Do platforms matter? And if they do, why?

The JD-OD team sat down with Aiaz Kazi, SVP for Platform Strategy at SAP, at Sapphire NOW 2013 to get Aiaz’s take on how platforms change the game for both partners and customers in terms of building apps.

Aiaz says platforms absolutely matter. Looking at any successful company in practically any space proves the point. Whether it’s consumer products,  enterprise software or hardware, if you don’t provide a platform that others can build on, you won’t have a long-term sustainable company

A classic case? The return of Apple in rolling out the iPod and the iTunes marketplace – bold moves that transformed a hardware company into a platform company. Aiaz goes on to say that, for him, a platform has two key components. One is the technology that people build on. The second piece involves monetizing the applications that are being built.

When it comes to how people perceive SAP’s platform, Jon points out there are some varied opinions, as well as a degree of confusion. What does SAP plan to do about this? Aiaz says that with HANA having matured rapidly since it was introduced, HANA now provides both the application development and the data management capability at the foundation. This eliminates the forced choices of the past. The essential message needs to be further spread — HANA is both a database and a platform.

Aiaz emphasizes that the true way to look at HANA is as a platform, the core foundation of all the applications that SAP will be delivering on top. Nowhere is that seen more clearly than in the energy of the startups that are using HANA. The way Aiaz sees it, a platform isn’t a platform until you have many thriving applications on it. Aiaz needs 5 million applications on his platform. Doing that means fueling the imagination of the startups.

But as Aiaz sees it, you don’t do it by pushing the platform in a conventional marketing sense. You do it by enabling the ecosystem, which means re-thinking and re-inventing it, as well. Startups are bringing an entirely new base to SAP — with 60% to 70% of them, perhaps more, building for net-new SAP scenarios.

Show Notes

:52 Successful companies provide a platform others can build on

1:56 Platforms give customers a chance to rethink processes

2:30 Platform’s two key components: buildable tech and potential for monetization

3:16 Varied opinions exist on  SAP’s platform strategy

4:40 Why HANA, which is a database and a platform, eliminates forced choices of the past

5:42 Generating 5 million apps on HANA depends on fueling the imagination of startups

7:50 SAP’s intent is not to sell the platform, but to enable the ecosystem

Disclosure: SAP paid most of Jon’s travel and expenses to Sapphire Now 2013.

Molson Coors is a household name in the U.S., with a strong presence in Canada and Europe, as well. Lately, though, the beer maker has upped its focus on growing its Asian markets, specifically those in Japan, India and China. However, that expansion posted ERP rollout challenges.

David Stanbridge, IT Portfolio Manager for Molson Coors International Europe, sat down with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 to talk about how SAP Business ByDesign turned out to be the right fit for the company’s growth plans in Asia.

David says that it became clear that a  full-on SAP ERP approach was too complex  for their smaller Asian deployments. Given that the strategy from a corporate perspective is SAP,  it was a natural choice to look at other SAP offerings. Another key selling point? ByDesign’s Sarbanes-Oxley compliance component.

The first rollout, which took place in India earlier this year, took three months to implement from end to end. Yes, some folks were a bit resistant to moving off the spreadsheets they are used to, but planning for change is always a factor with new software implementations. Lesson learned: upcoming rollouts in China and Japan are expected to take advantage of more classroom-based training, especially since a number of the finance people there speak only Chinese.

Beyond compliance and integration, David believes there is just as much benefit to be had around growth. Given ByDesign’s capacity to quickly add new users, as well as its scalability, David gives a positive verdict on Molson’s ByDesign installs to date.

Show Notes

:41 ByDesign fits with the company’s growth plans for Japan, India and China

1:18 With the corporate perspective being SAP, ByDesign was a logical option

2:37 Sarbanes-Oxley compliance aspect another ByDesign benefit

3:08 First rollout in India took two or three months to implement

3:45 Some people hesitant to move off spreadsheets

4:24 Upcoming China and Japan rollouts will likely use some classroom-type training

5:15 ByDesign’s scalability and growth potential the right fit for the company’s needs

With 22,000 employees and a presence in 120 countries worldwide, HILTI needed a cost-effective business management system – without the pain associated with a typical on-premise ERP install.

Christoph Baeck of HILTI Asia IT Services visited with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 to explain why his company chose SAP Business ByDesign to manage its far flung subsidiaries.

