Engineering a Renaissance

Hereís how to take a 25-year old brand and turn it into one of the most promising technology companies in business today.

By John Kish, Wyse Technology

Read any analysis of the software market and somewhere it will predict the demise of many of today's software vendors.

True? Perhaps. But that's what they said about Wyse Technology just a few short years ago: a company with a passÈ market, unmotivated customers and flat prospects.

Fast forward to 2006. Today, Wyse is marketing a compelling product in a potentially massive market and is the object of analyst excitement. According to IDC, we now dominate the simple computing market with a 40 percent market share.

Wyse experienced a renaissance. Sure, some of our success came from being in the right place with the right product at the right time. But most of that "luck" involved recognizing key market developments and leveraging the related opportunities.

The same opportunity exists for many of today's "middle-aged" software companies. Here are some tips for engineering a corporate renaissance.

Software 2006 Early Registration Deadline is Tomorrow!

The biggest event in the software business takes place on April 4 and 5 in Santa Clara, Calif. and many of the industryís biggest players will be there. With visionary keynotes, dozens of in-depth workshops and numerous networking opportunities, Software 2006 is the biggest compilation of software business insight available anywhere. The early registration rate of $1,295 ends on Tuesday, Jan. 31 so visit www.software2006.com to register now.

Get the Big Ideas

There is no doubt that innovation is one of the critical success drivers for software vendors today. Nilofer Merchant of Rubicon shares three ways to find new ideas in this weekís post to the SandHill.com Blog on Innovation Strategies.

Improve Your CEO Sell

More than ever, senior non-IT executives are making critical IT buying decisions. Yet many software vendors continue to use the same sales methods with both CIOs and CEOs. Brian Sommer explains how to improve your CXO sales by using a point-of-view selling method in this weekís post to the SandHill.com Blog on Sales & Marketing best practices.

The SandHill.com Blog is ready for your perspectives. We publish insightful strategy and opinion pieces by a variety of software executives, analysts and professionals. If you would like to contribute a post, email editor@sandhill.com.

Last Chance to Showcase Your Company at Software 2006

Software 2006ís Showcase segment will present the most innovative new players in the industry. Five companies will present their most compelling offerings in four areas: Open Source, Security, Enterprise New Media, and Social Entrepreurship.

The deadline for nominations is today. Visit the
Showcase page to find out more information and nominate a company.

McKinseyís 10 Trends to Watch

Macroeconomic factors, environmental and social issues and business and industry developments are profoundly impacting the global marketplace. Read about the ten developments that will most change the business world in 2006 from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Poll: SAP to Triple its Customer Base by 2010?

SAP reported an impressive 12 percent increase in revenue for 2005. CEO Henning Kagermann predicted the company would have 100,000 customers by 2010, up from 30,000 today. Can SAP they achieve that milestone?
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Last week, SandHill.com readers picked the software company they felt would be most influential in 2006.
Give us your opinion and see the results >>

More at SandHill.com:

Dell to hire 5,000 in India.
Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week >>

ITA Software receives $100 million.
Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Informatica buys Similarity Systems for $55 million.
Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

David DeMaria named CEO of Optimal.
See whoís made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments >>

Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site.

Parting Thought

ìLearning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.î
ó William Pollard

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group