When it comes to the needs of manufacturers and SMEs, NetSuite recently announced expanded solutions that look promising – if some challenges can be overcome.

While attending the NetSuite SuiteWorld 2013 conference in San Jose, CA, Dennis sat down with Frank Scavo, CEO of Computer Economics, to talk about NetSuite’s attempts to meet manufacturers’ needs in a cloud ERP solution. They also riff on NetSuite’s multi-books solution, which brings new international accounting capabilities. But what are the cost/benefit tradeoffs?

One of the conference’s big announcements centered on a partnership with Autodesk, which is integrating their cloud-based PLM system with NetSuite. One of the issues in manufacturing companies is that engineers already have PLM or CAD systems that they’re very comfortable with. As it turns out, with a couple of the companies that Frank talked to, they’re already doing integration with other PDM (product data management) systems. The Autodesk Fusion 360 product does a lot more than that. It’s used for ideation, requirements gathering – the whole lifecycle of product development.  But is it ahead of what most NetSuite customers need now? Frank gives his take.

The guys switch gears to talk SMEs and multi-books, which in theory would help SMEs to move upmarket by helping them maintain multiple sets of books in different currencies. Frank is concerned about, 1) the price of the application; and, 2) the footprint size. It’s a fine line to balance global functionality with price and ease of implementation. Frank and Den think the success of multi-books  might come down to NetSuite’s partners.  Bottom line:  there are a lot of other cloud-based entrants out there eager to fit the bill. Which, Dennis and Frank agree, is good for customers.

Show Notes

:30 NetSuite announces expanded functionality for manufacturing

1:06 The manufacturing solution builds out from the core

2:20 Partnership with Autodesk’s Fusion 360 product will fit very well with NetSuite

4:26 Multi-book accounting product looks promising

6:03 Competition from other cloud-based entrants is good for customers

Duncan Angove, President of Infor, says his company is one of the few in enterprise software that can scale up to the really big companies, and scale all the way down to the really small ones.

Speaking with Dennis at the recent Inforum 2013 in Orlando with Jon behind the camera, Duncan explains that two factors have driven Infor to its current position: First, they have a purpose-built ERP strategy, not just by micro-vertical but by size of customer. Second, the ION platform is very elegant and lightweight, yet also super-scalable. And, Duncan adds, with the release of 10X, Infor expects growth to be exponential, not linear.

Duncan confirms to Dennis that Infor plans to dive into micro-verticals, especially those that are under-served or not served at all. Infor’s equipment cloud, for instance, focuses on the heavy machinery space –a market Infor felt could be served better. The company has also released a micro-vertical called Printing & Packaging – which targets some 400,000 companies globally. The company can now get to market about 12 months after deciding which micro-vertical to target, unlike the old 3 to 5 year cycle.

As for the recently announced SkyVault, Duncan says that Infor wants to leverage the cloud as the world’s supercomputer – not just for storage, but for computing power. That’s in keeping with the bigger picture, which, Duncan stresses, is to pick some really big problems that haven’t been solvable before — and go crack them.
Show Notes

:45  Duncan: Infor can scale its solutions to most any size of company

:57  Specialized programs running on the ION platform deliver simplicity of integration

1:45  With the release of 10X, Duncan expects growth to be exponential, not linear

2:18  Infor focusing on micro-verticals that are under-served or not served at all

3:23  With SkyVault, Infor wants to leverage the cloud as the world’s supercomputer

4:00  Collaborating with customers and solving real-world problems

A recent contract win from the UK’s Department for Transport (DFT) amounts to a “game changer” for business software company UNIT4, says Darren Hunt, Director of Sales and Marketing. Dennis sits down with Hunt and Anwen Robinson, Managing Director, to talk about replacing the government’s existing SAP solution with a cloud-based system from arvato (owned by the Bertelsmann Group), a UNIT4 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) partner.

The DFT deal, classified as a Shared Service Center One contract, is arvato’s first big central government coup in the UK, and involves several units, not just one entity. As the first independent Shared Services Center One arrangement, arvato will handle the existing Service Center, including the building and the people. Dennis points out that, from a taxpayer standpoint, the risk is therefore all with UNIT4.