As Christoph says,  he’d become very skilled at rolling out ERP 6.0  because of the number of times he’d done it. By comparison, ByDesign looked to be a more affordable solution, and a better fit for smaller “spokes.” There are currently 8 HILTI subsidiaries on ByDesign, mainly in the Eastern European and Middle Eastern regions. By the end of this year, HILTI plans to have 20 subsidiaries that are live, with more than 1,000 users. Heavy localization is avoided, apart from what’s legally required.

Jon asks Christoph how HILTI measures the results. As Christoph explains, success of the implementation is measured less in currency and more by the degree to which key systems can now talk to each other. Prior to ByDesign, local offices were having a hard time following their processes  from a global point of view. Now they’ve changed not only the IT system but the process behind that. Another result? The HILTI workforce generally seems to have embraced the benefits of a system that’s integrated with the “hub.”

Show Notes

:41 HILTI’s presence in 120 countries worldwide created the need for ByDesign

2:32 Why ByDesign is the better solution for subsidiaries with smaller workforces

3:07 Rollout of ByDesign creates less pain than typical ERP

4:10 End-of-year goal: 20 subsidiaries and 1,000 users live with ByDesign

4:39 Except for what’s legally required, localization is avoided

5:15 Though hard to measure monetarily, key systems have undergone big (and positive) changes

6:05 Subsidiaries largely seeing the benefits of an integrated system

This isn’t your mother’s CRM. What do we have instead? Solutions that are adopted by 90% of the sales force – nearly triple the rate of the average CRM toolkit.

Garth Hamilton, SVP for Strategy and Delivery at Liquid Analytics, sat down with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 to provide insight into why salespeople in the field have adopted Liquid’s CRM at such high percentages compared to the norm. He also talks about how Liquid’s approach to CRM, enabled by SAP HANA, helps to transform sales reps from order takers into trusted business partners.

Garth explains that Liquid decided to build a holistic tool set that goes after a day in the life of the sales rep. Liquid’s product can tell a tablet-carrying rep when certain customers need a re0stock in real-time, down the specific item numbers. By turning a five-minute appointment into one minute of order-taking and four minutes of business talk, the rep adds value both to the customer and the company.

And because Liquid has built the app to enable the salesperson’s day, and not as a management app, adoption levels have come in on the high end. The product is built on top of the SAP Mobile Platform, and uses HANA One to drive the real-time analytics, with options for on-premises or cloud management. With thousands of users already, Garth says it’s a matter of doubling and tripling in scale to get to critical mass. One challenge: Getting the stuff that Liquid offers on executives’ radar screens – a classic marketing problem.

Demo Notes

:55 Moving from order takers to trusted business partners

1:57 Real-time order management

3:17 Streamlining order process strengthens customer relationhips

4:04 Adoption levels are  nearly triple the CRM average

4:51 Combining mobility, analytics/big data and cloud

6:11 Getting Liquid’s solution on executives’ radar

With the Liquid Decisions app, a sales rep does more than just walk into a customer’s business and asking which of his 20,000 items are needed – predictive analytics show the specific items and quantities that the business likely needs to restock its shelves.

Garth Hamilton, SVP for Strategy and Delivery at Liquid Analytics, shows Jon how the app enables sales reps while they’re in the field, real-time:

Show Notes

:18 Liquid Decisions dashboard uses map and pins to communicate customer issues

1:07 Goals screen uses predictive analytics to help reps meet periodic goals

1:53 Tapping restock icon shows CRM-style information about the business

2:19 RapidOrder function IDs products and quantities that customers should need, right now

2:55 Predictive analytics also generate a Recommended Products page

3:28 App verifies quantities against warehouse stocks, checks credit and confirms order

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.

Most of Infor’s customers are evaluating the cloud in one form or another. What can be done on it that’s real, that’s safe, that’s production-grade? What’s more, who they should use, and what are Infor’s plans?

To get a better grasp on those ideas and concerns, the JD-OD team caught up with Ali Shadman, SVP for Business Cloud and Upgrade/S at Infor, at the recent Inforum 2013 in Orlando.

The guys discuss a couple of major announcements that came out of the conference, including a new relationship with IBM, where Infor will partner with Big Blue to move their applications to the SmartCloud platform. Another bit of news — Amazon Redshift will support Infor’s newly-announced SkyVault.

But what about cloud outages? Amazon has certainly had a few. Is this something Infor’s customers need to worry about? Ali points out that if, say, Netflix crashes and you can’t watch a movie for an hour or two, your world is not going to stop. But if you’re running a manufacturing floor and the floor goes out for three or four hours, it’s serious. Ali explains how Infor is approaching these issues to make sure its customers are not on the wrong side of cloud outages.

