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Simon Says: No WebRTC Devices. But Life Has A Way

Alumni: Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Dr. Brent Kelly is a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research and President of KelCor, Inc. He focuses on the unique intersection of unified communications, social business, cloud services, video and mobility.  Dr. Kelly provides strategy and counsel to key clients including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, technology policy executives, sell-side firms and technology buyers. Prior to joining Constellation, Dr. Kelly served for 10 years as a partner at Wainhouse Research where he was the primary author of most of the firm’s unified communications reports and forecasts. Dr. Kelly is a regular presenter at Enterprise Connect (formerly VoiceCon), the communications industry trade show where his well…...

While attending the 2013 Aastra analyst event in Dallas in early, May I had the good fortune to sit next to Simon Beebe, Vice President of Product Management at Aastra. Among Simon’s responsibilities are all of the communications endpoints Aastra makes, including Aastra’s line of SIP phones and BluStar video devices. Aastra is a significant player in the communications endpoint market, shipping millions of SIP-based telephony handsets to carriers and service providers every year in addition to bundling them with Aastra’s own PBX sales. Two thirds of Aastra’s handsets are sold for use in third-party communications systems.

So, it was with interest that I approached Simon on the idea of a WebRTC-based endpoint device. With his knowledge of endpoint design and manufacturing, I wanted to get a sense as to whether he saw any merit in the idea of a future in which some enterprising person or group creates a dedicated WebRTC device.

Clearly, WebRTC is in its early, and some would say “heady”, days. Simon really saw no drivers for creating a WebRTC-based standalone endpoint that could sit on the desktop. The discussion centered around the bill of materials (BOM) required for such a device and the reality that like any communications device, there would be some real manufacturing costs associated with it. In his mind, Simon could see no real need or advantage for a WebRTC-based dedicated device.

This discussion caused me to reflect back on the early days of SIP. In those days, few would have imagined that SIP-based IP device demand would surge in the market, and that SIP phones would ultimately displace analog and digital devices as the endpoints of choice in the enterprise.

In the 1993 movie classic, Jurassic Park, Dr. Ian Malcolm’s character, played by actor Jeff Goldblum, makes a very insightful statement, “Life finds a way.”

If we apply this phrase toward innovation and disruption in the technology world, while not all ideas will survive and thrive, some do, and they change how we live and work. WebRTC has the potential to be a very disruptive force in how we work and engage with one another. Furthermore, with WebRTC released out “into the “wild”, so to speak, anyone on the planet can now begin to innovate and evolve how we communicate using WebRTC as a basic building block. The barriers to entry are almost null.

If we now return to the idea of a WebRTC-based communications device and applying the phrase “life has a way”, I would not be surprised to see some innovating people and groups of people develop purpose-built WebRTC endpoints. In the enterprise and home office space such a device has utility for three key capabilities:

It can be always on (as opposed to a PC or tablet, which is sometimes turned off). Thus, it can always be ready to make and receive communications events.
It can have a great speakerphone, which is a capability that many find useful.
It can be used to connect with 911 or other emergency personnel at any time without the need to turn on or boot a communications device.

While I agree with Simon that there will be some materials and labor costs to make a WebRTC-based device, I think enterprising individuals will “find a way” to one day bring such devices to life. For a possible precursor to such a device, just look at Google’s Chrome Book – a device dedicated to Web browsing. Both Google and Mozilla have developed operating systems – Chrome OS and Firefox OS respectively – to work exclusively with Web applications. Given that WebRTC is based on browser technology, it seems like a small evolutionary step to make a purpose-built communications device to enable WebRTC-based communications and engagement.

Join Brent Kelly for the webinar: Ten Things CIOs NEED to Know About WebRTC
Date/Time: May 23, 2013 8:30a.m. PT/11:30am ET
Register: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/895954862

Related Research

Ten Things CIOs Should Know About WebRTC

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A Minute is a Long Time–On the Internet

Gavin Heaton

Founder
Disruptors Co

Gavin is the Founder of Disruptors Co, one of Australia’s leading independent strategy and innovation companies. Gavin advises firms on strategy, marketing, product development and innovation. He is also a member of the Orbits program, the influencer network of award winning analyst and advisory firm, Constellation Research. Gavin advises boards and leadership on innovation strategy, marketing, data-driven product development and corporate venturing. Gavin is on the board of Vibewire, a youth-led social enterprise based in Sydney, Australia and on the Technology Advisory Group for Good2Give – the workplace giving platform. ...

