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.
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Group buying has proven popular in Australia. In 2012, the market generated $504 million, and according to a December 2012 study by Telsyte, the top five sites showed year-on-year growth of over 9%.
However, it is not all roses. Competition is fierce and the size of the market is not expected to grow as strongly this year. That means we can expect consolidation at some point.
But the industry has also suffered from a range of issues and has been the subject of complaints from consumers and merchants alike.
To combat this, ADMA, the principal industry body for data-driven marketing and advertising, became involved in writing the Group Buying Code of Practice last year. The aim was to set a best practice benchmark for group buying in Australia.
The code which is voluntary, boasts foundation members Cudo, Groupon, LivingSocial, OurDeal, Deals.com.au, Ouffer and Scoopon – but Spreets has changed its business model and will no longer be a signatory to the Code.
A recent review recommended changes to the code, which the ADMA Code Authority will be enforcing. The changes to the Group Buying Code of Practice include:
New Code Authority powers to spot check group buying company compliance
Requirements for more detailed terms and conditions (no more surprises for consumers)
Tighter controls over how many vouchers are sold – helping ensure merchants understand and can meet their obligations
Clear and unambiguous refund policies which must be readily accessible with each offer
Improved complaints handling with defined response times for queries and complaints (1 business day) to reduce consumer frustration
Defined complaint resolution timeframes set at 10 working days — unless there is a reasonable expectation the process will take longer — but no more than 30 days.
The ADMA Code Authority will proactively conduct checks on the websites and offers made to the public. Signatories can be identified by the Group Buying Code Member logo which will be on their websites and offers.
President, Computer Economics and Strativa, Inc.
Computer Economics and Strativa, Inc.
Frank Scavo is skilled at formulating and communicating IT strategy, developing the business case for new systems, and facilitating the selection of enterprise systems, such as ERP, CRM, and supply chain management. He is also an expert in benchmarking IT spending and staffing levels for end-user IT organizations.
Frank was one of the first tech bloggers, beginning in 2002 with his launch of the Enterprise System Spectator providing independent analysis of issues and trends in enterprise applications software and the strengths, weaknesses, advantages, and disadvantages of the vendors that provide them. Frank has been quoted as an IT expert in numerous business and industry publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, CIO Magazine, ZDnet, eWeek, Datamation,…...
Oracle is not taking well to a recent Forrester Research report, titled, "Oracle Dilemma: Applications Unlimited Versus Oracle Fusion Applications."
Forrester's argument in a nutshell is this: based on its survey of 139 Oracle customers, Forrester contends that Fusion has had "low levels of adoption by existing Oracle customers, in part, because Oracle's Applications Unlimited policy has provided them with little incentive to migrate."
Oracle's rebuttal is difficult to put in a nutshell. Oracle goes into great detail, taking issue with Forrester's research methodology, specific survey questions, and the sample size/composition. But in my opinion, Oracle's strongest argument is against Forrester's report title. In Oracle's view, there is no "versus." Customers do not need to make a choice between Apps Unlimited and Fusion. Rather, Oracle points out that it has a co-existence strategy between Fusion Apps and Oracle's existing applications, such as E-Business Suite, Peoplesoft, J.D. Edwards, and Siebel.
I'll leave it to Forrester to defend its own report. However, it is hard to argue with Forrester's conclusion: that Fusion adoption has been slow, in part, because of the success of Oracle's Applications Unlimited program. To better understand why, it is helpful to review some history.
The Original Strategy
When Oracle completed its acquisition of PeopleSoft in late 2004, it had two strategic decisions to make.
For new customers, would it continue to actively market PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards (which PeopleSoft had acquired) in addition to its E-Business Suite?
For existing customers of PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards, would it continue to invest in and support those products indefinitely?
Interestingly, at the time, the answer to both of these questions was no. As I reported in January 2005, Larry Ellison held a press conference in which he said that Oracle would not actively market PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards but would try to push new prospects to E-Business Suite. In addition, he promised to support existing PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards products only until 2013. "Circle that date 2013 on your calendar," Ellison said.
In the same press conference, Ellison announced Project Fusion, which would be a massive development effort by 8,000 developers to develop a new suite of back-office software products, based on the best features of PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, and E-Business Suite. At this point, Fusion Applications were positioned as the successor to Oracle's existing suites. "We expect people to at some point between now and 2013—sometime before that—to upgrade to Project Fusion," Ellison said.