Show Notes

:37 What can be done on the cloud that’s real, safe and production-grade, customers ask

1:19 Clients see edge applications as easier to move than transactional systems

1:51 Partnership with IBM SmartCloud will span a range of Infor systems

3:22 Cloud outages influence Infor’s choice of vendor, and how they provide systems

3:47 The use of Amazon Redshift, and Ali’s detailed criteria for deciding who to go to

With Dennis behind the camera, Jon sat down with Nick Borth, Product Manager at Infor, to see where his customers are with mobility and what they were saying during the recent Inforum 2013 event in Orlando.

Nick says that, surprisingly enough, customers want to roll out their own mobile apps — despite the learning curve involved. Nick also reports receiving a lot of enhancement requests for Infor’s mobile apps. Which suggests an evolving ecosystem that combines Infor’s apps with those that customers develop

The guys talk about the double-edged idea that customers want others building apps for them while also wanting to take on that job themselves. Also surprising? It’s not just larger companies that want to build their own apps. A number of smaller companies are asking Infor for that capability. Nick’s approach? Deliver, but do it simply and quickly.

For the wrap, the Jon delves into consumer tech banter and asks Nick who comes in second after iOS and Adroid, Nick’s take? In the enterprise space, Microsoft will play a significant role. But here’s the catch: more often than not, though, the third option is actually web. As a result, Infor looks to support HTML5 and Javascript before it goes to a third native platform.

Show Notes

:34  Customers want to build their own mobile apps?

1:12  Ecosystem evolving to include Infor-built and customer-built apps

1:57  One key: giving developers security and integration tools

2:41  Road Warrior app is a success story

3:52  Customers’ desire to build their own apps is more prevalent than many thought

4:37  Apps are a quick way in  - and an easy way for customers to get value

5:23 Why Infor looks to support HTML5 and Javascript before going a third native platform

Disclosure: Infor paid Dennis and Jon’s travel and hotel for Inforum 2013.

Products break and have faults – roughly 5% occur after they’re sold and up to 25% occur within the factory gates. Worldwide, manufacturing faults are estimated to cost companies a staggering $1.3 trillion.

Dan Somers, CEO, Warwick Analytics, explains to Dennis that his company’s approach to solving this expensive problem hinges on data. Lots of data, and the more reliable the better. His company’s proprietary algorithms work best in industries where data is plentiful: electronics, automotive, pharmaceutical and aerospace. That’s especially true for companies that have live data and can test every product that goes out the door.

Because Dan’s solution is aimed at real-time results, it requires a huge amount of computational power. That makes HANA the perfect partner because HANA works in real time and provides highly reliable results. As a member of the HANA Startup Program, Warwick eventually became a fully-fledged SAP partner.

According to Dan, pairing up HANA with Warwick’s algorithms yields significant ROI. Net-net: companies utilizing Warwick’s HANA application could look forward to a low-cost future, or redeployment of resources, or make additional money while at the same time producing better and safer products.

Show Notes

:22 Warwick Analytics seeks to find the root causes of manufacturing defects

1:44 Manufacturing faults cost companies $1.3 trillion annually

2:39 Warwick uses data, not more engineers, to propose a quick-fix solution

4:29 Dan’s approach works best in industries where data is plentiful

5:28 Part of Warwick’s magic lies in cleaning up algorithms, because real-world data is dirty

6:22 HANA is the perfect partner because it works in real time

7:28 Why pairing up HANA with Warwick’s algorithms provides significant ROI

8:28 What parts of the process can Warwick’s solution assess?

9:26 Dan has proven his concept, and is now working with several customers

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.

To get a better idea of how data sharing can benefit both manufacturers and customers, Dennis paid a visit to Chris Moore, Director, Hi-Technology Group Ltd., an SMB based in the UK and Slovakia. Hi-Tech has chosen to implement the ION extension from Infor in order to expand the service element of its business. With ION in place, once key customer agreements are entered into the system, Hi-Tech can show the client where the product is – at any stage.

Chris believes that Infor’s solution takes the guesswork out of the manufacturing process. That means visibility into where the product is from a scheduling standpoint – at all points. In the long run, that means better customer relationships.

As for future plans, Hi-Technology Group wants to push the data to mobile devices so that employees, salespeople and executives can look at the business from wherever they are in the world. As Dennis points out, that’s hardly the way business used to be done. There’s a whole new level of tech-enabled service capability now.