They say that a week is a long time in politics.

That was certainly the case when there was a “daily” news cycle. Any announcements or revelations needed to be revealed in time for stories to be written, edited, photographs to be prepared, processed and newspapers to be printed. Breaking news was the domain of the more instantaneous broadcasters like radio and TV. And even then, only the most explosive news items would break programming.

But the web changed all that.

It has taken two decades at least, but the internet has now thoroughly transformed the way that we source, gather, verify and consume news. There has been a breakdown between those that produce the news, those who are the subject of the “news” and those who consume it. And the structures which once provided certainty, built trust and way points for navigation in a chaotic and busy world have, in the process of this disruption, been swept away.

These structures have been replaced by data.

Data about data.

In a way, it was ever thus.

And the new arbiters of this data – our navigation beacons are themselves built of data. Google. Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Pandora and Amazon. They sound like the names of ancient gods straddling the primordial chaos – but they are massive enterprises designed not to serve, but to create value. Revenue. Share holder returns.

So think about what happens in an internet minute (see the infographic from Intel). Every minute of video. Every byte of uploaded photo data. And every tweet costs someone somewhere something. The question for you today is what does it cost YOU?

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Your Manifesto for Success

Gavin Heaton

Founder
Disruptors Co

It’s a cliché to say that the only constant in life is change. And yet, like all clichés, it reveals a deep truth that we all must grapple with. Business owners and entrepreneurs are well aware of the underlying truth of this cliché – yet are often the most unprepared for the disruption that comes with change.

When the events of life and business overwhelm – when the technology becomes challenging and the customers too demanding – having a document that sets out your business and personal beliefs can provide you with a vital anchor. Even better – it can help you make decisions in the most pressured of situations. It’s called a “manifesto for success” and you should write it today.

But what should be “in” your manifesto? One of the best that I have read is the Incomplete Manifesto for Growth by designer Bruce Mau. And in Bruce’s spirit, I would encourage you to imitate – drift – and begin anywhere. But make sure you DO. Here is Bruce’s manifesto:

Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.
Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.
Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.
Study. A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.
Drift. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
Everyone is a leader. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
Harvest ideas. Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.
Keep moving. The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
Slow down. Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
Collaborate. The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
____________________. Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.
Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.
Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
Be careful to take risks. Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
Repeat yourself. If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.
Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
Stand on someone’s shoulders. You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
Avoid software. The problem with software is that everyone has it.
Don’t clean your desk. You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
Don’t enter awards competitions. Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our “noodle.”
Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
Organization = Liberty. Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between “creatives” and “suits” is what Leonard Cohen calls a ‘charming artifact of the past.’
Don’t borrow money. Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.
Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
Make mistakes faster. This isn’t my idea — I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.
Imitate. Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.
Scat. When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else … but not words.
Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
Explore the other edge. Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces — what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.” Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference — the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.
Avoid fields. Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
Laugh. People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.
Remember. Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.
Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free.

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Monday's Musings: The Controversy Surrounding Gartner's CRM Market Share Analysis

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

The Gartner Market Share Analysis:CRM Software Report Raises Questions On Accuracy of Market Sizing Reports

The recent Gartner report “Market Share Analysis: Customer Relationship Management Software, Worldwide, 2012” has generated some controversy among the enterprise software set. The report and other reports such as these, are often used for bragging rights by vendors and for buyers to gauge vendor viability.

This specific report attempts to rank CRM software spending by vendor using total software revenue worldwide. The good news – the numbers are directionally correct with Salesforce.com claiming the top mantle from SAP this year with $2.525 billion in CRM revenue (see Figure 1). The bad news – many question the accuracy of the actual revenues numbers as listed in the press release, especially for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM business.

As Scott Bekker at Redmond Magazine reported, “Gartner put Microsoft’s CRM revenue at $1.1 billion, up from $900 million in calendar-year 2011. That’s a sizable bump. As of May 2012, Microsoft was only claiming that all of Dynamics, which includes Microsoft’s established ERP products as well as CRM, amounted to $1 billion in annual revenues.”

