Two recent posts by Enterprise Social Software vendors Jive and Atlassian set up a huge debate amongst my fellow Enterprise Irregulars. Here’s the money-quote from Jive:
It’s not so long ago that it felt embarrassing to say the words "SaaS" and " single-tenant" in the same sentence. For years, it’s been an industry mantra that it’s simply impossible to have a scalable SaaS business without multi-tenancy.
Both Jive and Atlassian went single-tenant. That’s a red flag with many SaaS purists. But there’s more then just tenancy. What if customer data stays behind the firewall, while the application is still provided over the web? Is that still considered SaaS? Do customers really care about such issues, or do they look for innovation in features and services?
And a bonus: the #1 SaaS icon supposedly delivers on-premise, if the deal is big enough…
Tags: atlassian, cloud computing, data security, Enterprise Software, infrastructure, jive, multi-tenant, On-Demand, on-premise, private cloud, readwriteweb, SaaS, salesforce.com, sharepoint, single-tenant, software architecture, software as a service, tenancy, xref, zoho
Promoting SaaS on eBay?
Humor, Personal Productivity, SaaS June 23rd, 2009
This listing on eBay is hilarious, almost makes me wonder if it’s a true listing or carefully planted advertising for Google Apps (and SaaS in general). But the seller appears to be real, has been on eBay for ten years… Here we go, get Microsoft Office w. Outlook for $75, because:
It’s brand new and never been opened. My boss bought it right before I moved the whole company over to Google Apps.
We never looked back, but here’s your opportunity to live it up, 90’s style, with this great, retro piece of Microsoft 2007 software.
Tags: auction, eBay, google apps, marketing, microsoft, ms office, Outlook, SaaS, xref
Zoho Office for Sharepoint: Use SaaS, Keep Data Behind the Firewall
Collaboration, Enterprise Software, SaaS June 23rd, 2009
One of the major roadblocks to SaaS providers’ entry to the enterprise is IT and Business concerns about corporate security, thinking of the firewall as the last line of defense.
Microsoft SharePoint has a very strong position in the Enterprise as the incumbents behind-the-firewall collaboration server, and for years smart Collaboration and Social Software vendors with better functionality, like Atlassian, Socialtext, Jive Software, Newsgator have been "playing well", adopting their services to SharePoint.
Now Zoho joins, announcing Zoho Office for Microsoft SharePoint, which combines the benefits of a collaborative SaaS Suite with the (perceived or real?) security if keeping data behind the firewall.
Tags: Collaboration, Exchange, firewall, Google, microsoft, ms office, Outlook, SaaS, security, sharepoint, zoho, zoho suite
Netbooks Resurfaces from Hibernation as WorkingPoint: SaaS for SMB with Nicer UI but Much Less Functionality
SaaS, Software, Startups June 17th, 2009
I’ve previously covered Netbooks, provider of an Integrated SaaS Business Suite for Very Small Businesses.
The company had an affordable On-Demand integrated business management solution for the VSB – very small businesses, the “S” in SMB / SME: typically companies with less then 25 employees, sometimes only 3-5, and, most importantly, without professional IT support, in which case Software as a Service is a life-saver.
NetBooks tried to cover a complete business cycle, from opportunity through sales, manufacturing, inventory / warehouse management, shipping, billing, accounting – some with more success then others. The process logic, the flow between various functional areas was excellent, but it was rendered almost unusable by a horrible UI. And it didn’t scale… so the company disappeared for a long year, completely re-building their code base.
Read on …
Tags: accounting, Accounting Software, bearingpoint, branding, business bydesign, business names, crm, Enterprise Software, erp, inventory management, manufacturing software, netbooks, netsuite, On-Demand, order fulfillment, procurement, quickbooks, SaaS, salesforce.com, small business software, smb, sme, vsb, workingpoint, xref
Intuit Did Not Kill MS Money. Microsoft Did. Slowly, Over Long Years. Here’s the Full Story.
Software June 11th, 2009
An era comes to an end on June 30th, when Microsoft discontinues their PFM (Personal Financial Management) product, Money.
The story started outside Microsoft, with a startup named Intuit releasing their first DOS-based PFM software, Quicken. The concept was simple and powerful: balance your checkbook, keep track of your financial transactions electronically. It worked; in fact surveys showed that Quicken became the driver for many consumers to buy their first personal computers in the late 80’s. But it really became popular when Windows, especially the first “good” version, 3.0 arrived.