A Mid-Course Correction
By 2006, however, Oracle realized that its strategy was not in its own best interests. By only marketing E-Business Suite, it was missing sales opportunities where PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards were a better fit than E-Business Suite.
Moreover, Oracle's announcement that it would not support PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards beyond 2013 took Oracle off short lists where it could PeopleSoft or JDE were good fits. In my own software vendor selection consulting, during the 2005 time-frame, I didn't short list J.D. Edwards and PeopleSoft, for this very reason.
Finally, Oracle's policy put J.D. Edwards and PeopleSoft customers on notice that they might want to consider a migration to products other than Oracle's. With software maintenance fees pulling in over 90% profit, that was the last thing Oracle wanted.
Give Oracle credit for correcting its mistakes. In 2006, Oracle announced its Applications Unlimited program, to provide ongoing enhancements to all Oracle apps beyond the delivery of Fusion. (Siebel, which Oracle acquired in January 2006, was also put under this program.) In addition, Fusion would not be a successor to Oracle's other suites: it would not be functionally equivalent to E-Business Suite, for example. Rather, it would comprise a series of applications, such as CRM and Human Capital Management (HCM) that could be implement alongside E-Business Suite.
The Tradeoffs
Oracle's decision to continue support for its existing applications, while developing Fusion as a set of complementary next-generation applications, was the right decision.
Replacing Oracle's existing applications suites with Fusion was too ambitious a goal. Thousands of developer man years had been invested in developing E-Business Suite, JDE, and PeopleSoft, which would need to be repeated by Fusion developers. Furthermore, since 2005, Oracle has been continuing enhancement of these products, meaning that functional parity is a moving target. Finally, during the course of Fusion development, Oracle continued making other acquisitions, such as Siebel and Hyperion, further moving the target.
Customers retain the value of their prior investments. Oracle's existing business suites are not dead-end platforms. The Apps Unlimited program preserves customer investments and keeps maintenance dollars continuing to roll in, which Oracle needs to fund Fusion development.
But Oracle's strategy comes with a price. In a sense, Oracle's Application Unlimited program has been too successful. By continuing investment in its existing application suites, Oracle gives customers little incentive to move aggressively to Fusion. There is no burning reason for customers to change. To be sure, if Oracle customers are in the market for CRM or HCM, for example, they will have a reason to consider Fusion. But in any given year, this will be a small percentage of Oracle customers.
Perhaps this is the reason that nearly 18 months after Oracle announced general availability of Fusion Apps, Oracle has sold it to only 400+ customers, with only 100+ in production. Oracle refuses to disclose a breakdown of these 400+ customers, but word on the street is that they are heavily weighted toward Fusion HCM.
But there are other reasons that Fusion is not selling as well as one might expect for a product that is 18 months in general availability.
Fusion is not a complete ERP solution. It lacks core functionality for manufacturing and operational support in other industries. Fusion Apps are, for the most part, really a replacement for pieces of an enterprise suite, a collection of complementary modules.
Fusion has functionality gaps. For this reason, Fusion is often sold to new prospects in conjunction with older Oracle products, if at all. For example, in a recent CRM deal, Oracle proposed a solution that comprised pieces of Oracle CRM On-Demand, Siebel, and RightNow. Fusion CRM was not even part of the solution, as apparently it did not satisfy certain industry requirements.
Fusion is difficult to implement. Anecdotal reports of early adopters indicate that Fusion Apps have a fat footprint. They have complex infrastructure requirements, and as a result, Oracle says that two-thirds of customers are choosing to have Oracle host their systems.
Nevertheless, the success of Oracle's Apps Unlimited policy is the primary inhibitor of Oracle Fusion Applications adoption. Enterprise applications are sticky. It is difficult enough for vendors to get customers make a change, even when vendors announce end of support for an existing product. Imagine how hard it is to get customers to take action when you are promising them continued investment in their existing products. Oracle's Applications Unlimited program--though good for Oracle and Oracle's customers--has served to slow adoption of Fusion.
Chris Kanaracus at Infoworld has a summary of the two sides of the debate. As usual, Dennis Howlett has his own point of view. Holger Mueller actually thinks it's good that Oracle customers don't know about Fusion.
Update, Feb 19: Floyd Teter has an incredibly informative post on customer options for deploying Oracle Fusion Apps, confirming and going beyond some of my points here.
