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Sage to step into the on-demand ring: News started leaking late last week that Sage, the UK's largest software company, will release an on-demand accounting application called SageLive aimed at the SMB market. Details are sketchy beyond a blog post by competitor KashFlow but it seems the company is finally getting serious about the on-demand space after...; Tags: Accounting, On-demand, U.K., Details, Sage 50, Cloud Computing, Smb/Sme, Operational Accounting, Financial Services, Databases, Finance, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-12-02
Where to next for ERP et al? (part 1, SAP): With a Gartner probability of 0.9, I guarantee that what follows is not how things will turn out. At least not exactly. Paul Greenberg's post casting the enterprise CRM runes for 2009 provides the perfect springboard for something I've been thinking about since the middle of the year. Where the...; Tags: SAP AG, ERP, Leo Apotheker, Paul Greenberg, Paul, Claus Heinrich, Wookey, Sales Strategy, Cloud Computing, Advertising & Promotion, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Force Management, Strategy, Enterprise Software, Sales, Marketing, Software, Management, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-12-02
Zoho's CloudSQL: a real step forward: Zoho just can't stop churning out software. Today it is launching the Zoho CloudSQL. Put simply, this is the first step to providing a cloud based integration framework that allows developers to pass data between Zoho applications and their own. This is exciting stuff. For the...; Tags: SQL, Cloud, Zoho, Smb/Sme, Databases, Programming Languages, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-12-02
Welcome to MegaTom: Tom Raftery, analyst at Greenmonk and another Irregular pinged me this morning to let me know about a new community: MegaTom. Born out of an idea from Gavin Starks and Simon Wardley, MegaTom seeks to act as the hub around which people can discuss the many green issues facing our...; Tags: Carbon Dioxide, Tom, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-12-02
Breaking: SAP User Group fires CEO: The American SAP User Group is understood to have fired Steve Strout, the organization's first full time CEO. Sources close to ASUG say that an email was sent by the ASUG board to all members suggesting that the board had become dis-satisfied with Strout's performance and want 'alternative leadership' who...; Tags: SAP AG, Steve Strout, Corporate Governance, E-mail, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Online Communications, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-25

Cloud definitions and economics: Like Phil Wainewright, I attended the excellent CloudCamp in London several weeks back. Unlike Phil, I walked away with more questions than answers but with my enterprisey antenna on high alert. Two things struck me. Rhys Jones of Royal Bank of Scotland's assertion that while cloud computing...; Tags: Salesforce.com Inc., PeopleSoft Inc., James, Cloud Computing, Sales Force Management, Sales, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-25
Microsoft Dynamics: solid customer stories, quietly confident: Last week I attended Microsoft's Convergence conference in Copenhagen. This is where Microsoft's business application customers tip up to hear what's new and get their annual infusion of feel goodness. While there was little by way of hard news other than it putting NAV2009 into general availability, customers seem happy...; Tags: Microsoft Dynamics, Customer, Microsoft Corp., CRH, Corporate Communications, Retail, Enterprise Software, Marketing, Software, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-24
Merrill Lynch downgrades SAP and Oracle: It should come as no surprise that investment research at Merrill Lynch sees downgraded assessments of both SAP and Oracle's near terms results. In the last month, Merrill has conducted research among European CIO's and finds that a full 40% are less bullish on IT spending than they were three...; Tags: Oracle Corp., Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., SAP AG, Sales Strategy, Tools & Techniques, Operational Accounting, Marketing Research, Sales, Management, Finance, Marketing, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-17
SAP's UK users don't get it - yet: The above video shows two interviews I made earlier today. One is with Alan Bowling, chairman SAP user group UK and Ireland. The second is with Ray Wang, VP at Forrester research. SAP's UK users are struggling to understand the price hike in maintenance costs. Users I...; Tags: SAP AG, KPI, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-10
Would you flip to Microsoft?: The announcement of BizSpark didn't get a huge amount of attention and I'm not surprised. After 24 years of running Wintel based systems I flipped to Mac and have never missed anything Microsoft offered. OK - I'm an edge case that wants to run as much as I can in...; Tags: Microsoft Corp., Mike Arrington, Internet, Tools & Techniques, Desktops, Open Source, Management, Hardware, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-07