Mssr. Bekker makes a polite but astute point. The 26% bump in CRM revenue is significant. However, the total revenues are questionable. In any modest observation, that kind of overall growth in the Microsoft Dynamics unit would have Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, shouting from the tops of Mount Ranier and probably have Kirill Tatarinov next in line to be Microsoft’s CEO.

Figure 1. Gartner’s Recent CRM Software Spending by Vendor, Total Software Revenue Worldwide, 2012 (Millions of Dollars)

Not to violate any copyright laws, despite fair use laws, here’s a link to the full table found in their press release. A recreated table below shows the rankings.
Bottom line it shows Microsoft in 4th place for CRM with over 1.1B in revenue.
Organization 2012 revenues 2012 marketshare (%) 2011 revenues 2011-2012% growth
salesforce.com 2,525.6 14.0 2,004.6 26.0
SAP 2,327.1 12.9 2,325.1 0.1
Oracle 2,015.2 11.1 1,870.0 7.8
Microsoft 1,135.3 6.3 900.9 26.0

The Market Sizing Game For Vendors And Legacy Analyst Firms Flawed With Faulty Methodology

In reality, the market sizing game for enterprise software is both an art with some science. Having played this role as a vendor in an Analyst Relations capacity in a past life, one knows that executives can not disclose such financial information directly to a research or market sizing firm. The research analysts must play a guessing game with the software executive and ask 100 questions to zero in on a number. Unlike hardware, where individual counts are more obvious, software revenue sizing requires analysts to dig deep into financial statements and any conversation where growth rates have been discussed. Revenues are hidden in bundling, suite sales, discounting schemes, channel revenue deals, OEM arrangements, and inter-company transfers. To complicate matters, SaaS revenue calculations can differ from how on-premises revenues are calculated. Analysts must also determine the truthfulness of vendors who are trying to indirectly guide analysts to the “right” numbers. In short, this is hard work.

As assumptions are built on previous numbers, one false guess in a previous year, cascades and geometrically inflates or deflates a set of future numbers. In the case of these CRM numbers, one may speculate that past executives may have provided a higher number than actually generated, resulting in the current alleged inaccuracies. Another speculation may come from previous and current analysts who may only focus on one area of the business and not have the total picture on the Microsoft Dynamics overall business. There are many points of inaccuracy that can occur with software revenue market sizing and every legacy analyst and market sizing firm works hard to avoid these situations. For market analysts, dissecting revenue from vendors such as SAP and Oracle is often difficult as these numbers and break outs are masked with multiple acquisitions and product lines.

To be clear, the SAP and Oracle numbers also seem inflated. These numbers have been inflated over decades. Given that these vendors also have many other lines of revenue aside from CRM, it’s hard to gauge the accuracy of their numbers without some digging. Now one would assume a market sizing firm should be doing this right?

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Revenues Do Not Meet The General Sniff Test

Using publicly available data, one could build out a model based on the original financial model for the Microsoft Dynamics business starting with the two major acquisitions that created the foundation of the Microsoft Business Solutions division. Here are some assumptions for the sniff test:

Great Plains Software drove $225M of revenue in 2002. Microsoft acquired Great Plains Software in April 2001 for under $1B. At the time, Great Plains Software revenues for fiscal year 2000 ending in May was $195M. The 2001 revenues were estimated to be $225M by most reputable analysts. Microsoft paid five times earnings for the acquisition.
Navision brought in $210M of revenue in 2002. Microsoft acquired Navision in 2002 for $1.3B. At the time the 2002 revenues were projected to be $210M. Microsoft paid a bit over six times earnings for this acquisition for the Axapta and Navision products.
Enterprise software vendors have grown in the double digits over the past decade. The enterprise software market has achieved an average growth rate per annum around 10% over the past decade. Even at 6% growth over 12 years, the revenues of the acquisitions would double.
Conservative estimates assume Microsoft at least doubled its ERP business in a decade. Microsoft’s products at a minimum have doubled their revenue since acquisition. The combined revenues could conservatively range from $750M to $950M for just ERP software alone.
Most of Microsoft’s acquisitions drive ERP revenue not CRM. Over 90% of the Great Plains and Navision revenues were in ERP so little exists in CRM revenue overlap.
Constellation keeps close tabs on Microsoft Dynamics revenues. Constellation Research estimates that the Microsoft Dynamics overall revenue sits between $1.47B and 1.56B for 2012. This data comes from following the division as an analyst and market watcher since 2001.