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…...
Capgemini India Plays A Key Role In The Global Delivery Model
Analyst and advisors gathered on February 12th, 2013 at Capgemini’s India headquarters located near the trendy and upmarket Powai suburbs of Mumbai. Capgemini India’s CEO, Aruna Jayanthi welcomed guests with a perspective on Capgemini India’s progress. With more than 40,000 people, the team plans to grow to 70,000 people in 3 years at almost a 20% CAGR year-over-year. Aruna sees the potential for up to 70% of Capgemini’s infrastructure services delivery to come from India.
As part of the non-linear growth plan, Capgemini intends to rely on a shared services model and platform between multiple delivery centres critical for scale and growth. The good news – Capgemini India expects a reduction in the double digit wage inflation of the past 24 months. Forecasts call for 5 to 9% for 2013. Her three focus areas include growth, continued investments, and building end-to-end capability in India.
The analyst and advisor day was hosted in Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE). The ASE combines a patented methodology with a unique, open work environment to deliver large scale facilitated sessions geared at accelerating timelines, gaining alignment and mitigating risks. ASE’s provide a safe and effective place for collaboration and innovation.
Under this year’s theme of transforming customer experience, sessions touched on nine key areas:
Portfolio transformation. Capgemini India is playing a key role in aligning with the consulting team’s digital transformation efforts. If successful, the team will gain synergies across consulting, infrastructure, and bpo as part of a broader portfolio transformation. One example of a focus on IP creation and innovation is Sogetti’s product engineering capabilities delivered in Capgemini India for aerospace and defense. Product Engineering is a priority for Capgemini in 2013. European service providers Altran, Alten, Safran will have some competition from Capgemini going forward.
Digital utility transformation. With 80% of meters in EU to be converted to smart meters by 2020, Capgemini sees a role in guiding this shift from analog to digital for utilities. The utilities segment is expected to grow 4% & related software services are expected to grow about 7-8%. Despite a perceived slow growth in utilities, smart metering is the base for transformation. Early investment by Capgemini will play a key role in growing out this industry as a shortage of energy production and an upgrade of legacy transmission and energy production technology drive future growth.
All channel experience. Customer centricity is changing as businesses focus on an “All Channel” and “Affordable” value proposition. The firm focuses in on digerati as a key target for digital transformation. Why? Digerati are 26% more profitable than their peers. The shift to all channel is a key part of the move to digital transformation and customer experience strategy for clients.
Demand driven supply chain. Demand driven concepts are not new, however, customers seek to improve their ability to deliver on perfect orders. Organizations also seek to get as close to the consumer as possible. Capgemini’s work at one client helped a stagnant retail gain achieve 23% increase in customer satisfaction and gain 96 basis points of margin. Constellation sees this buyer centric shift to matrix commerce as a key trend for 2013.
Tax and welfare. Global governments face a $2.4 trillion USD tax revenue every year. Consequently, Capgemini’s efforts in tax and welfare focus on the fraud and compliance equation. The Capgemini’s India team has over 400 employees in their center of excellence complementing 8,000 onsite personnel at clients. The mission is to improve revenue and increase compliance. Constellation expects this market to grow as big data technologies improve the ability to manage both structured and unstructured data sources.
Global in house centers. The team shared a success story on the factory franchise approach for testing services at ANZ bank. The global in house center provided a strong alternative to BOT or captive acquisition. Capgemini intends to selectively grow this model over the next few years. Constellation believes this approach is smart but will deliver low volume.
Service integration. Opportunities exist to move operational responsibility for IT provisioning to Capgemini to drive cost savings. The goal – manage sophisticated IT supplier frameworks. If successful, service integration will prove to be the PMO account control model of the 2010?s.
Mobile testing. Most organizations face a need for a comprehensive mobile QA strategy. Building upon Neoload’s Neotys solution offering, Capgemini India opened a mobile testing CoE in Mumbai in December 2012. The range of mobile testing opportunities has grown as the group seeks to expand from 250 to 1000 FTEs globally. Constellation sees this as a bold move to jump into an emerging and growing market.
Big data and analytics. As one of the earlier CoE’s, business information management (BIM) was launched in September 2010 as Customer BIM Experience showcase or (CUBE). With the advent and hype of big data, the BIM team is now playing a key role in using BIM to improve customer experience. Constellation sees the future with BIM and the support of big data business models.