Hunt says that UNIT4 and arvato want to support central government in its push to move as many organizations as possible to the Shared Service Center – all without an army of consultants, or, he argues, the headaches on a typical ERP implementation. “It’s a repeatable model designed for shared services,” Hunt says.

Show Notes

:38 UNIT4’s “game changing” deal includes the underlying technology to make it all work

1:13 Business partner arvato will lead the way in replacing the existing SAP solution

1:43 The risk to the new model’s viability lies with UNIT4, not the government

2:31 The company’s vision matches the government’s – to move to shared services

2:58 Unlike typical ERP, UNIT4’s solution is “a repeatable model designed for shared services”

Are reports of the death of Big BI greatly exaggerated – or not? Jon caught up with Mico Yuk on her home turf in Atlanta to follow up on a recent argument that Mico had with Dennis Howlett over the future of BI. Mico explains that she and Dennis basically agree that, with fiercer, nimbler competition from smaller vendors, the Big BI ship has sailed. The disagreement comes over how far the ship has made it from the dock.

Mico contends that the issue of data governance is the only thing keeping BI alive. Dennis believes that smaller vendors will soon find workable solutions to that issue, and that the Big BI suite players, such as SAP, IBM and Oracle, will need to drastically change their approach.

Mico goes on to say that business people have taken over BI from IT – and, in the process, devaluing IT to the point that its people need to re-brand themselves as data scientists. She contends that, by 2015, data scientists will assume the traditional BI role. And that suite BI vendors will need to move faster and come up with new approaches that outdistance the status quo.

But as Mico sees it, until the critical issue of data governance is settled, all bets are off. At least for now.

Show Notes

1:28 Business people, seeking instant solutions, are taking BI over from IT

2:39 The issue of data governance is keeping Big BI alive – for now.

3:19 Mico’s argument with Dennis: Data governance is missing link

3:45 BI from a finance/line of business perspective

4:09 Mico and Dennis agree a ship has sailed in BI, but disagree on how far

5:28 IT has become the victim of quicker BI solutions

7:02 BI managers giving way to data scientists

8:30 Mico predicts that by 2015, data scientists will replace the traditional BI role

9:15 Suite BI vendors need to move faster and beyond the status quo

Meeting modern cloud standards and making compliance information available to anyone are the motivations behind the FinancialForce.com announcement of a new SSA16/SOC I application. The extra certification provides customers with a compliance layer above and beyond the platform the company uses on Salesforce.com, and is one of the first – if not the first – to build on top of Salesforce.com’s existing certification.

While in San Francisco, Dennis paid an office visit to CEO Jeremy Roche to find out why customers asked for this functionality. As Jeremy puts it, customers wanted the application, development and support processes to be certified in the same way that the FinancialForce.com platform was.

Jeremy points out that compliance is really seen as a global standard now. Auditors take a 6-month look at his company’s product, including security measures, so these standards matter internally as well as to customers. Jeremy explains that customers can further check into the certifications by visiting Trust.FinancialForce.com, which features a transparent view of system status reports.

Show Notes

0:55 Why there is customer demand for greater certification

2:01 Certification has become a global standard now

3:10 Why build on top of Salesforce.com’s certification?

4:05 Added certification simply builds upon the confidence and trust in Salesforce platform

6:20 Trust.FinancialForce.com provides certification info and system status

7:46 Helping CFOs sleep better at night

On the day of SAP’s Business Suite on HANA announcement, the JD-OD team was on location in Palo Alto – one of several global locations where simultaneous press conferences were coordinated.

After the Palo Alto presser and a small group blogger session, we caught up with SAP Executive Board Member Vishal Sikka to get his reactions to the milestone and the questions raised.

During the chat, Jon asked Vishal about a few pending issues, including pricing. (To this point, SAP has not offered specifics on Business Suite on HANA pricing, but has said that customers can expect pricing similar to other database options). Vishal also addresses Jon’s question about disruption, and how disruption can be seen very differently from a business or IT angle.

While maintaining that the move to HANA won’t disrupt customers, Vishal explains that IT will have to re-configure certain processes – like backup, recovery and archiving — and add at least some new hardware.

Vishal also expands upon the surprise announcement that other databases, such as Oracle and IBM’s DB2, will have opportunities to work with SAP on feature parity with HANA’s latest database enhancements.