Has the ERP Business Shrunk or Has the CRM Business Grown Gangbusters?

While the above numbers are general assumptions, a few quick questions emerge:

Is Microsoft Dynamics overall revenue just under $2B? Even if Microsoft’s Dynamics ERP acquisitions performed in the single digit growth range, $750M in ERP revenue added to $1.135.2B in CRM revenue would have the Microsoft Dynamics business near $2B. Did Microsoft Dynamics really generate under $2B in overall revenue for 2012? If this was true, I doubt the Microsoft Business Solutions team would want to hide this major accomplishment.
Did Microsoft Dynamics ERP perform so poorly? If Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM business really generated $1.135 B, then did the ERP business significantly fall behind its competitors? If this is true, then the ERP business has performed more poorly than one had thought. Based on publicly available information, this does not seem accurate.
Did someone inflate numbers in the past or is Gartner not doing its job? Maybe numbers inflated in the past have caught up with current numbers. The 22% growth rate sounds reasonable, yet the denominator may be inaccurate from previous years forecasts. Did someone miss this at Gartner in the past?

What’s clear is that Microsoft Dynamics has not achieved $2B in revenue in 2012. As one can tell, the numbers in general do not meet any reasonable sniff test. Either the CRM numbers are off or the ERP numbers are off. Microsoft Dynamics may have achieved $1.5 to $1.6B in 2012. While the accuracy of these assumptions could be off, one could say these at least meet the sniff test. A team putting together CRM numbers would most likely compare with the ERP numbers and the total revenues in order to complete a cross check.

The Bottom Line: Transparency In the Industry Would Simplify Everyone’s LIfe

Unfortunately, what we have in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM revenue number is a scenario where the lack of revenue split transparency has create a windfall of revenue for research analyst firms covering market sizing. Every vendor on the list: Salesforce.com, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM must play this Kabuki theater once a year.

In fact, the time and money spent by vendors and analysts to play this game, could be better spent building better software, offering more value to clients, and focusing on more strategic analyst interactions. Whether the numbers here are accurate or not, this begs the question, why play the game? Why not just disclose the actual numbers and save everyone the trouble? Remove this non value added part of the research industry, once and for all.

Your POV.

As a buyer, do you trust any of these numbers? As a competitor, do you know these numbers better than we do? If so, let us know what assumptions are off, what’s right. Are you tired of playing the hot or cold game with market sizing firms with numbers you can’t disclose? Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationRG (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) com.

Related resources and links

2010 Calendar Year Q2
2010 Calendar Year Q1
Software Insider Index™ (SII): 2009 SII Top 35 Enterprise Business Apps Vendors™
2009 Calendar Year Q4
2009 Calendar Year Q3
2009 Calendar Year Q2
2009 Calendar Year Q1
Software Insider Index™ (SII): 2008Software Insider Index^TM (SII): SII Top 30 Enterprise Business Apps Vendors^TM & SII Top SaaS Business Apps Vendors^TM SII Top 30 Enterprise Business Apps Vendors™
2008 Calendar Year Q4
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2008 Calendar Year Q2
2008 Calendar Year Q1

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Although we work closely with many mega software vendors, we want you to trust us. For the full disclosure policy, stay tuned for the full client list on the Constellation Research website.

* Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions. However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.

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Will the Affordability Care Act be a Catalyst for HCM Analytics?

Alumni: Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Yvette Cameron was VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc. focusing on next generation HCM processes and technologies, and is founder of NextGen Insights. Yvette is now a Constellation Research alumna. , Title: Big Ideas CRM concepts will transform HCM processes for new levels of Employee Engagement and Business Results Companies are investing heavily to understand and optimize their customer relationships, but less so with their employee relationships. We must apply the tenets of CRM to HCM processes to understand, engage and align the workforce, because customer success begins with employee success. From “Command and Control” to “Engage and Inspire” Traditional work practices and business structures are evolving at an unparalleled rate. New thinking and disruptive…...

