Integration Trends Worthy of Thanks

Ahead of the long weekend in the US, Loraine Lawson posted Five Integration Trends to Inspire Thanksgiving. They are:

1. Integration is in demand
2. More people outside IT are realizing the value of integration.
3. New Frontiers for Integration.
4. Integration via the cloud.
5. SOA now sells itself.

It’s a quick read with some useful links as resources.  Be sure to check it out here.

To my readers in the US – have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday!

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5 Integration Trends Worthy of Thanks

In case you missed it, Loraine Lawson posted a great pre-holiday article called: Five Integration Trends to Inspire Thanksgiving.

They are:

1. Integration is in demand.
2. More people outside IT are realizing the value of integration.
3. New frontiers for integration.
4. Integration via the cloud.
5. SOA now sells itself.

Be sure to read the details here.

Cloud Computing Silver Lining: Formulate Your Integration Strategy

Shaloo Shalini is writing an insightful series of posts on the Sramana Mitra blog called: Does Cloud Computing Have A Silver Lining For You? Part three focuses on on integration.  The key point:

“If you are considering adopting cloud for only a part of your business processes, say for a specific isolated pain point in your IT systems, you still have to examine your “integration” objectives thoroughly.”

Loraine Lawson, who has written a great deal on the topic at ITBusiness Edge, wrote about a recent cloud integration case study in which the customer chose “Informatica’s integration-as-a-service offering simply cost less than using Oracle’s integration software or an on-premise appliance, particularly when you factor in consulting services for those solutions.” In her article, she wonders:

“Is it [integration] more of a concern if IT is the one who has to handle the integration? I don’t know, but I think if the company in the article is any indicator, it could be a good sign for integration sold as a service.”

Is cloud integration shifting from an objection to a question? Is it a barrier to adoption or a critical enabler of success?

We’ll be digging into this question at Informatica World 2010 this week. You can follow the discussion at #IW2010. I’m interested in your thoughts / experiences.

Strategic Integration: 10 Business-Building Tips

Check out this great slideshow article by Loraine Lawson @ IT Business Edge: Strategic Integration: 10 Business-Building Tips. They are:

1. Think Big Picture Integration
2. Squeeze More Value from CRM & ERP Integration
3. Stop Bickering and Help
4. Stop Customers from Abandoning the Web Sale and the Company
5. Make Users More Efficient with Better Application Integration
6. Use MDM to Fix Spend Analysis
7. Address Integration: Pre-Merger and Acquisition
8. Ask the Right Questions to Find the Business Payoff
9. Explore New Technology Solutions
10. Innovate with Existing Tools

My advice? Turn it into a poster and put it on your wall/cube! And be sure to check out Loraine’s blog here.

Shifting to SaaS: The Keys to Success for On-Premise ISVs

Loraine Lawson at ITBusinessEdge wrote an interesting post this week:  Analyst Says On-Premise Vendors Struggling with Shift to SaaS.  I added a comment, which I thought I’d post here for feedback:

Hi Loraine, I enjoy your blog and agree with most of your points about the challenge for on-premise vendors attempting (or not attempting) to move to the cloud. Having worked for pure-play SaaS application vendors (Salesforce and LucidEra) and enterprise software vendors (Business Objects and now Informatica) I’ve experienced the religion on both sides of the fence. My belief is that it is possible to be successful in both camps (to mix my metaphors) but the following ingredients/steps are necessary:

1. There must be executive level commitment to developing a SaaS/cloud business.
2. There must be a recognition that SaaS requires both a business model shift (in terms of sales, marketing, pricing, packaging, etc.) and a significant product shift (must be multitenant, must be easy to implement and use, etc.).
3. There must be a focus on the right metrics (ACV, TCV,  and MRR as well as sales and marketing metrics.).
4. The right compensation model must be in place if you expect your traditional sales team to sell the SaaS solution. And if you’re selling to a different buyer or market segment, a different sales team (typically inside) is required.
5. There must be a laser focus on customer success. A multitenant SaaS offering allows you to monitor usage, deliver frequent releases, and get to know your users in a way that’s never been possible with on-premise software. And subscription pricing requires you to ensure that adoption and ROI is high.

Salesforce.com has published a great whitepaper called “7 Habits of Highly Successful SaaS Companies” and people like Phil Wainewright have written quite a bit on this topic. The fact is, while it’s easy for the pure-play small vendors to take shots at the big (and profitable) players, there are a few who have followed the steps I mentioned and continue to execute.

When I was at a pureplay SaaS application company founded by people who lived through some of this at Siebel we delivered a presentation that hit a few of these points. I’ve linked to it below.

SaaS Cannibalization And Civil War Within

View more presentations from Darren Cunningham.