Being a Business Suite on HANA event, there wasn’t much talk of HANA’s cloud potential, but Vishal does drop some interesting hints in this interview in response to Jon’s questions about HANA’s cloud relevance. Translation: “watch this space.”

Show Notes

0:36 Vishal explains that SAP’s “baby” can now handle the “world’s most complex business application”

1:06 Customers can re-invent business processes in real time, without headaches

2:02 All functionality available on all databases, with some aspects unique to HANA

2:50 Customers can expect typical database pricing

3:57 Users won’t be disrupted, but IT will have to re-configure processes and add hardware

6:00 With many SAP applications moving to the cloud, stay tuned for more news this spring

Commerce as a Service? Maybe for Apple or Amazon, but for enterprise vendors? Zach Nelson, CEO NetSuite talks to Dennis about enabling its ecommerce engine to be a platform upon which it is (relatively) easy to build the equivalent experience to what you get on the Apple AppStore or Amazon. The vision? “Headless commerce” – opening up APIs to any front end UI, whether it’s mobile -  or whatever’s next.

Show Notes

:20 The problem SuiteCommerce solves – by exposing operational systems directly to customers

1:30 Consumer expectations of ecommerce have escalated dramatically – an e-commerce web site no longer cuts it

3:10 It’s not just about mobile – why NetSuite changed its architecture to allow it to be exposed to multiple front ends and UIs

4:22 Transitioning from a commerce engine to a platform by opening up NetSuite’s cloud APIs

5:55 The goal – a “frictionless” commerce experience for the enterprise

Serving up contextually meaningful ads is not a simple task. Facebook is just one site that continues to struggle with personalizing ads to address the users’ interests. 41 Ads, a company in the HANA Startup Program, has taken this challenge head-on. During a recent trip to San Francisco, Jon stopped by 41 Ads headquarters and shot this video with Founder and CEO Steven Clark-Martin.

Clark explains how serving up ads that tap into user interests is now possible with HANA, when combined with 41 Ads own proprietary means of building relevant data streams. The guys also talk about how privacy concerns can be overcome, and how you win the trust of your audience to get them to opt-in to ads that rely upon demographic content. Clark also shares why Mongo, despite its strengths, is not as good a fit for 41 Ads’ needs as HANA.

Show Notes

1:10 Ads should be relevant – but that presents technical and data challenges

1:52 How HANA fits into the picture

2:40 “Advertising is a huge opportunity” – what will it take to get to market quickly?

3:35 The limitations of Mongo and what HANA can offer. What does 41 Ads need from SAP to make this happen?

Disclosure: This video is part of a project commissioned by SAP to amplify startup activity and developer innovation on HANA, mobile, and the SAP cloud.

Security has a whole different meaning on a post 9/11 world. Technical trends point to breakthroughs using predictive tactics to anticipate security breaches before they happen. Alert Enterprise, part of the HANA Startup Program, uses predictive analytics powered by HANA to help companies uncover anomalies in real-time that may lead to security breaches. To figure out how this works, Dennis headed to Alert Enterprise North American headquarters in Fremont, California and sat down with Pan Kamal, Alert Enterprise VP of Marketing.

Show Notes

:40 How security has changed in a post 9/11 world – we need to anticipate and prevent events before they happen.

2:10   “A more comprehensive view of risk”

3:00 Using HANA to identify anomalies via predictive techniques

4:00 Counting on HANA to flag security issues in real-time

5:00 Why HANA makes this solution more viable

Disclosure: This video is part of a project commissioned by SAP to amplify startup activity and developer innovation on HANA, mobile, and the SAP cloud.

At SAP TechEd 2012, Taulia was featured in Vishal Sikka’s keynote as the first SAP HANA startup live in production on AWS (Amazon Web Services). But what problem do they solve for customers? And is there something SAP HANA can do for them that other solutions can’t?

To find out, Dennis took a trip to Taulia world headquarters in San Francisco and came back with this video. Joe Hyland, Senior Director of Marketing for Taulia, gives the lowdown on CloudFinance and how the solution can make big businesses more profitable via the automation of discount capture.  Markus (Max) Ament, Chief Product Officer, chimes in during the second half of the shoot to provide more context on why reinventing discounting means big data. Screen shots are included.

