The Future of Work is NOT About Replacing Sharepoint and Email
Some still believe that the whole point of investing in enterprise collaboration tools and strategies is simply to replace existing systems that organizations are currently using such as Sharepoint and/or email. Let me be clear that it is about far more than that. At the core; we are talking about the future of work. Technology [...]
Intel CIO presents the path to #Rockstar IT
Most CIOs focus on buying technology and making it work in the enterprise. Although technology is the foundation of IT buying tools, delivering projects, and preventing system downtime do not create CIO greatness. More important than “feeds and speeds” is the CIO’s ability to drive strategic business goals such as increasing revenue, enabling innovation, and [...]
Adobe and SAP head towards the cloud
Adobe and SAP head towards the cloud Not unexpected but with the idea of the subscription model to even out income at Adobe, and the success of other cloud ERP providers SAP had to do this, expect more large companies to watch this roll out and see what happens. I have not gotten into Adobe [...]
Does the Internet really need a Delete Tool?
Does the Internet really need a Delete Tool? Every once in a while someone comes along with an idea that makes sense, but given the value of the data we put out there for governments, employers, and marketing folks, I don’t think a delete tool for the internet is going to happen. I am sure [...]
The Origin of Email
I have a surprise for you. The inventor of email did not invent email. Email was actually invented by the Bell System and was in commercial operation long before the Arpanet even existed. This is an interesting story… False The invention of email is widely credited to be Ray Tomlinson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Tomlinson) in 1971. In one especially [...]
The Damaging Psychology of Down Rounds
Yesterday I wrote a post about proprietary dealflow for VCs. In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “At the Top end of Normal” as opposed to stratospheric prices. In the comments [...]
Find the data, aggregate the data, make the data useful
I was in New York in March, taking part in GigaOM’s Structure:Data event. As usual on these trips, I spent the day before the event walking around the city, soaking up some air, getting rained on, using coffee to stay awake, and meeting with a number of local companies. Of the companies I met that [...]
Why Early-Stage VCs Should Be Careful About Intros from Bankers
When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. It was a fun period for me because everything was new and I was curious. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price? With which other investors? Should I focus on geographies or industries? Should I [...]
If You Sell Your Company, Use a Banker
When I sold my first company, I used a banker, an M&A advisor. When I sold my second, I did not. Not using a banker the second time was a mistake. The benefits are nonobvious, somewhat counterintuitive — and large. You don’t get THAT much from a banker for their seemingly huge fees: They don’t [...]
Xeround, and a tale of evolving business models
Cloud database company Xeround announced that they’re shutting down the version of their service hosted in public clouds such as Amazon, Rackspace, GreenQloud, and others. Users of the free service have until 8 May to move elsewhere, whilst paying customers have until 15 May. The company describes this as an attempt to “re-focus,” with the [...]
The Googrilla Grows
I recently published the Googrilla in the Midst which posits that the influence and impact of Google Apps is largely underappreciated and untapped by the UC community. We are reasonably confident that the cloud in general, and Google Apps specifically, will continue to grow. We also are sure that UC and VoIP have a bright future and [...]
Justifying Big Data Investment
Traditionally companies invest into software that has been proven to meet their needs and has a clear ROI. This model falls apart when disruptive technology such as Big Data comes around. Most CIOs have started to hear about Big Data and based on their…
The SaaS Year of Hell. And Then – Reignition.
I was recently at an event with a SaaS-ish CEO who was, clearly, miserable. His business was doing $30m+ and growing nicely. He was about to introduce a new product that he thought could be game-changing. And, he had a strong team (according to him) that he truly enjoyed working with. What was so bad? [...]
Survey lifts covers on Cloud Promiscuity: good thing, bad thing, or who cares?
Figures from RightScale‘s latest State of the Cloud Report (free registration required) suggest “a strong interest in multi-cloud strategies” amongst respondents. The rationale for hybrid cloud (mixing a public cloud service like Amazon’s with something running in your own data centre, colocation site or hosting facility) is reasonably well understood, but why might companies choose to use more [...]
CxO Talk: Trust, engagement, and influence for the CIO
Every week, I host CxO Talk with friend and colleague Vala Afshar. Episode 8 is a conversation with author and entrepreneur, Mark Fidelman, who is an expert on how companies can use social media to boost relationships with buyers. The entire video conversation is embedded at the bottom of this post. The conversation got me [...]
