Integration as an on-demand service
Here’s a quick interview I did with Matt Childs from Vidcaster on the show floor at Dreamforce 2013:
Last week I interviewed Jeff Kaplan from THINKstrategies to get his views on the conference and what was announced. Some of the highlights are here. The slides we reviewed are below.
Check out two great new videos posted by my friends at Host Analytics.
1) Dave Kellogg, who is now an Enterprise Irregular, talks about the SaaS model and why vendors are so focused on customer success. (And no, it’s not just that they’re nice people.)
2) Jeff Kaplan, who runs THINKstrategies and can usually be found speaking at a cloud conference or at an airport, talks about how the SaaS model has enabled IT organizations to play the strategic role they were meant to play in the enterprise. He also makes a stinging point about on-premises vendors hosting crappy apps vs. investing in real, multitenant cloud services.
Good stuff guys!
Ok, there’s a lot I know I missed (usage-based integration services and the role of a vibrant Marketplace come to mind), but here is my set of 2012 cloud data integration predictions:
You can read the complete post on the Informatica Perspectives blog.
I’d love to hear any feedback and input you might have on the topic. We discussed some of these and other trends in a webinar today with Jeff Kaplan from THINKstrategies: Doing Data Right in the Cloud – How the Best Companies are Getting it Done. Here’s the recording on YouTube:
Sandhill.com published a discussion I had recently with Jeff Kaplan, Founder and Managing Director of THINKstrategies. Not surprisingly, the discussion quickly turned to the importance of data integration to cloud success. I asked him why cloud data management is getting so much attention these days. His answer:
’tis the season, so I thought I’d highlight a great set of predictions from Jeff Kaplan, from THINKstrategies: Look for New Shapes in the Clouds in 2011.
When it comes to cloud integration, he has this to say:
“Vendors that provide cloud integration tools and professional services, in particular, will be key acquisition targets because they represent a critical component in pulling the various cloud piece-parts together.”
Be sure to read Jeff’s full set of predictions (as well as cloud computing opportunities and challenges) here. He also published a good review of Dreamforce 2010 last week and had this to say about the industry at the conference:
Dreamforce 2010: Jeff Kaplan – The Evolution of Dreamforce, THINKStrategies, SaaS Showplace and The Best of SaaS Awards from DreamSimplicity on Vimeo.
There’s been a lot of buzz this week about the surprising acquisition of Boomi by Dell. First of all, I’d like to personally congratulate the team. If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I agree with what Boomi CEO Bob Moul refers to in his summary of the acquisition as, “the real multi-tenant kind” of cloud integration. Frankly, I’m also happy to see that Bob is still able to get his message out in unfiltered blog posts. He and co-founder Rick Nucci have always done a great job in getting their message out through social media channels and I hope that continues.
Here are a few interesting observations from industry analyst on the announcement:
Phil Wainewright: Panic Buying Spree Hits Cloud Integration:
“When the shelves have been cleared of cloud integration vendors, where are customers going to shop for platform-neutral integration? Perhaps it’s idealistic of me, but I have this notion that middleware works best if it has a Switzerland kind of role rather than being tied to specific platforms.”
Jeff Kaplan: Dell Forays Into Data Integration Market With Boomi Acquisition:
“It will be interesting to see if Dell is able to do a better job assimilating and growing Boomi’s business than it has with some of its previous Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) acquisitions — Everdream, SilverBack Technologies and MessageOne.”
Jeff Kaplan: Wanted, Data Integration for Cloud Computing:
“So, why is data integration so important? Because there is an explosion of data being generated from a widening assortment of sources, and data integration is key to pulling it all together. In particular, a growing number of organizations of all sizes are adopting cloud-based SaaS solutions that must work with their legacy applications and databases. This challenge is compounded by the proliferation of new sources of data, such as social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and the need to move valuable data to more mobile end-users “on demand.””
Watch this space for updates.
Interesting article in Computer World today: IT Moves to the Cloud, Anecdote by Anecdote. It got me thinking about what will move to the cloud and when. Last year at Dreamforce a number of people in a panel session hosted by Jeff Kaplan from THINKstrategies mentioned that they’re thinking about MDM in the cloud. As people get ready for this year’s event, I thought I’d put up a poll to find out when your company will (or will not) consider moving master data to the cloud:
If the topic of MDM is new to you, Wikipedia has a pretty good overview.
In 2006 Saugatuck Technology stated that SaaS 2.0 relies on SaaS Integration Platforms (SIPs). They defined a SIP as, “solution hubs that provide application sharing, delivery, and management solutions” and they predicted:
“[SIPs] will become critical to broader SaaS adoption. Three to four dominant SIP Master Brands will emerge by 2010, and will manage more than 30 percent of core SaaS offerings to users. Monitoring and billing capabilities will enable increasingly attractive pricing.”
(The complete research study, entitled SaaS 2.0: Software-as-a-Service as Next-Generation Business Platform, was published is available on the company’s web site at http://www.saugatech.com/239order.htm.)
Recently Jeff Kapan from THINKStrategies has written and spoken about Cloud 2.0. He notes that:
“The new realm in the SaaS marketplace and where we’re starting to refer to this as a 2.0 world, is around SaaSfying, if you will, the business processes that are intimately involved in making specific industries work. So the specific and unique processes within specific industries whether they be manufacturing, or retail, insurance, or other forms of financial services. These are the kinds of the main specific capabilities that only industry experts in combination with cloud computing companies can in fact deliver to the marketplace to meet specific business requirements.”
Now that integration is recognized as a key cloud enabler, are we moving closer to the SaaS Integration Platform in the 2.0 world? What’s changed since the term was coined in 2006?
Do you agree with these predictions? What’s next?
Jeff Kaplan, managing director of THINKstrategies (and the man with more air miles than anyone I know), posted his thoughts on Cloud 2.0 today. It’s interesting to note the shift away from start-ups with questionable viability and financial stability to more established solution providers. According to Jeff:
“I believe the more established vendors with proven brand equity will have a greater competitive advantage in this new phase of the cloud computing market evolution.”
As someone who went from one to the other, I couldn’t agree more. Be sure to check out the full post here.
Great article from searchdatamanagement.com today focused on a topic I’ve been writing about for some time on this blog: “Business users can no longer ignore the integration demands of SaaS.”
A few highlights:
“Once the SaaS applications were in place, users came to like them and to want more from them. They wanted access to more data from other systems. That meant IT suddenly needed to find a way to integrate SaaS applications with one another and with legacy, in-house systems.”
Related posts:
“Before people adopt a specific SaaS solution, based on say a 30-day trial, what they have to consider is how that application is going to be integrated into specific workflow and legacy applications and the data source environment.” Jeff Kaplan, managing director of THINKstrategies
Related posts:
It’s great to see the importance of integration to software as a service (SaaS) success getting more and more attention. The bottom line: DON’T WAIT TO INTEGRATE.
Be sure to read the full article here.
In(tegrate) the Clouds RSSDefine the Future of Data Management
I like punk rock and storage arrays
Trying to keep up with Big Data Vendor Landscape
Focusing on AI & Machine Learning's Impact On The Future Of Enterprise Software
Accelerate Your Integration. Accelerate Your Business.
products, development, management...
Perspectives on the SMB Technology Market
In(tegrate) the Clouds 