PPACA_2 HR leaders on the fence about investing in an analytics platform may now have the justification needed for moving forward, courtesy of the US Federal Government and its impending Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which goes into effect on January 1, 2014. With complex requirements and potentially significant financial consequences, the PPACA will require many employers to move beyond standard tracking and reporting platforms to more advanced, real-time decision support tools to proactively manage the many aspects of this complex legislation.

Fundamentally, the PPACA is about reducing the number of uninsured Americans (numbered at more than 50 million in 2010) while attempting to address the affordability and quality of that healthcare coverage overall. State-level health insurance exchanges (HIX) are being formed to make available the minimum requirements across benefit coverage and cost-sharing standards, while employers grapple with tradeoffs in health benefit plan designs and premium costs vs. the federal tax credits and subsidies available to low- and middle-income workers.

For employers, the requirements of the PPACA quickly get complicated with look-back and ongoing calculations of hours worked and future hours, benefits eligibility vs. enrollment, premiums to wages ratios, and evidentiary reporting to government agencies. Non-compliance with this still-being-clarified legislation can lead to significant penalties for employers, not to mention the many downstream impacts on employee relations and employer brand.

For some organizations, calculating and paying the penalty will be the quickest route to compliance while others will want to weigh various workforce modeling scenarios to determine their best approach (provide coverage as intended, reduce worker hours for a percentage of employees, etc.). Leading payroll and workforce management platforms such as ADP, Ceridian and Kronos are actively enhancing their software to deliver the calculations and reporting required by the ACA, often including the ability to anticipate when benefits eligibility will be triggered based on future labor schedules.

Across the many mandates of the PPACA, (employer mandates, healthcare tax credits and individual mandates), behaviors at work will change that will affect the costs – both direct and hidden – of compliance choices. Shifting workers to part-time will result in increased unemployment claims; additional part-time staff may be hired to fill the gaps of the reduced workforce; turnover may be adversely affected; workforce tax credit eligibility can be affected and additional training and ramp-up time needs to be factored in. As they evaluate the direct costs of their compliance alternatives such as benefits premiums, labor expenses and penalties, employers must also take into account these and other indirect or hidden costs associated with their choices.

Getting to a clear understanding of the direct and indirect costs requires complex analysis and modeling, a prime use case for an analytics platform.

One of the players in this market is Equifax, which recently augmented its Equifax Workforce Solutions division with the acquisition of analytics technology provider eThority in 2011. Leveraging the eThority platform, Equifax is introducing a new solution called the “Affordable Care Act Impact Analysis and Management” tool to help employers model and monitor the impacts of PPACA on their business. The tool enables employers to see costs (including labor, benefit premiums and potential fines) at group or detail levels based on different modeling scenarios. It also highlights the associated costs resulting from anticipated new hires and increased unemployment claims that can offset savings from those initial scenarios, a level of analysis that many traditional payroll and workforce software providers are not offering. Equifax can also leverage the data reported to them by thousands of employers across the country, representing tens of millions of workers, to report on labor and payroll trends across regions, industry and other segments, further augmenting the modeling scenario evaluations. As desired, Equifax also provides additional consulting services including evaluation of new assumptions as well as overall program management and audit support.

The modeling platform is interactive, adapting to changes in law and assumptions. Delivered via subscription or available on premises, employers can access data beyond their own workforce data to make better, more informed choices with regard to how they will achieve compliance with PPACA mandates.

Investing in an analytics platform can bring more than just workforce insight and modeling capabilities: it can be a powerful tool in managing risk and compliance across the entire enterprise. In the case of the Affordable Care Act, it may be the only tool that will effectively support employers in their daily need to monitor and manage the complexities of this legislation. The requirements of PPACA actually begin before January 2014, with employers needing to make decisions and communicate benefit options, costs and coverage to employees during the Fall Open Enrollment schedule. Employers should be evaluating their options now, and the availability of new tools like the Equifax ACA Impact Analysis and Management solution are timely additions to the market.