Intuit remained a one-product company until after their IPO in 1993, when they acquired Chipsoft and entered the tax-software market.
Tags: intuit, microsoft, Microsoft Money, mint, money management., MS Money, Online Banking, personal finance, PFM, quicken, SaaS, software as a service, Software plus Service, Wesabe, xref
SAP Discusses SaaS Strategy
Enterprise Software, SaaS June 11th, 2009
John Wookey has a tough job. The former Oracle Exec, currently EVP @ SAP, the Enterprise Software leader is supposed to charter SAP’s foray into On-Demand – in a company whose bread-and-butter is clearly in installed applications and which still largely considers a threat to its traditional lucrative business.
He spent the first 6 months crafting the new strategy, which he first announced at the SIIA OnDemand Europe conference in Amsterdam.
Tags: business bydesign, byd, Enterprise Software, On-Demand, SaaS, sap, siemens, smb, software as a service, succesfactors, talent management, xref
The Cat is Out of the Bag (Again): The Not-So-Hidden Business Model in SaaS
Business, SaaS June 1st, 2009
Forget software: it’s all about (your) data.
Hyper-growing Financial Management system provider and Quicken / MS Money challenger Mint recently raised eyebrows announcing their plan to sell anonymized aggregate customer data. Some reviewers were screaming, we saw bombastic titles like Personal Finance Startup Mint Wants To Sell Your Money Trail – but in reality the news wasn’t earth shattering. You don’t really believe your spending patterns are not dissected – aggregated – analyzed in every possible way and sold by your bank and credit card company, do you?
So nothing new – but a good opportunity to discuss the role of user data in SaaS business models – and there is more than outright sale of data.
Tags: aggregate data, benchmarking, business model, data ownership, data privacy, freshbooks, mint, saan, SaaS, xref
Two Days Left for Under the Radar Online Registration – Get Your Discount Here
Marketing / PR, SaaS, Social Networking, Startups April 21st, 2009
We’re at the final countdown stage for the Under the Radar: Clarity in the Cloud conference – it’s coming up this Friday, April 24th, 8:00AM – 6:00PM @ the Microsoft Campus, in Mountain View, CA.
If it’s named a conference, it has to have a keynote or a panel, and that’s what you get at 9am: the Buyers’ Wish-list Panel:
- What are technology buyers are hunting for?
- What cloud technologies have they adopted?
- How you can get on their wish list?
But that’s where all similarity to a conference ends. The rest of UtR is actually a giant Startup Launchpad – the American Idol of startups. Except UtR won’t take months to declare the winners. The finalists present in a rapid-fire format – they are grouped in categories of 4 each, in two parallel tracks and each presenter has about 15 minutes. They get grilled by the judges and audience, then all attendees get to vote ( I wonder if they upgraded from paper ballots to SMS yet..) and at the end of the conference the winners of each category are announced.
UtR has a good track record of the participants getting funded – about half of them got funded or acquired in the past. (See more stats here.) If we can believe InformationWeek’s Top 50 Startup list, this year’s roster will also be worth paying attention to:
Then there are the Graduate Circle Companies – fomer UtR presenters, who are no longer truly “under the radar”, having proven themselves:
So if you want to be part of 2009 startup history, network with entrepreneurs, VC’s, media, corporate decisionmakers, join us on Friday. CloudAve is a media partner for this event, several of us (Krish, Graeme, Raju and myself) will be there, and most importantly, we have a deal for you. Use our VIP registration site for $100 off the non-member price.
If you can’t commit full day, drop by just for the afternoon (it’s Friday). For the first time in the history of these events, you can now get an after-lunch pass for $275.
See you there!
(Note to PR types: thanks for all your interest, but I am not making advance appointments. UtR is too vibrant, dynamic, there are too many interesting people to bump into to make such commitments – better go with the flow. But it’s a small place, and several of us from CloudAve will be there, so I’m sure we’ll meet your startup clients anyway.)
(Cross-posted from CloudAve. To stay abreast of news, analysis and just plain opinion on Cloud Computing, SaaS, Business grab the CloudAve Feed here.)
Tags: cloud computing, Collaboration, DealMakerMedia, entrepreneurship, IBDNetwork, marketing, mashups, networking, SaaS, startup pitch, Startups, Under the Radar, UtR, vc Funding, venture Capital
Startups: Present at Under the Radar
SaaS, Social Networking, Startups March 18th, 2009
Under the Radar is Silicon Valley’s most established startup debut platform: a conference series organized by Dealmaker Media (for those with a longer memory, they used to be IBDNetwork) , covering business applications, social media, entertainment, mobility..etc.
