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Business Strategy for Software Executives |
October 17, 2005 |
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Mainstreaming the On Demand RevolutionSoftware and services vendors must foster creation of an On Demand ecosystem in order for the model to realize its potential.By K.B. Chandrasekhar, Jamcracker On Demand Delivery is providing the greatest growth opportunity for software providers in this decade. For software providers to participate in the "sudden expansion" in this market they must focus on two critical areas:
While there has been limited success to date, On Demand solutions account for only three to four percent of the market. While it is still an emerging market, I don’t anticipate "explosive growth" until it becomes easier for customers to easily deploy a comprehensive set of On Demand Services, not just a stand-alone point solution like Sales Force Automation. Many of the successful Software-as-a-Service products are function specific, operating as "stovepipe" solutions. This leaves customers facing cumbersome integration and customization issues. Becoming part of an On Demand Infrastructure will make it easier for customers to consume your products in an integrated fashion, and it will greatly expand your market reach.
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Avoiding the Traps of Conventional SalesJeff Thull of Prime Resource Group says many software salespeople lose deals because they treat the sales process too conventionally. Read more about these traps and how to avoid them in this week’s post to the SandHill.com Blog on sales and marketing best practices. Don’t miss recent posts to other SandHill.com Blogs: The Impact of Merger Mania, New Era, New Thinking, and ISV Use of Open Source. Share your insight on the software business. Email editor@sandhill.com with your submissions to the SandHill.com Blog. Software Events This WeekCheck the SandHill.com Event Calendar for upcoming software industry gatherings. On the evening of Oct. 19, the VC Task Force’s Emerging Technology committee hosts "Sources of Innovation: Universities — Birth of the Next New Thing." On Oct. 20, MXL presents its next seminar "Mastering the Sales Pitch," as part of its Accelerated Sales School. And last week, the SoftSummit Conference presented the first annual Summit Awards, recognizing best practices in software value management. To post your organization’s event, visit the SandHill.com community page, scroll down to the event calendar, click on ‘Want to post an event?’ log in and fill out the form. Email editor@sandhill.com with any questions. Poll: Big Future for App Exchange?Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff made news this week promoting App Exchange, a marketplace for building and sharing Web services. How successful do you think this platform will be? Last week, SandHill.com visitors speculated about how long it will take for today’s venture-backed software startups to go from funding to acquisition. More at SandHill.com:Enterprise applications market to hit $65 billion by 2009. GlobalWare Solutions receives $10 million. BEA buys ConnecTerra, a producer of RFID middleware. CollabNet names Richard Murray as VP of Engineering. Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site. Parting Thought"A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with bricks that others throw at him or her." Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group |
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