Figure 1. Cap Gemini’s ASE Uniquely Creates Visual Story Telling Via Graphic Recorders
Source: R Wang & Insider Associates, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The Bottom Line: Capgemini India Taking Key Steps To Support Nonlinear Growth Opportunities
Today’s Indian IT services firms have maxed out their current business models. The shift in technology decision-making to the business side, along with buyers’ need for innovation and their move to purchasing business outcomes (rather than just technology), have altered the demand-side environment in the technology space. On the other hand, commoditization of services, vendor consolidation, erosion of the offshore cost advantage, and intense competition from the big multinational providers have all led to declining margins among most Indian IT services providers.
With cloud, mobility, social, Big Data, and unified communications and video becoming pervasive, four business models have emerged to not only meet client needs, but also spur non-linear growth for IT services firms. According to Constellation, by applying differentiated intellectual property (IP) creation, enabling Big Data business models, delivering innovation value chains and leading partner ecosystems, Indian IT services firms can create new high-volume, high-value opportunities to fend off margin threats and become truly global players.
Capgemini India plays a special role in allowing Capgemini to deliver around a customer centric model where consulting, apps, infrastructure, and BPO can co-exist. The secret will require a leadership team that incentivizes the organization to take a customer centric approach instead of a P&L approach while maintaining Capgemini’s unique and effective decentralized model. The shift will not be easy, however the pieces are in place.
Capgenini India Analyst & Advisor Day #cgar2013 Storify Tweet Stream
Reprints
Reprints can be purchased through Constellation Research, Inc. To request official reprints in PDF format, please contact sales (at) ConstellationRG (dot) com.
Disclosure
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.
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…...
Analysts and tech watchers gathered on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2013, for Infor Summit, a progress check on Infor, the third largest independent applications vendor in the market. While many customers may not have heard of Infor, most have heard of the brands it has acquired over the last 20 years. These venerable brands include Baan, BPCS, Epiphany, Hansen, Intentia, Lawson, MAPICS, NXTrend, SoftBrands, and Syteline. Since industry veteran Charles ‘Chuck’ Phillips took over Infor, the software vendor has grown revenue from $2.2B to $2.8B. More impressive, for the past 5 quarters, Infor demonstrated double digit license revenue growth. Infor is now the third largest private firm in Business Insider’s Digital List witha $16B valuation. The management team emphasized three key tenets of the Infor strategy:
Focus on microverticals.With over 2151 possible market micro verticals, Infor intends to go deeper than the 21 sectors often classified as verticals. For example, in the wholesale distribution sector, Infor supports micro verticals such as electrical, building materials (BMAT), industrial supply, heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC), and auto. For the auto sector, micro verticals include interiors, fixing elements, and plastics and moldings.
Point of View (POV): Infor’s strategy to go deep on micro verticals comes at a time when SAP and Oracle are no longer substantially investing R&D in deep vertical functionality. By going deeper and more specialized in micro vertical industries, Infor can differentiate on features and functionality desired by customers. Infor’s hired over 800 developers since Charles Phillips joined. The delivery and support of micro verticals is accomplished as Infor’s support folks are co-located with the developers and many key folks are still in their original on-shore development centers. With 4000 developers just focused on apps, Infor has the economies of scale to focus on micro verticals.
Investment in internet architecture. Infor’s design principles begin with architecting software for the internet and embracing a world of heterogeneous apps. Support for the Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS) standards allows Infor to standardize on a canonical business language for information integration. Infor requires its legacy applications to communicate with each other via XML as the common alphabet for identifying business processes and for defining business messages. Infor has made significant technology investments including updates to the core technology framework Infor ION, the mobility framework Infor Motion, social software platform with Mingle, and analytics via Infor BI. Infor currently generates $100M in cloud revenues.
(POV): The overall support for OAGIS standards allows Infor’s legacy apps to communicate with newer applications and avoid duplicate creation of common components. This standardization marks the culmination of the original work initiated by Soma Somasundaram, EVP Global Product Development in 2010. With Infor ION in place, Infor now has an integrative fabric using loosely coupled architecture. Customers can run legacy apps and also take advantage of new products and solutions. Moreover, this enables Infor a platform for rapid integration of future acquisitions. Customers should pay close attention to see what acquired product families have been enabled to take advantage of Infor Ion and what upgrade paths should be made to take advantage of future innovation. Expect Infor to nudge customers to the cloud as the margins are higher and the pace of innovation is faster.