Show Notes

:37  Hi-Tech specializes in working with customers at any or all stages of the product process

1:19  Hi-Tech uses technology to interface with customers on the same level as larger companies

2:14  Infor’s ION extension takes guesswork out of the manufacturing process

3:09  How ION helps Hi-Tech provide a better customer experience

3:57  Data sharing allows customer and company to have a “level understanding of the product”

4:14  Hi-Tech hopes to push the data onto customer-supplied mobile devices

5:19  Pushing data directly to customers would add a significant service component – and value

The massive amount of data being created today doesn’t necessarily have the right structure for analysis. Nor does it easily fit into an existing schema or relational table. Hadoop-savvy companies (like Hadapt) have been able to take the Apache Hadoop open-source product and do some nifty things with parallel programming. The opportunity? Fortune 500 companies that are itching to give their analysts access to that data with some easy-to-use Hadoop front ends.

At the SAP HANA Startup Forum in Boston, Scott Howser, VP Marketing at Hadapt, tells Jon that it’s all about getting those Hadoop-enabled tools into the hands of the masses. By enabling SQL for Hadoop, and also embedding a relational database, Scott says that Hadapt is giving its customers a competitive advantage that – up until recently – has been restricted to companies with an ample supply of PhDs and quants.

The guys talk about Hadapt’s current customer focus of fraud detection for financial services ,as well as enhancements they are pursuing for Consumer Behavior Analytics (CBA). Scott says that Hadapt’s CBA work has attempted to use information like click-throughs and windowing to harvest more granular data about transactional behaviors.

So where might HANA fit into the picture? While Hadapt is still in the tire-kicking stage concerning whether to use HANA, Scott sees several areas of interest. Example? Using HANA to speed the processing of combined transactional and analytics data. Hadapt also has a relational engine that lives inside Hadoop – this could potentially be transitioned to HANA for in-memory database performance.
Show Notes

:40 By using SQL on Hadoop, Hadapt has exposed analysts to the data they need

2:23 Hadapt wants to give everyone a competitive advantage, not just the Quants

3:13 Fraud detection and customer behavior analytics are Hadapt’s current focus areas

4:34 Use of HANA could enhance Hadoop’s relational engine and marry different workloads

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.

It was surprisingly difficult to find truly buzz-worthy apps at the Mobile World Congress 2013, but we found a few keepers. This time it’s Jean-Dominique Lauwereins, COO and Co-Founder of BeTomorrow. He gives Jon an impromptu tour of a couple of their best apps – with Dennis behind camera.

First Jean-Dominique demos The G20 Data app, built for the French government, which shows visualizes data for all the G20 countries. In a comparison view, users get an instant, graphic snapshot of how France stacks up against the other G20s. Example: by manipulating a slider control near the bottom of the touchscreen, the app shows how many Internet users all 20 countries had at any given time, from 2000 onward. Stats for individual countries appear by tapping a map and a category.

The guys switch to the LiveSailing app, produced in conjunction with Omega for the 2012 London Olympics. By placing GPS devices in competing sailboats, the developers were able to produce real-time images of each, along with trailing graphics. The result? A real-time animated view of the actual race from constantly changing angles. The goal? To provide a higher level of user engagement than is possible from static (and often delayed) television coverage.

Show Notes

:33 G20 Data app compares stats, such as number of Internet users, for all G20 countries

1:26 Tapping on a specific country compares it with the rest of the G20

2:13 LiveSailing app shows real-time animated views of sailboat race, with trailing graphics

Disclosure: SAP paid Jon’s travel and accommodations as well as Dennis’ accommodations at MWC 13. 

In developing countries, mobile money solutions are gaining momentum as an alternative to dealing with banks. Communication happens differently also: in countries like Uganda, Facebook is more than a social site – it’s a vital communications hub offered as a free service via companies like Orange Telecom. Top find out more about mobile microfinance, we tracked down Sam Brawerman of PHB Development (based in Liege, Belgium). Dennis got him on camera during an outdoor break at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona.

Sam explains that Orange’s approach in Uganda has been driven by the need to serve that population differently. The transaction amounts there are very different, the people don’t have IDs and they live in rural areas – all unique challenges to setting up a mobile money solution. Because most Ugandans don’t have bank accounts, the population has grown to trust telcos, which employ agents to sign up subscribers over the phone.