Show Notes

:40 How big businesses can be more profitable by automating discount capture

1:15 Detecting invoices that can be paid early at a discount – if the supplier is hungry for cash and eligible for early payment

1:50 A company’s most critical asset is its suppliers – why not get better returns on your money versus T-bills?

3:40 Where HANA fits in – screening thousands of suppliers and millions of invoices means big data

4:00 A cloud based solution – live on AWS

Disclosure: This video is part of a project commissioned by SAP to amplify startup activity and developer innovation on HANA, mobile, and the SAP cloud.

Why should be care about hybrid clouds? Sam Johnston of Equinix has some answers. At the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, Johnston explained why hybrid clouds make sense in today’s cloud market. He also weighs in on how the cloud’s emphasis on open standards can help prevent vendor lock in, one of the big frustrations for today’s CIOs.

Show Notes

:45 Why should we care about hybrid clouds?

1.43 Cloud integration challenges – can open standards help?

3:42 Proprietary APIs pose problems

3:58 Aggregation and loose coupling

5:04 Can open standards prevent vendor lock in?

8:02 Next steps for cloud CIOs

At the London Cloud Computing Forum, Jon talked with Andy Leaver of Workday about Workday’s EMEA plans and why the cloud puts CIOs in the hot seat. Since the Cloud Forum had a heavy IT director emphasis, Andy weighed in on how CIOs fit into Workday’s sales process and whether CIOs should feel threatened by SaaS and its Line of Business sales focus.

Show Notes

:40 Workday’s first year at the Cloud Forum – why are they here?

:60 How the cloud is impacting CIOs

1:45 Should CIOs feel threatened by the cloud?

2:20 The CIO’s Role in the Workday decision making process (yes, security and integration matters)

4:00 Workday’s EMEA plans – status report

At the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, Den convened a “state of cloud accounting” four-man-shoot with Richard Messik of E-conomic, Gary Turner of Xero, and David Terrar of Business Two Zero (a Twinfield partner). The guys discuss the growth of cloud accounting in the UK and compare notes on how cloud perceptions are changing.  One key theme: customers are beginning to shift beyond cloud-as-money-saver to how the cloud can transform business practices.

Show Notes

1:15 Richard on the state of cloud accounting:  “a lot more awareness and activity”

2:45 Gary on the growth of Xero

5:21 Why Business Two Zero has expanded beyond cloud accounting

6:03 “Practices are realizing the cloud can transform the way they work with their clients”

9:15 iPads and mobile driving changes to how clients are serviced

At the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, Den sat down with JP Rangaswami, Chief Scientist at Salesforce.com to discuss the future of business in light of Saleforce.com’s recent acquisitions. What started out as a discussion about Salesforce.com’s moves to create a front office suite play quickly evolved into a discussion of the future of the networked business. At the top of Rangaswami’s mind were two ideas: reducing friction between companies and customers and shifting from “unit cost management” to “cost of change management”.  Forward-thinking companies are not waiting for the economy to improve to grow new markets.

Show Notes

:45 Is Salesforce.com employing a front office suite strategy?

1:10 Reducing customer friction – the impact of networks

2:45 How will companies grow new markets?

3:30 Silos break down when networks are fostered

5:04 “‘Jackie in the corner’ is a lot more important than we used to think” – “Talent doesn’t scale unless you connect all the dots”

7:33 Moving from “unit cost management” to the “cost of change management” – why platforms matter

Prior to his presentation at the Cloud Computing World Forum on the Future of Software, John Harris of GSK spoke with the JD-OD team about the impact of cloud. As the chair of the UK Corporate IT Forum, Harris has an on-the-ground view of how CIOs view the cloud.  Harris shares his view of how the cloud changes how we view and consume software. He also touches on the disruption this is causing CIOs (and IT departments).  As Harris puts it, “I’m not excited about the cloud because I can put a server up quickly.” He sees a much more transformational impact.

Show Notes

:40 Does the cloud make software irrelevant?

1:50 Why the cloud is disrupting IT departments

2:50 How should CIOs respond, and does security come into play?

3:45 “Open up the crown jewels to developers”