Filed under: ADP, Analytics, Ceridian Dayforce, Equifax, GRC, Kronos Tagged: ACA, Affordable Care Act, analytics, Ceridian, constellation research, Employment, Equifax, Governance, GRC, HCM, Health insurance exchange, healthcare, HR, HR Tech, Human resources, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PPACA, workforce analytics, workforce planning, Workforce Technologies, yvette cameron

Future of Work Data to Decisions Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth ADP AI Analytics Automation CX EX Employee Experience HCM Machine Learning ML SaaS PaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Enterprise Software Enterprise IT Leadership HR LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI business Marketing IaaS Disruptive Technology Enterprise Acceleration Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP finance Healthcare Customer Service Content Management Collaboration Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief People Officer Chief Customer Officer Chief Human Resources Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer

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Constellation’s Connected Enterprise Kicks Off October 30 in San Francisco

Preliminary speaker list announced

You’re invited to join the Constellation Research team for Connected Enterprise this October 30 - November 1, 2013 at The Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay, CA. Connected Enterprise is Constellation’s annual innovation-focused executive summit featuring inspiring keynotes, in-depth market maker interviews, best practices customer panels, visionary industry futures, and executive level networking. This year's theme celebrates "Moving Beyond The Art of the Possible"

Connected Enterprise Details (#CCE2013)

When: October 30 - November 1 2013
Where: The Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay, San Francisco Bay Area
Who: Innovators, Thinkers, Catalysts. All innovation-minded executives welcome.
What: "TED meets Aspen Ideas for the Enterprise". All-inclusive retreat. Think hard, play hard.

Our Third Year, and We’re More Excited Than Ever

Constellation’s Connected Enterprise brings together the brightest minds in the enterprise to discuss the present and future of innovation, technology, and society, and is the must-attend conference for innovators, and early adopters of technology. In our third year, we continue the Connected Enterprise tradition, and have brought together a group of visionaries to deliver keynote addresses that will challenge attendees to ask new questions about leadership, technology adoption, and existing business models.

Headliners - Connected Enterprise 2013

Jane McGonigal, Chief Creative Officer, SuperBetter Labs

Jane is a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games (ARGs) — games designed to improve real lives and solve real problems. She is Chief Creative Officer for SuperBetter Labs, and she is the New York Times best-selling author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. As a TED 2010 speaker, her speech attracted over 1.7 million views, and she has keynoted the Game Developers Conference, SXSW and Google Zeitgeist Americas.

Chris Meyer, Founder, Monitor Talent

Chris is a leadership thought-leader who’s mission is to anticipate and shape the future of business, a goal he has pursued as entrepreneur, executive, consultant, author, and as the leader of Ernst & Young's Center for Business Innovation. Chris' fourth book, Standing on the Sun, was published by Harvard Business School Press in February 2012. The Financial Times called it "The antidote to pessimism of the post-crisis world." Chris' previous books include the BusinessWeek Best Seller Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy and Future Wealth— the book on which Monitor Talent is based.

View full speaker list here: http://connectedenterprise.ontrackevents.com/speakers.cfm

Check back soon--we’ll be frequently updating the speaker list with innovation thought-leaders.

Sponsorship Information: Official Sponsors will be announced the first week of July. There are limited spots for sponsors as this event is geared towards business and technology buyers.

Contact us at sales@ConstellationR.com

Data to Decisions Future of Work Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth Connected Enterprise Chief Customer Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief People Officer Chief Procurement Officer Chief Supply Chain Officer Chief Experience Officer

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Event Report: One Year Later, Ceridian Dayforce HCM Delivering on its Vision

Alumni: Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Last month I attended Ceridian’s annual analyst forum, where members of the executive team shared their vision and strategies for the future. Ceridian HCM CEO David Ossip put an interesting spin on the role of HR in the future when he stated,

“The value of HR isn’t in becoming a strategic partner. The goal of HR should be to help the company create the most effective workforce.”

This sentiment reflects the pragmatism of a team committed to innovation with tangible value; a focus on the processes, tools and information needed to create and maximize the value of the workforce. Below are the highlights I took away from this most recent analyst briefing.