Orange gained the people’s trust by ensuring that services like deposits and withdrawals – not new smartphone bells and whistles — were reliable and secure. The result? 30,000 subscribers in a month, says Sam. The end result are mobile banking trends that in some cases have outpaced mobile banking in the western world.
Show Notes

:43 PHB’s mobile money solution offered through Orange Telecom

1:52 Most Ugandans don’t have bank accounts; they trust telcos instead

2:33 Smartphone-equipped agents sign up subscribers; accounts activate in about a day

3:31 Orange positioned itself as reliable and secure – and got 30,000 subscribers in a month

4:27 Socially networked Ugandans rely on Facebook for communications, because it is free on Orange

Disclosure: SAP paid Jon’s travel and accommodations as well as Dennis’ accommodations at MWC 13. 

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”

What does the man who tracks CRM as well as anyone think of Microsoft’s latest update to its CRM suite? Dennis got the word directly from Esteban Kolsky of thinkjar while both were attending/crashing/analyzing the Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013 in New Orleans.

As Esteban sees it, to become best-of-breed, though, all of the parts of Microsoft’s CRM suite will need to integrate into a common platform – a process that will progressively happen over the couple years. He also explains why he likes Microsoft’s cloud story.

Esteban points out that while Microsoft has a couple of large CRM implementations at the Tier 1 level, they need to get more. There’s a big opportunity developing with Siebel replacements, some of which have been around for 15 or 20 years. The verdict? Compared to where things were last year, Microsoft’s new and improved CRM offering amounts to a good story – but one that needs a little more work.

Show Notes

:38 Microsoft’s new CRM suite is a good base – but with many moving parts

1:42 Esteban is more bullish in 1-2 years when the CRM suite becomes native

2:17 No one else can tell or deliver Microsoft’s cloud story – which goes beyond Windows 8

3:04 Microsoft still needs a common platform and a credible customer service story

4:05 Larger customers can be won, especially if Microsoft seeks to offer Siebel replacements

5:00 Licensing should take a huge step forward because the marketing message is better

5:43 Microsoft is developing a solid CRM story, it just needs a little work

What’s the state of the cloud market in Russia? On a fleeting visit to San Francisco, EuroCloud VP and cloud blogger Phil Wainewright caught up with Max Chebotarev, chair of the Russian cloud interest group RCCPA, which will shortly become EuroCloud Russia.

There’s a lot of interest in cloud in Russia but a lot of it is still private cloud, Max explained. It turns out that credit card or Paypal payment is not a good way to get Russian businesses signed up for services such as Salesforce.com or Microsoft Office 365. Corporate payment cards are not often seen in Russia and it’s a big problem for Russian companies to transfer funds across borders to make payments in Ireland or Luxembourg. If these providers were to team up with Russian payment processors, Max believes they’d make a lot more progress.

Max also talked about the upcoming EuroCloud Russia Congress, which takes place on April 24th at the Digital October venue in Moscow. Formerly known as CloudConf, this is Russia’s biggest cloud computing event.

Show notes

:43 All about EuroCloud Russia Congress on April 24th

1:25 State of the cloud market in Russia

1:48 Advice for global players coming to Russia

2:28 Why international payment issues are holding back SaaS

3:18 Local partners are needed to explain concepts like CRM

4:08 There’s distrust of cloud but hosted email is now gaining ground

4:48 Some companies count on the cloud to hide data from the authorities

Glossary: CIS = Commonwealth of Independent States, the former countries of the Soviet Union.

Guest post written by Phil Wainewright.

On-site ERP vendors might be a tad nervous when they hear about the results of a controversial survey conducted by ‘R’Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research. Dennis sat down with Ray in New Orleans to talk about the third party maintenance, and how some customers have used third party options as a tactic to reduce maintenance costs during contract negotiations.

Ray reports that, of the 149 survey respondents who’ve used a third-party proposal during maintenance contract negotiations, 13.7% saw a decrease in their maintenance bill. This number came from SAP and Oracle shops, as these are the ERP vendors that currently have third-party maintenance options.

While those surveyed represent a fraction of the tens of thousands of SAP and Oracle customers, Ray points out that those 149 surveyed are primarily market leaders and fast followers. Which indicates that more might follow their lead, especially outfits that don’t yet know about third-party options.

The guys wrap it up by covering three important points for making a move to third-party maintenance solutions. All in all, Dennis and Ray agree that the survey results indicate that SAP and Oracle customers should consider third party maintenance as they weigh their maintenance options – particularly during contract negotiations.

Show Notes

:42 149 customers surveyed weigh in on the effectiveness of third-party maintenance

:58 13.7% reported a decrease in their maintenance bill

1:48 While few in number, survey respondents are market leaders and fast followers

2:25 Others might join the crowd; few even know about third-party maintenance options

2:58 Ray’s three points of advice for those considering third-party maintenance