Creation of a consumer design experience. Infor took advantage of their New York City location to hire designers focused on user experience. As part of this transformation, they created their own internal agency called Hook & Loop. Marc Scibelli, VP of Hook & Loop is in charge of the 40 person team behind the design thinking transformation. From mobile apps to branding, Hook & Loop provides the creative services for Infor (see Figure 1).
Point of View (POV): Duncan Angove, President at Infor’s talk about Beauty as a Competence reflected the deep transformation throughout the organization. Infor’s new user experience was first revealed to customers at the 2012 Inforum customer conference. Users will notice a stark difference between the new apps and the old apps. When apps begin with user design instead of engineering, the end users benefit. Customers can expect to see the difference in the new apps but will have to wait for the old apps to catch up.
Figure 1. Flickr Feed Scenes From The Infor Summit
Photos: R Wang & Insider Associates, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Market Momentum Shows A Shift In Customer Preferences For Outcomes Not Technology
One of Constellation’s broad trends for 2012 going into 2013 is the buyer shift from technologies to outcomes. Recent wins highlighted by Stephan Scholl, one of Infor’s Presidents, demonstrate this customer drive for value based outcomes. At a global manufacturer’s healthcare division, they had put on hold an 8 instance SAP project upgrade and consolidation that would have taken more than 24 months to complete and millions of dollars in project consulting. The goal – upgrade 9 different plants and create a cohesive supply chain. Infor committed to moving 3 plants over in 12 months and delivered early in 9 months while orchestrating the supply chain for 100?s of parts with the other 6 plants. The result – the customer, a long time SAP customer, made the shift to Infor instead of upgrading on SAP. Constellation has seen numerous scenarios where the Oracle or SAP upgrade process is now more expensive than a replacement approach..
The Bottom Line: Infor Intends Not To Be Your Average Enterprise Software Vendor
Infor’s resurrection from the dark days of the recession in 2008 highlights what a new management team, $1B of investment, and a focused strategy can achieve. The October 25, 2010 arrival of Charles Phillips has led to an influx of talented enterprise software executives joining from Oracle, SAP, IBM, and Salesforce.com. An infusion of $1B from Golden Gate Capital, Summit Partners, and Salesforce.com in last 12 months has provided a much needed cash cushion for investment. A customer focused strategy on micro verticals and design thinking inspired user experiences is changing the impression of Infor from a collection of legacy has-beens to a forward looking and innovative contender.
Whether Infor remains private or files for IPO, the company is on the most solid footing since its inception. As the refresh cycle continues for legacy applications, the improvements in product offerings and technology will place Infor in a good position to capture revenue from both its install base and competitors seeking an alternative to the the traditional two-horse enterprise apps race.
Constellation recommends that:
Existing Infor customers should reevaluate their overall enterprise apps strategy with Infor in mind as a key supplier.
New prospects should consider Infor in short lists when micro-vertical requirements play a key role in delivering business value
Oracle and SAP customers considering upgrades should consider Infor in their short lists.
Buyers, do you need help with your apps strategy and vendor management strategy? Trying to figure out how to infuse innovation into your tech strategy? Ready to put the expertise of over 1000 software contract negotiations to work? Give us a call!
Please let us know if you need help with your next gen apps strategy efforts. Here’s how we can help:
Providing contract negotiations and software licensing support
Reprints can be purchased through Constellation Research, Inc. To request official reprints in PDF format, please contact sales (at) ConstellationRG (dot) com.
Disclosure
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.
"I am fascinated by understanding technologies, then explaining how to apply these within enterprises -- while still retaining common sense."
Charles Brett is VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc.. His primary focus is on all aspect of mobility and the use of mobile technology in the enterprise. For 25+ years Charles Brett has focused on delivering common sense to the application of technologies, especially software ones, in organizations of all sizes around the world.
While concentrating at Constellation Research on mobility and its management in the enterprise (sometimes known as MDM or Mobile Device Management) he also addresses:
mobile app development and deployment
mobile apps and associated data management
BYOD (Bring or Buy Your Own Device…...
