Enterprise Irregulars
Smart Thinking for the Smart Enterprise
You just can’t lose… with Chris Boos. Time for an AI reality check
There aren’t too many people you can listen to today where you feel all those sticky layers of hype just fall away from your brain, as this guy actually knows what he’s talking about and (as we English love to put it) he just doesn’t mince his words. So, after a terrific meeting with […]
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The Long Game
Have you been watching the FIFA World Cup? I have been watching highlights. And peeks at an occasional game on Fox Sports Go. It’s humbling to think I will likely watch less than 1% of the 96 Group Stage games and maybe just a bit more of the games in the elimination rounds. Then I […]
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Otis Elevator CIO: Modern apps and IoT for digital transformation
The chief information officer explains how technology is transforming its core business and related services. This inside look offers important lessons to anyone interested in digital. He also reveals secret truths behind the “close door” button.
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SAP pivots as the customer turns 2018
SAP announced what is probably the most significant initiative as a company since their initial creation of SAP ERP R/2 back in the stone age. They are now customer facing, focused on customer experience, and are rearchitecting their offering around that idea. Right move? Wrong move? Read on and find out.
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Growing and Scaling SaaS Businesses from $1M to $500M in ARR with Intercom (Video + Transcript)
In this session from Annual 2018, Intercom COO Karen Peacock shares success stories, battle scars and practical advice she’s learned from growing scaling SaaS businesses from $1M to $500M in annual recurring revenue. In case you haven’t heard, we’re building a completely immersive experience for SaaStr Annual 2019! With 3 full days of sessions, featuring over 300 speakers […]
5 Tips To Improve the Odds When You Hire VPs Who Were Fired or Quit
As you scale up in SaaS, one thing I can almost guarantee is that you are going to hire some VPs who were either fired or quit their last role. Especially in the Bay Area. There are lots of reasons for this: All your hires can’t either be (x) folks you magically poach from other […]
“SAP is at its best when it is hungriest” – a conversation with Nick Tzitzon
You have read analysis from me and others about SapphireNow. I wanted to get a post-conference perspective from a SAP executive and I caught up with Nick Tzitzon, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communications Overall Vibe It can be tempting to look at so many different things and slice and dice the success of an […]
SaaStr Podcast #179: Dave Kellogg, CEO @ Host Analytics On The Most Commonly Misunderstood SaaS Metrics
Welcome to Episode 179! Dave Kellogg is the CEO @ Host Analytics, the leader in cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM). Previously, Dave was SVP/GM of Service Cloud at Salesforce and CEO at unstructured big data provider MarkLogic. Before that, Dave was CMO at Business Objects for nearly a decade as the company grew from $30M […]
SAP and Outsourcers: Fool me twice, shame on me
I am often asked why I was tough on SAP in SAP Nation. I usually correct them and say I was tough on SAP’s partners and how SAP did a poor job monitoring and managing them. I must say I groaned when I saw the SAP announcement where it plans to team with Accenture, Capgemni and Deloitte […]
Why SMB Sales and Enterprise Sales Have Nothing In Common
When you go to hire a VP of Sales or even your first sales rep, one of the top qualifying questions I always recommend is making sure they have experience at your deal size, your ACV. There are different cadences, and different skills, in closing $100 vs $1,000 vs $10,000 vs $100,000 vs $1,000,000 a […]
Accenture, IBM, Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro and TCS lead the first Digital OneOffice Blueprint
Digital is all about an organization’s ability to respond to the needs of their customers as those needs happen – or even be smart enough to anticipate those needs before they happen. This is all enabled by interactive technologies to create those touchless interfaces with the customers. Smart analytics and AI enable organizations to anticipate these needs based on […]
The Two Archetypal Marketing Messages: “Bags Fly Free” and “Soup is Good Food.”
There are only two archetypal marketing messages, exemplified by: Bags Fly Free, a current advertising slogan used by Southwest airlines. Soup is Good Food, a 1970s campaign slogan used by Campbell’s soup [1]. Quick, what’s the difference between these two messages? Soup is Good Food answers the question “why buy one (at all)?” while Bags […]
Will SAP lead the next generation of enterprise applications?
Franck Cohen, President SAP Digital Core & Industry Solutions, presented the slide below at SapphireNow last week. He did not spend much time on it and I would likely have not thought much of it if he had not shown it in an earlier meeting. It is a simple slide yet could herald the next […]
Conference Attendee Tips — Illustrated Journaling, Golden Age mysteries, Boat Shows and More
Naomi & Cousin Ronni Circa 1950 Yes, I’m retired, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped learning — or attending conferences. Whether it’s the annual Florida Watercolor Society convention, and Urban Sketchers event, Emily’s List conference, or the Agatha Christie International Festival, much of what I learned about making the most of my time at the […]
Oracle Soar: The Last (Application) Upgrade you will ever do
In 1991, I was assigned a team at PwC to build something called “2O to 3O”. Dun and Bradstreet Software, especially its McCormack and Dodge (M&D) unit, was an important practice area for PwC. M&D had released a new General Ledger 3.0, a product with a multi-dimensional code block and a number of other new […]
Business
- How SAP is getting its SexyBack
- More Catfished By A Candidate: Why Not Hire Him Anyway? And Answers To Other Burning Questions
- Zuora makes money
- The Domo S-1: Does the Emperor Have Clothes?
- 10 Charts That Will Change Your Perspective Of Big Data’s Growth
- CMO playbook: How Pinterest uses data to create great customer experiences
Startup Lessons
- Growth and Burn Rates at $1m ARR for 20+ Fast Growing SaaS Companies
- The Two Engines of SaaS: QCRs and DEVs
- Talking Competition: Methinks Thou Doth Protest Too Much.
- Squeezing Out That Last 10%-20% Growth
- I Got Catfished By A Candidate: The True Story and How to Keep It From Happening to You
- “Always Scrubbing the Pipeline” Means “Never Scrubbing the Pipeline.”
Technology / Software
- Workday continues its acquisition trajectory
- Salesforce is vulnerable
- Integrating your enterprise content with cloud business applications? I wrote a paper on that!
- Is the I in AI incremental and dumb ?
- Three Ways Machine Learning Is Revolutionizing Zero Trust Security
- The Best Big Data Companies And CEOs To Work For In 2018
Trends & Concepts
- Can You Sell $10B by Focusing on Customer Experience? (short post)
- Finally the industry has credible RPA product benchmarks from 359 superusers
- Burnout
- The G2000 is still cost-obsessed, but getting there now depends on process robotics, predictive data, OneOffice alignment and a whole lotta pain
- Life Explained: A 3-Legged Stool
- Moon Shot
SapphireNow: Event Scorecard
By Vinnie Mirchandani on June 17, 2018
Readers know I prefer going to vendor analyst summits compared to user conferences. I feel like I am intruding on customer time and access to vendor execs at the latter. But in many ways, SapphireNow last week managed to bend laws of gravity and as a result I really enjoyed the conference. Here is a […]
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