Sign of the times: When I saw the above pic I couldn't resist re-printing it. It captures the mood among technology company reps and buyers alike. The caption on the original is poignant: Looks like SAP means business and is cutting back on accommodation expenses for their consultants. Every...; Tags: SAP AG, Extent, Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), Human Resources, Gender And Diversity, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-07
sme.sap.com: be impressed: Regular readers will know I have great hopes for SAP Business ByDesign as a service, even if I am less than convinced about executive commitment. At the end of last week, a SAPper contacted me to ask if I want to check out sme.sap.com. Normally I...; Tags: SAP AG, Case Study, Payroll Solutions, Manufacturing, Portals, Operational Accounting, Internet, Finance, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-05
SaaS battlegrounds: Salesforce v Zoho: When Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff put on his jocular performance for the analysts and press at Dreamforce yesterday, I'm sure he didn't expect little ol' Zoho to come bite him in the pants. That's exactly what's happened. According to Venture Beat's Anthony Ha: Salesforce.com's strategy can...; Tags: Salesforce.com Inc., Software-as-a-service, Marc Benioff, Zoho, Force.com, Sales Force Management, Sales, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-04
Trade show horrors: The global sales VP of an enterprise software company once told me that 70% of his salesforce are D-graders the company had to constantly winnow. Tip up at a trade conference and you'll see them in abundance. A guest column over at Sandhill by Elizabeth Cook points...; Tags: Booth, Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Sales, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-04
SuccessFactors ups guidance: SuccessFactors is not a company many ZDN readers may have heard about but you should. This is an on-demand vendor that primarily sells talent management solutions. My Irregular colleagues Jason Corsello and Thomas Otter follow this space. For the last year, they have been saying that talent management represents one...; Tags: Talent, SuccessFactors Inc., On-demand, Talent Management, Workforce Management, Human Resources, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-03
NetSuite's Q3 revenues top $40.4 million but...: Today is turning out to be a good day for saas/on-demand fans. Dreamforce got off to a jolly start and NetSuite recorded a third quarter, exactly in line with Wall Street expectations, with revenue at $40.4 million, a 44% increase over the third quarter of 2007 at $28.6 million, and...; Tags: Revenue, NetSuite Inc., Quarter, Sales Force Automation (SFA), Operational Accounting, GAAP, Enterprise Software, Software, Finance, Financial Accounting, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-03
CyberSafe: CODA2go's first Force.com customer speaks: As Dreamforce gets under way, CODA, a UK financial applications provider put me on touch with CyberSafe, its first customer for CODA2go, an order-to-cash process built on the Force.com platform. CyberSafe is a UK SAP certified apps provider specializing in security solutions that sells product globally. It...; Tags: Salesforce.com Inc., CyberSafe Ltd., Customer, CODA, Sales Force Management, Sales, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-11-03
No recession in Joyent's cloud: Rod Boothby at Joyent (disclosure: Rod is also a fellow Irregular) sent me the above graph showing how Joyent is profiting from the downturn in the economy. The reasons are not hard to fathom. Despite the economic downturn, organizations still need to get...; Tags: Financial, Recession, Data Centers, Financial Accounting, E-mail, Cloud Computing, Storage, Hardware, Data Management, Finance, Online Communications, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-10-31
SAP: Claus Heinrich resigns from executive board: In an email sent to all SAP employees today, Claus Heinrich announced that he intends to resign from the company on 31st May, 2009 the same date when co-CEO Henning Kagermann intends to leave the company. Heinrich's reasons for leaving are not entirely clear though he says...; Tags: Board, SAP AG, Heinrich, Labor Relations, Corporate Governance, E-mail, Web Site Development, Recruitment & Selection, Strategy, Human Resources, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Online Communications, Internet, Workforce Management, Management, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-10-31
LinkedIn's apps: good idea but...: Larry Dignan offers his view on the announcement that LinkedIn has added in a bundle of applications designed to enhance the platform. Larry is mildly dismissive, suggesting that: I wouldn't call these applications exactly enterprise class, but could be useful in the corporate environment. If we're equating 'enterprise'...; Tags: Network, LinkedIn, Larry, Tripit, Networking, Dennis Howlett; Blog posts 2008-10-29