At Fujitsu Forum, held in Munich in November last year, Benno Zollner (the CIO of Fujitsu Technology Solutions, outside Japan) asked the question: “Why are (organizations) spending so much for Workplace IT?” It is a good question. It has made me think 1) about mobile devices and 2) about roles and what is deployed with which characteristics. I am going to explore both of these here…
To me the most startling statistic that Benno used was that it costs organizations something like €130 per user/per month for a managed workplace. This included basic communications, Microsoft Licences, corporate email services, Internet fees, operational services, LAN services (per port) and print services (and probably much more that is not listed). But this excludes any hardware cost and, presumably, advanced communications services like mobile voice and data.
On the assumption that Fujitsu is more efficient than most, this means that most organizations may currently be spending (say) between €120-€200 per user per month — or €1440 to €2400 per user per year. The implication is also that this is for a ‘standard user’, one with a laptop or desktop probably situated in an office somewhere and connected to standard IT infrastructure (network, servers, Internet gateways, email, etc.).
With 1000 employees that become a significant sum. It certainly explains why there is so much interest, not least from Fujitsu on behalf of its clients, in reducing the cost of the corporate workplace — particularly in virtualization and centralization via what Benno referred to as the “Web Desktop”, thereby reducing the cost per month per user. (Such a “Web Desktop” could offer centralized email, calendar, contacts, tasks, text, spreadsheets, presentations, file sharing, social media integration as well as other web services integration.)
But going beyond this, Benno also included mobile sync-ing as well as app management. This suggests that he expects mobile devices to become a key element of any solution. This makes perfect sense — and is hardly surprising, given the increasing popularity of Bring (or Buy) Your Own Device (BYOD), whether this is a phone, tablet or laptop or combinations of all three.
By bringing such an approach to enterprises the intention must be to increase flexibility beyond the standard laptop/desktop, and with reduced cost per user (even if that user has multiple devices.
In thinking this through, I felt that Benno challenged his listeners with the following observations:
role and locality make ever less difference (n a mobile world)
there is (or should be) no difference in the future between internal and external users
a continuum exists between stationary and mobile workers
a different, parallel continuum exists, from task workers through to knowledge workers and power users.
In the following chart I have tried to expand and elaborate on these points.
What should be apparent is that there indeed, as Benno described, continua which relate to roles (task, knowledge and power) as well as between what each role is likely to need in order to deliver its purpose.
Yet, while confirming what Benno and Fujitsu have been thinking, the large green oval on the right remains a mystery — at least with today’s mobile technologies/roles. The top right quadrant seems empty, for lack of any obvious occupants.
If you can think of what should, or even might, deserve to be there I will be most interested to hear your suggestions (and please feel able to contact me (charles@constellationrg.com or charles.brett@outlook.com or charlesbrett on Twitter).
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…...
We’re working on a report looking at “How Third Party Maintenance Plays A Role In SAP and Oracle Contract Negotiations”. If you are an Oracle or SAP customer, please take our survey. We’ll add you to the final report list when you complete the survey and provide a little information about yourself. Here’s the survey:
Need help with your software contract or working out the rationale for used software or third party maintenance? Put the power of experience with over 1500 software contract negotiations to work. Contact us throughout the vendor selection or negotiation process. We can help with a quick contract review or even the complete vendor selection. We provide fix-fee and gain sharing arrangements.
Reprints can be purchased through Constellation Research, Inc. To request official reprints in PDF format, please contact Sales.
Disclosure
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.
Laptops are a misnomer; mobility is changing what and how we do it, at work, at home and in between
Constellation Alumni
"I am fascinated by understanding technologies, then explaining how to apply these within enterprises -- while still retaining common sense."
Charles Brett is VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc.. His primary focus is on all aspect of mobility and the use of mobile technology in the enterprise. For 25+ years Charles Brett has focused on delivering common sense to the application of technologies, especially software ones, in organizations of all sizes around the world.
While concentrating at Constellation Research on mobility and its management in the enterprise (sometimes known as MDM or Mobile Device Management) he also addresses:
mobile app development and deployment
mobile apps and associated data management
BYOD (Bring or Buy Your Own Device…...
Have you ever thought about the term ‘laptop’? It was invented to differentiate a portable class of PC from desktops. But, how many people use their ‘laptops’ on their laps? This has a practical productivity significance that many underestimate, and it may be one of the unsung reasons why tablets are so attractive…
Think about how you use a laptop. For most people a laptop PC is a device that is semi-mobile. Yes, you can move it around and you can take it traveling. But where do you use it? Almost certainly ypu place it on a desk or a table. Ask yourself where you put your laptop when in a hotel, in a meeting, in your office – and even on a plane (if there is enough room): it is on a desk or table of some sort.