Ceridian continues its pivot from an HRO service provider to SaaS technology provider. With the advent of cloud services and the ability to centralize the skills and knowledge needed for optimized compliance and support, it only makes sense that businesses would look to the cloud for specialized support of processes such as Payroll and global HR. With Dayforce HCM, Ceridian is helping its customers move from former “lift and shift’” HR Outsourcing (HRO) deals to the advanced benefits of software in the cloud coupled with centralized specialization and compliance support. The platform itself includes capabilities for messaging, analytics, workforce activities, mobile access via native iOS and Android support, and other foundational items necessary for comprehensive HCM support, with collaboration advances underway as described further below.
Accelerating customer momentum validates the data-fueled platform. Available in the US and Canada, momentum is strong, with over 700 clients live on the Dayforce platform (of more than 1000 total clients), with roughly 30-50 clients going live each month. Approximately 15% of the live Dayforce HCM clients are those that have migrated from core Ceridian applications. One of the key benefits touted by the Dayforce clients is their ability to view and act on data BEFORE the time is worked, before payroll is processed, tackling potential problems before they happen. Other benefits include the ability to see fully burdened costs before the time is actually worked, and soon, to manage the rolling eligibility requirements of the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), all through a real-time engine designed to support compliance and information needs proactively, not reactively. Batch processes or after-the-fact alerts will eventually become the purview of “legacy” vendors unable to keep pace with the demands for instant data analysis and decision support.
The unified, end-to-end HCM platform is emerging, but still a year or more away. Today the Dayforce HCM platform delivers core HR, Payroll, Workforce Management (Time & Labor, Absence, Leave Management) and Benefits functionality, targeted primarily to North American operations. Expanded global HR support is on the roadmap, but for global payroll, clients can immediately tap into payroll services across almost 60 countries via Ceridian’s international payroll solutions (IPS). Through this managed services offering, consolidated payroll results across global and local payroll providers can be fed back from the IPS aggregator to Dayforce payroll for global reporting. Support for more strategic talent management processes will begin with the launch of Dayforce Recruiting, targeted for Fall 2013. Ceridian today has a standalone recruiting offering, but that solution will be sunsetted as the next generation recruiting offering from Dayforce becomes available. The initial Dayforce recruiting solution will support managing the candidate’s status and progression through the recruiting lifecycle. (However, I also expect to see some innovations in scheduling and onboarding from this development team that demonstrates at every opportunity the advantages of a unified platform and real-time rules processing.) In 2012, the analyst community was advised that advanced compensation and performance management was slated for 2013, but recruiting has now taken top priority for the Dayforce HCM team. As a result, these and other investments in strategic talent management will be pushed out to 2014. There are no current plans for delivery of a learning offering (LMS) and we can expect partner solutions to fill this gap for the next few years.
The experiential platform takes center stage over transactional systems. The Dayforce HCM team introduced Engage, its new social platform due later this year that will become the new front-end User Interface (UI) for its applications. Ceridian clearly understands that social enablement is more than just conversations, it’s about getting real work done. In fact, collaboration is viewed as such a fundamental component to today’s workforce processes that Engage will be included in all Dayforce HCM offerings at no additional cost. Clients not yet ready for such collaboration in their core workforce can simply turn it off, accessing it in the future as desired. Continued investment will be needed before it achieves competitor status in this space, as the current focus is largely engagement via activity streams, but the initial offering of Engage will be a good first step toward both augmenting and transforming traditional work processes through social collaboration. While I agree with David Ossip that the “mobile” hype is giving way to broader considerations of “accessibility,” I do not agree that “social” is giving way to “activity streams.” The term “social” often has a conversational, non-work-related connotation; however the idea of purposeful social – social collaboration that is contextual and event-support driven – is an entirely intuitive and evolutionary approach to getting work done. Activity stream integration is important (and the initial Engage offering will include single sign-on (SSO) to facilitate this with Salesforce Chatter and Microsoft Yammer), but collaboration should also happen at the transaction itself; at the point of need. It's too early to know the depth of social support planned by the Dayforce team or how it will integrate more deeply with broader social enterprise networking tools.
Contextual content will increase in prominence. This is a continuing and interesting play for Ceridian: their EAP (employee assistance program) services via LifeWorks, acquired by Ceridian 1998. Usually we think about EAP services as a pool of resources available for employees to call when needed, or as a repository of research and information available through onsite and internet access. This market is transitioning, however, from SaaS-based solutions to a focus on more contextual content delivered to the end users (a push rather than a pull model). Ceridian has a vision to evolve its LifeWorks offering by embedding EAP content into talent-related events in the Dayforce platform, ensuring context-relevant information at the time of need. Such a move will begin to move Ceridian into the knowledge enablement space of vendors like Infor Enwisen and Peoplefluent (formerly Authoria), but they’ll have a network of EAP counselors driving much of that content development behind their offering. Ceridian’s social platform and context engine requires additional development to achieve its full potential. Regardless, it is good to hear that team thinking about enabling transactions with contextual content as they build out the future Dayforce HCM talent management offerings.
Continuing core investments demonstrate customer commitment. Mindful of not disenfranchising its core customer base, Ceridian continues to invest in its current applications and other service lines including international payroll, pay cards, tax filing and others. It should also be noted that Ceridian not requiring a forced migration to the Dayforce platform, allowing clients to move as appropriate for their needs.

