s definitive agreement to acquire Confluent for roughly $11 billion is not a "strategic partnership" to accelerate hybrid cloud innovation. It is a textbook consolidation move by a legacy giant eyeing a critical data streaming asset to shore up its portfolio. At NET(net), we aren’t buying the "kumbaya" narrative of synergy. We are bracing our clients for impact. In the high-stakes arena of IT cost and value optimization, the old playbook of handshake deals is ancient ...
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Looking at you IBM, SAP, Salesforce, Workday, and Rackspace... Every year, certain major IT suppliers enter their most aggressive selling season as their fiscal year end approaches. When their sales and revenue pressure goes up, the pressure on customers goes up. Whether the target is more licenses, longer terms, higher commitments, or migration into higher margin products, suppliers will position these moves as strategic improvements, but they are often driven by internal quota demands, stock performance expectations, bonuses and compensation cycles. With Salesforce and Workday both closing their fiscal year on January 31, and IBM, SAP, and ...
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Buckle up, enterprise tech buyers: DataStax just boarded IBM’s Death Star, and their CEO’s LinkedIn post is a glitter-dusted fantasy that deserves a cold, hard reality check. They’re hyping a future of “unlocking unstructured data” and “accelerating AI apps at scale” with Astra DB, watsonx, and Apache Cassandra’s open-source cred. It’s the kind of corporate fairy tale that seduces C-suite wallets—until you recall IBM’s knack for turning tech darlings into cosmic debris. As a grizzled critic of IBM’s acquisition slaughterhouse, I’m here to gut the hype and warn you: DataStax is strolling into a buzzsaw, and your tech supply chain could get ...
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NET(net) Founder, Owner, and Executive Chairman Preface Nearly all clients are seeking greater prosperity in 2024. While client organizations are still focused on cost reductions to meet the challenges of their new economic and market realities, the pent-up demands of the business are increasingly calling for innovation, automation, and organizational performance improvement. Digital Transformation has emerged as the #1 Way to Boost Performance and Savings concurrently. Client organizations that are digitally transforming are harvesting greater value by: Automating tasks (RPA) to streamline efficiencies Unlocking data insights (ML) for ...
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Feeling locked in with IBM? Has their latest renewal left you sour and searching for alternatives? You're not alone. Many large enterprises face similar frustrations – hefty price tags, rigid contracts, and a lack of transparency can leave you feeling powerless and overpaying. At NET(net), we specialize in technology cost and value optimization, and we understand the complexities of navigating the ever-evolving technology landscape. We've seen firsthand the challenges client organizations face when heavily reliant on one supplier, particularly IBM. But rest assured, there's light at the end of the tunnel – and it doesn't involve burning ...
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Preface: Thank you for joining us for this 10-part series to discuss the Top 10 Ways You can Save on your Mainframe Costs in 2023. Nearly all Clients are Clamoring for Savings in 2023. This is largely due to (a) rising input costs, (b) softening business forecasts, and (c) continued economic uncertainty and headwinds. This has caused many clients to re-evaluate spending plans and implement new cost-cutting targets. IT is the Number One Cost Savings Category of The Modern Enterprise. IT is typically the highest indirect spend area for modern enterprises and is also the cost category with the highest potential savings yield (we average about ...
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Preface: Thank you for joining us for this 10-part series to discuss the Top 10 Ways You can Save on your Mainframe Costs in 2023. Nearly all Clients are Clamoring for Savings in 2023. This is largely due to (a) rising input costs, (b) softening business forecasts, and (c) continued economic uncertainty and headwinds. This has caused many clients to re-evaluate spending plans and implement new cost-cutting targets. IT is the Number One Cost Savings Category of The Modern Enterprise. IT is typically the highest indirect spend area for modern enterprises and is also the cost category with the highest potential savings yield (we average about ...
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Preface: Thank you for joining us for this 10-part series to discuss the Top 10 Ways You can Save on your Mainframe Costs in 2023. Nearly all Clients are Clamoring for Savings in 2023. This is largely due to (a) rising input costs, (b) softening business forecasts, and (c) continued economic uncertainty and headwinds. This has caused many clients to re-evaluate spending plans and implement new cost-cutting targets. IT is the Number One Cost Savings Category of The Modern Enterprise. IT is typically the highest indirect spend area for modern enterprises and is also the cost category with the highest potential savings yield (we average about ...
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Preface: Thank you for joining us for this 10-part series to discuss the Top 10 Ways You can Save on your Mainframe Costs in 2023. Nearly all Clients are Clamoring for Savings in 2023. This is largely due to (a) rising input costs, (b) softening business forecasts, and (c) continued economic uncertainty and headwinds. This has caused many clients to re-evaluate spending plans and implement new cost-cutting targets. IT is the Number One Cost Savings Category of The Modern Enterprise. IT is typically the highest indirect spend area for modern enterprises and is also the cost category with the highest potential savings yield (we average about ...
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Preface: Thank you for joining us for this 10-part series to discuss the Top 10 Ways You can Save on your Mainframe Costs in 2023. Nearly all Clients are Clamoring for Savings in 2023. This is largely due to (a) rising input costs, (b) softening business forecasts, and (c) continued economic uncertainty and headwinds. This has caused many clients to re-evaluate spending plans and implement new cost-cutting targets. IT is the Number One Cost Savings Category of the Modern Enterprise. IT is typically the highest indirect spend area for modern enterprises and is also the cost category with the highest potential savings yield (we average about ...
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