This has a consequence. To use your laptop you must make a physical effort to move to that desk or table before you can start working (and without even considering whether it needs to boot up or not). If you are at home and want to check email or find out some information, you go through (consciously or subconsciously) an evaluation of whether it is worth the effort of getting up and moving from your arm chair or the kitchen or wherever. Broadly the same applies everywhere else (except perhaps the office). Before you begin to use your laptop you weigh the cost of commiting to a physical action. In practice this ‘overhead’ to move is an impediment (how many times can you remember thinking ‘ah, it is not worth it’?).
Contrast this with a tablet (or even a smartphone). These produce an experience very different from the misnamed laptop. To start, a tablet its simply more physically accessible: it may be with or beside you wherever you are (and even on the plane). You can keep the tablet with you in a way that you do not (for most people) with a laptop (never mind a desktop).
Tablets that connect enable you to do what you want, whenever you want. That can be any or all of email, personal browsing, corporate browsing, information access, decision taking, reading, entertainment, etc. Indeed, one of the attractions is that you can switch at will between any or all of these. About the only activity you cannot do is document creation (writing, presentation manipulation, large spreadsheet alteration, etc — where a larger screen plus a mouse are desirable, though these are arguably requirements of Office or similar software and not the device).
In fact, even the need for a laptop for document creation is questionable — and may be related more to age and training than anything else. Personal experience shows that the young can do pretty much anything on a tablet and also the elderly, especially those who never had mastered mice, keyboards and operating systems. Try watching a 2 year old and/or an 80 year old and you will see how fast their take up is.
There are some who argue that tablets and smartphones will be the next ‘crackberries’, that they will invade and consume personal time. In fact the reverse seems more likely. You can be watching a movie and move to reading an urgent email, doing the research to reply to it and then return to your movie — all from where you are. This introduces a flexibility to ‘turn on and to turn off’ that was never true of the misnamed laptop (too often, once you had made the effort to go to your laptop, you stayed).
Watch yourself. Watch your partner, your children and your elderly relatives. Mobility is changing what and how we do it, at work, at home and in between.
PS I am particularly interested in the success of the ill and the elderly and tablet use: if you have any stories or evidence (for or against), I would very much like to hear more. Send me an email at charles@constellationrg.com
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…...
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.
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I have long been a fan of Posterous. It was a platform that was ridiculously easy to use – and was a great introduction to social media for those who were (or remain) cautious of technology and online publishing.
But when Twitter acquired Posterous in 2012, it was only a matter of time before it was made redundant. And now we know that Posterous will be turned off on April 30, 2013. Making the announcement on the official Posterous blog, founder, Sachin Agarwal, thanked the users and supporters of Posterous and explained how to backup and download your site:
I’ve started the process of moving the various Posterous sites that I have created. I will probably move them to a WordPress site of some kind – when I have the time … but I do so a little sadly.
Posterous’ ease-of-use was a phenomenal wake-up call to the rest of the web world. It will be a shame to see it disappear. Let’s hope the Posterous focus on simplicity impacts the Twitter product roadmap. After all, we don’t need more features, we need a better experience in our use of technology. And for my money, simplicity it the key.
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…...
I'm tired of people talking about how social software solves everything and call for the end of email.
Let me make my opinion perfectly clear: No one tool is perfect for all scenarios and no tool is effective without the right use-cases and process for using it.
Phones have a purpose. They are good for some things, bad for others. Email has a purpose. It is good for some things, bad for others. Forums/Communities have a purpose. They are good for some things, bad for others. Blogs have a purpose. They are good for some things, bad for others. Wikis have a purpose. They are good for some things, bad for others. News Feeds/Activity Streams/Status Updates (social networks) have a purpose. They are good for some things, bad for others. Instant Messaging/Chat has a purpose. It is good for some things, bad for others. Web Conferencing/Hangouts have a purpose. They are good for some things, bad for others. File sharing has a purpose. It is good for some things, bad for others. Social Bookmarking/Pinboarding has a purpose. It is good for some things, bad for others. Location based check-ins have a purpose. They are good for some things, bad for others.