The Bottom Line

As I indicated in my write-up last year, Dayforce HCM is positioned to perform well in a market ready for process transformation. It has delivered a large amount of functionality in the single year since the acquisition, and net-new customer uptake validates its market readiness. Strong leadership, an unwavering commitment to customer success for new and install base clients, and innovative approaches to traditional processes make Ceridian a viable and disruptive force to watch in the HCM market.

Future of Work Chief Executive Officer Chief People Officer

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It’s Important To have Intelligent @Mentioning

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

As the size of our social networks grow (meaning we connect with more people) it's important that the tools we use make it simple to interact with the right people at the right time. (context matters!) I've found that some collaboration platforms do this well, while others do not.

Here is a good example from Yammer. Notice when I type "@k" it first suggests Kevin Young, he is not the only person in my network who's name starts with K, but he is person I interact with most frequently. The next two suggestions are based on last name's starting with K. Notice "Ku" is listed before "Ke", that's because I interact with Ganesh more often in Yammer than Brent.

Image:It’s Important To have Intelligent @Mentioning

Google+ takes this a step further, not just focusing on the names of the people you interact with most often, but prioritising names of people from the specific conversation. In the example below I've typed "@j", and even though "Je" comes before "Jo" and "Joa" would come before "Joh", notice "John Tropea" is the name that is first suggested. That is because John has already been active in this specific conversation.

Image:It’s Important To have Intelligent @Mentioning

Compare that to how poorly Facebook manages @mentions. In the example below I've typed "@chr" and it brings up 3 of my friends named Chris, none of which have been part of this conversation. Yet "Chris Crummey" has been but his name is not displayed. #Fail

Image:It’s Important To have Intelligent @Mentioning

Today most people use type-ahead to mention people, but some platforms are starting to make more object types accessible. For example, both Jive and Confluence do a good job of allowing people to type-ahead to link to pages.

So while social networks are not yet physic, they are getting better at making intelligent predictions, suggestions and recommendations. I have lots of ideas for how they can still be vastly improved and am enjoying working with software vendors on this.

What are your favourite examples of products that do this really well or really poorly?

Marketing Transformation Future of Work Chief Customer Officer Chief Marketing Officer

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Welcome to the New Constellation Website!

We are excited to announce the launch of our refreshed website with a design built around you.

Please note our new web address:

www.ConstellationR.com

What to expect on the new website today:

More media content: webinars, keynote speeches, Connected Enterprise recordings
Curated insight around a Business Problem or Role
Updated research agendas
Enhanced profile features including a “My Files” feature where you can store and reference all content you’ve downloaded from Constellation Research
Deeper profiles of our Analysts. Our new analyst profiles reveal Big Ideas, published and planned research, blog posts, and events in which they are participating.

Please be sure to check out our new
SuperNova Awards application - now live AND

Information about:
Connected Enterprise - initial speaker list now available