IBM buys itself a cloud integration toolbox
IBM bought Cast Iron Systems because it simply had nothing in its huge Websphere toolbox that could do cloud integration. I just heard the company’s SVP of its software group Steve Mills admit this in today’s IBM press briefing, talking about the acquisition. While IBM has a massive catalog of technologies for integrating applications within [...]
HR Software: Where is the Post-Recession Market Going to Go?
Can you sell solutions to customers undergoing business contractions? You can if you have the right solution.
A New Model for Newspaper Advertising: Pay Per Call
There has been much discussion about the death of newspapers and the general print news model. This industry has survived for a long time on advertising and want ads. For many newspapers, the want ads were dealt a final blow by Craigslist and its followers leaving only the display advertising portion of revenue left on [...]
IBM acquires Cast Iron Systems: Cloud Services integration for Enterprise
I got up early this morning for an invite only breakfast with WebSphere GM Craig Hayman. Turns out IBM just acquired Cast Iron Systems. What’s the big idea? Take companies onto the cloud. That’s right folks- its a cloud onboarding play. The firm has 75 employees, was founded 2001, and has a stellar list of [...]
Tip Jars and Coffee Shops
What exactly is the tip jar at the local coffee place supposed to recognize, excellent cash register operation, and at Starbucks is it for excellent button pushing? How about the car wash, am I supposed to drop a dollar in the tip box because they dried my car really well… how about when they do [...]
Zen and the Art of Product Management
Here’s Chapter’s 1-3 of Storming the Castle. Chapter 3 is Zen and the Art of Product Management (text only is below). Enjoy! Feedback is most welcome. Download Storming_the_Castle We’re this far into our GTM planning to take our most prized…
Salesforce.com co-founder: Collaboration and the social enterprise
Salesforce.com’s Chatter platform offers a promising advance for collaboration in the enterprise. Watch an important video interview with the company’s co-founder.
Private Cloud as a Stepping Stone
I’ve not been keen on the notion of private cloud I think it’s often a misnomer, an attempt to pick-and-choose from the cloud computing model in a way that eliminates many of the benefits. But I have grudgingly come…
CRM for the iPad – Part 2
When I announced the contest for iPad CRM applications (at least from your mind’s eye) about a month ago, one thing I didn’t expect was the speed that vendors would jump on the iPad development bandwagon. Since my announcement: NetSuite showed an iPad application developed by a partner, Iron Solutions, for the agricultural equipment industry [...]
Chinese Enterprise Software: CDC Software Acquires its Way Into the Supply Chain
Last week, CDC Software Corporation announced a potential new acquisition in the supply chain sector. According to their press release, CDC “signed a term sheet to acquire a leading provider of on-demand software as a service (SaaS) supply chain management solutions,” which represents “the latest move by CDC Software to expand its growing portfolio of [...]
