Ready for a Downturn?

Software companies with a plan for bad times will not just survive a downturn– they will emerge stronger than before.

By Peter Sobiloff, Insight Venture Partners

Editor’s note: Early this summer, things were going too well. Despite troubles in the credit and housing markets, the stock market was holding relatively steady. At our Enterprise conference in July, Peter Sobiloff of Insight Venture Partners made a prediction: This market’s going down. And it has been a roller coaster ride ever since. We asked Peter to give us some more perspective on how software companies can survive the ride unscathed.

Software companies must have a strategic plan for surviving in a down market. Importantly, the time to create such a plan is now, well before market conditions become unfavorable.

The good news? Vendors who are ready for a downturn can use the opportunity to expand their business and position themselves for broader success when the economy turns up again.

What Makes Software Successful?

The business value created? User adoption rates? On-time and on-budget deployment? Take a short survey from SandHill.com and NeoChange and give us your opinion about the drivers of enterprise software success. Click here to participate. All respondents will receive a report of the study’s findings and one lucky respondent will be chosen at random to win a new iPod Nano – just in time for the holidays. Click here to take the study now.

The Rich Evolution of SaaS

The addition of AJAX and Web 2.0 capabilities is taking on-demand applications to a new level. Anthony Nemelka of Pathworks Software runs down the benefits in this week’s post to the SandHill.com Blog on SaaS.

Consolidation Crazed

The recent business intelligence shopping spree further underscores the maturity of many software sectors and the tendency for the incumbent vendors to become more popular than a Wii console on Black Friday. Guy Smith of Silicon Strategies Marketing lays out the conditions for merger mania in this week’s post to the SandHill.com Blog on M&A.

Publish Your Perspective!

The SandHill.com Blog wants your opinions. Send your thoughts on the enterprise software industry to editor@sandhill.com and we’ll publish them in our blog.

DON’T MISS: Bringing Best Practice to China

As the country merges into the world economy, best practice in China will become best practice globally, products developed in China will become global products, and industrial processes developed in China will become global processes. Read how the progression will take place in this article from The McKinsey Quarterly.

NEW: Jobs at SandHill.com

Software executives looking for a new position and software vendors looking for the right top manager should look no further than the SandHill.com Jobs page. This week, executive recruiter Sterling Hoffman relaunches the board with three of their active searches. To post a job, visit http://www.sandhill.com/community/all_jobs.php and click on ‘Want to post a job? Log/register in here.”

News Update: It’s an Oracle, Oracle, Oracle, Oracle World

OpenWorld moves continue to make news; plus, TomorrowNow in trouble, M&A value in question, HP in the black ad a new head in Microsoft sales. Read these stories and more software news of the week in the latest SandHill.com Software News Summary.

Poll: Ready for a Downturn?

Does your company have a specific plan for an economic recession?
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Last week, readers gave their opinions as to how the role of the enterprise CIO would evolve.
Give us your opinion and see the results >>

More at SandHill.com:

John Dvorak explains how Oracle can win by losing.
Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week >>

ReachLocal receives $55 million.
Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Sunguard buys DSPA Software.
Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

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

Parting Thought

"Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression."
– Sir John Harvey-Jones

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group