The 11th Under the Radar conference in Mountain View, CA on April 24, 2009 will focus on Cloud Computing and Business Applications and as such it’s an obvious fit for CloudAve – media partners for the event.
While a conference in name, it’s actually a giant Startup Launchpad – the American Idol of startups. Typically 32 finalists are selected, who will present in a rapid-fire format – they are grouped in categories of 4 each, in two parallel tracks and each presenter has about 15 minutes. They get grilled by the judges and audience, and at the end of the conference the winners of each category are announced.
But why bother in the middle of the worst recession most of us have seen? After all, no startups get funded now – you may think. Well, if you think VC investment all dried up, just look at these two UtR companies picking up $27M in funding. In fact Dealmaker Media claims that in the past 3 years alone, presenting companies have gone on to raise over $1.36 Billion. Some additional stats on Under the Radar “graduates”:
49% have gone on to raise funding or be acquired
14% have been acquired by companies such as Google, eBay, Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco
$14 Million average has been raised by presenting companies
I guess the Dealmaker name is justified, after all 
. Other than the presentations, these events are also an excellent networking opportunity amongst the 400 or so attendees, so let’s look at the previous years’ attendance statistics by provided by Dealmaker Media:
It certainly looks like the right crowd to mingle with for investment-hungry startups. Currently about half the slots are filled by these finalists:
Ctera, Eucalyptus, Heroku, New Relic, Sauce Labs, Symplified, Tap In Systems, Twillio, uTest, Virsto Software, Zephyr, Zetta, Zimory, Zuora.
Obviously that means there is still room for more. So if your startups fits one of these categories:
Cloud Infrastructure | Platforms | Virtualization | Saas | Mashups | Collaboration | Communication | Business Apps | Development Tools (Utilities, OS, etc…) | Mobile Office | Semantics | Commerce | Social software/ networks | Sync (online/offline)
and meets the general criteria:
- Unique value proposition
- Ability to monetize product/business
- Large market opportunity
- Must still be considered "under the radar" – launched in 2009
- Company must be an actual startup – not a new product from a large company
then what are you waiting for? Apply now to present at Under the Radar. Non-presenting attendees can register here.
We will talk about UtR more over @ CloudAve – it will no doubt be an exciting competition.
(Cross-posted from CloudAve. To stay abreast of news, analysis and just plain opinion on Cloud Computing, SaaS, Business grab the CloudAve Feed here.)
Tags: cloud computing, Collaboration, DealMakerMedia, entrepreneurship, IBDNetwork, marketing, mashups, networking, SaaS, startup pitch, Startups, Under the Radar, UtR, vc Funding, venture Capital
Under the Radar: Call for Startups in Cloud Computing & Business Applications
Business, Collaboration, SaaS, Startups January 12th, 2009
Under the Radar is the Silicon Valley’s most established startup debut platform: a conference series organized by Dealmaker Media, covering business applications, social media, entertainment, mobility..etc.
The 11th Under the Radar conference in Mountain View, CA on April 24, 2009 will focus on Cloud Computing and Business Applications and the organizers have issued a CALL FOR COMPANIES to present.
The general criteria for all UTR events:
- Unique value proposition
- Ability to monetize product/business
- Large market opportunity
- Must still be considered "under the radar" – launched in 2008
- Company must be an actual startup – not a new product from a large company
Typically 32 finalists are selected, who will present in a rapid-fire format – they are grouped in categories of 4 each, in two parallel tracks and each presenter has about 15 minutes. They get grilled by the judges and audience, and at the end of the conference the winners of each category are announced. Categories for the April event are:
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Platforms
- Virtualization
- Saas
- Mashups
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Business Apps
- Development Tools (Utilities, OS, etc…)
- Mobile Office
- Semantics
- Commerce
- Social software/ networks
- Sync (online/offline)
If you’re building a startup, meet the criteria above, will have a real product / service out by April, don’t hesitate: APPLY.
See you in April!
(Cross-posted from CloudAve – to stay on top of Cloud Computing news, analysis and just our opinion, grab the CloudAve Feed here)
Tags: cloud computing, Collaboration, DealMakerMedia, entrepreneurship, glue, IBDNetwork, marketing, mashups, networking, SaaS, startup pitch, Startups, Under the Radar, UtR, vc Funding, venture Capital
Zoli Erdos
